I have a nice couple who I'm working with right now who are going to be my buyers as soon as they sell their home. They're selling their home as a For Sale By Owner because they don't have enough equity in it to list it with a realtor.
Last night I took them to see a great new listing I have (generated from Active Rain by the way - more on that later). After we took the tour, I asked them how the sale of their property was going. "Pretty okay," was their answer.
Hmmm, at this point I have a decision to make. Do I help them by giving them some tips or not? I know many realtors who wouldn't help at all because they didn't list their house with a realtor. I'm more of the philosophy that we're all here to help one another and that what goes around comes around. So I visited with them about making sure the house was on Craigslist which was really funny because they went, "Craigslist? What's that???" So that was a fun conversation. You should have seen them light up when I told them it was FREE! I also talked with them about paying a buyer's agent and making sure it was clearly advertised, etc.
I didn't give them everything I've got in my bag of successful sales tactics, but I thought those two things would be helpful. After all, if they sell their house, they become my buyers...and that's a good thing!
Here in our area I'm seeing more people trying to sell their home as FSBO's this year than last year. Interestingly enough, I'm seeing less people using discount real estate brokerages and more FSBO.com sites. I wouldn't have expected that. I guess it's due to the decreased cost.
Do you help FSBO's? Are you friendly with people who are trying to sell their home by owner? What's your take on this situation?
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