Selling by Owner 101

So your property is now up for sale and the buyers are calling and want to see your house.  You scheduled four showings tomorrow, but you don’t know if any of the buyers are good candidates to purchase your home, so here is what you do; ask these simple questions before ……

1. “John, are you working with a Realtor?” If “yes” then you want to make sure the Realtor is going to accompany the buyer.  That is why you offer a buyer’s agent commission so let the Realtor work it.  If “no” go to question #2 and #3.
2. “Do you have a home to sell before you can buy one?” If “yes” they are what we call a contingent seller, and if they say “no” they are a very desirable buyer.
3. “Have you been to the bank?” This tells you if they are pre-qualified.  If they tell you that they have not been to the bank, you need to tell them to call Karen at Premium Mortgage 585-746-0987 (She is great)  and to call you back after meeting with Karen for an appointment, so that you are not wasting your time.

Don’t waste your time with tire kickers, make sure buyers are serious about purchasing a home upfront, then you know you are talking to the right person!  Good Selling!

*Thanks to Rebecca Burcher our New Hampshire List2Move.com affiliate for the inspiration.

Sellers, this is a must read on negotiating;

Top Ten Negotiating Rules for REALTORS

Thanks to Rebecca Burcher for this link.  Rebecca is a real estate broker and is New Hampshire’s exclusive Flat Fee MLS real estate Brokerage for List2Move.com.  Rebecca offers Flat Fee MLS Real Estate Brokerage from $199 and credits at closing for buyers.

Rebecca is also a member of  NAHBRA- Nashua Area Home Builders & Remodelers Association,  HBRNH- Home Builders & Remodelers Association of NH, and  NAHB- National Association of Home Builders.

She can be reached at 603-305-5422 and operates out of Milford, New Hampshire.

Here is a great property link brought to our attention by a retired Realtor that allows you to type in your address and get public information like true taxes (required for any real estate listing), assessment information, previous sale information etc….This information was once available to only licensed individuals.

It is call the Monroe County Real Property Portal and if you are buying or selling real estate in Rochester NY or Monroe County this utility is a must.  It allows you to “do your homework.”  If you want, you can try it out on any of Rochester, NY’s Flat Fee Listings.

http://www.monroecounty.gov/apps/propertyapp.php

List2Move.com (Fairport, NY) today cut a $5206.88 check as a rebate to buyers who recently closed on their new home built by Morrell Builders in Victor, NY.

These buyers were also sellers with List2Move.com and because there was no agent on either side of the selling transaction they saved over $10,000 in selling commissions as well.

Not bad considering we are still in a recession!  Smart?  You bet.  List2Move.com offers flat fee MLS for sellers and offers commission rebates for buyers.

List2Move.com is now offering flat fee mls access to the whole state of New Hampshire and Seller Solution Services (www.nhlist2move.com) is the local exclusive brokerage covering the whole state of New Hampshire,  located in Milford, New Hampshire.

Sellers can simply log to the website from their home computer, fill out the forms, and upload their photos or call the local broker,  Rebecca for assistance.  She can be reached at (603) 821-0281.

Flat Fee MLS is changing the way the game of real estate is played and List2Move’s brokers and agents are delivering with user friendly technology that saves home-sellers thousands of dollars.  Many List2Move brokers are also offering rebates to buyers!

Brokers, join America’s first fully automated flat fee network.  List2Move.com, by utilizing Web 2.0, offers the most hands down, profitable business model available today! Bring List2Move.com to your city by going to Flat Fee Central and registering.  Flat Fee Central offers two options, either MLS affiliate (non-exclusive) or Equity Affiliate (exclusive).

You can go to this link (click on the logo)  and research the last sales on your street or any street in NY.

