FSBO's Unplugged: Rebranding the Unrepresented Seller

Late last year, parts of the real estate community were pondering the unbranding of the FSBO.  NAR did press releases, white papers, and tv spots about how we need to stop building the FSBO brand and call them what they are: unrepresented sellers.  You can find many of these resources on Realtor.org.

Joe Cooke wrote an excellent piece on Realtor.org last year.  Some of my favorite bits from his article:

"Practitioners and clients commonly use the term FSBO as if it were a brand name. But by using the term, we inadvertently promote the brand. It’s akin to an announcer at Wal-Mart talking about how much lower prices are there than at Kmart. Even though we probably wouldn’t pay a lot of attention to the announcement, the Kmart brand wends its way into our subconscious. The same is true for the term FSBO. Every time we use it, the term burrows into consumers’ psyche a bit more.

In theory, every home is for sale by owner because the homeowner holds title. Practitioners essentially facilitate the transaction. The only time this isn’t true is in the case of a person representing an estate or someone with power of attorney. Therefore, we practitioners can come across as slightly arrogant to sellers when we seek to take responsibility for selling their homes.

Once we move beyond the notion that our job is to sell homes, we’re left with a twofold business purpose: representation and marketing. Thanks to this analysis, we came up with a nonadversarial term for FSBOs: unrepresented sellers. "

The Florida Assocation of Realtors developed a fantastic site Dont-it-yourself.com.

Its funny, and gets across the message in a new way.  Turn on your speakers and be prepared to laugh.  As I said before, this is a reason that I wouldn't mind living in Florida.  FAR is behind its members!

So lets join in on the unbranding bandwagon.  We have a strong community here to show 'em what they are: unrepresented sellers.  Lets start today.  No more "fsbo" references for me.  How about you?