This database contains information about the real estate transactions that occurred in New York state since 1993. Data for Monroe County is supplied by the Monroe County Clerk’s office and is updated weekly. Data for other counties is obtained from the New York State Office of Real Property Services and is updated quarterly.

http://rocdocs.democratandchronicle.com/database/real-estate-database

Posted by www.list2move.com

http://www.realtor.com/home-values/

ARE YOU SURE?

America’s Choice (2.5% Real Estate Direct) 10/26/2009 stated on their website that Flat Fee MLS doesn’t work so lets check it out using their best case scenario…..

Let’s compare their YTD vs. the Rochester List2Move (Roxwell Properties, Inc.) to see if there is any truth here and we will use the best case scenario, which is where there is no other company  involved in the sale.

Our guess, even before crunching the numbers is they are blowing smoke for the simple reason of getting more of your money!

SIMPLE MATH*

YTD 2.5% Real Estate Direct has generated 10 sales where the buyer has come directly to them so…

10 sellers paid $495 each to get on the program and 1% of the selling price of the YTD total $1,456,200 to the 2.5% Real Estate Direct brokerage or a total of…..  $19,512 out of the sellers pockets ($1951.20 each)

List2Move had 6 sales where the buyer has come directly to them so…since they pass the buyer directly to the seller, the sellers all saved that additional 1% in commissions!

6 sellers paid $495 each to get on the program and 0% of the selling price of the YTD total of 1,255,500 to List2Move or a total of $2970. ($495 each)

If you run with just the 2.5% Real Estate Direct numbers sellers would pay on average $1456.20 more than  they would have with List2Move to sell!

The Results

Conclusion: Flat Fee MLS does work!  These figures were based on America’s Choice’s and 2.5% Real Estate Direct’s best case scenario.  The only reason they are attacking the Flat Fee MLS business model is that it is hurting them financially! When you take into consideration the number of listings by each company YTD (2.5% Real Estate Direct 160 listings YTD and List2Move 49 you can see that only 1 in 16 (6%) listings sold with AC/2.5% best case and 1 in 8 (13%)with List2Move.com.   The numbers tell the story.

List2Move.com has received the Greater Rochester Association of REALTOR Sales Master Gold Award for the last two years and is going to be receiving another this November, not because “Flat Fee MLS doesn’t work!

The Smoke

Traditional real estate is most certainly under attack by the Flat Fee Monster and they don’t like it, as sellers from all over the country are tapping the MLS which is putting a hurt on real estate commissions everywhere.

Since there is big money involved companies in an effort to survive are using all they have left to compete with… smoke.

America’s Choice and 2.5% Real Estate Direct are not immune to this even though they are considered discounters. They still are surviving on the commissions where most flat fee companies don’t, so they are still in a way, traditionalists. Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics predicted in 2006 that Flat Fee discounters would be the “death blow to traditional real estate.”

Traditionalists believe that if they confuse the customer it will put money in their pocket.  The problem is when the consumers figure it out, and they will, it comes back on the creditability of the company/agent.

Competitive take

This kind of competition is good, not necessarily when it confuses the customer, but when it forces other competitors to bring the truth to the surface like we have.  Ultimately consumers will be the judge and when anyone tries to mislead them on what is best for them it will have an equal and opposite reaction.

We believe this attack on flat fee is directly related to us advertising our services starting in October 2009.  So we want to thank our competitor for the complement

*Figures: Taken directly from the GRAR MLS, Reports 11/7/2009

If you are looking for assessment information check out this link below.

http://www.orps.state.ny.us/MuniPro/

As of today, there are there are a total of 87 single family houses sold and closed.  Last year to date there were 240 sold and closed.

As of today, the average time on the market market was 23 days,  compared to last year at 38 days.

As of today, the average square footage sold is 2113 vs. last year at 2082

As of today, the average list price of the sold properties is $220,724 compared to last year at $225,038

As of today, the average selling price is $213,683 compared to last year at $218,929

As of this year the highest price paid is $535,000 vs. last year at $775,000

There are currently 197 properties for sale in the town of Perinton.  These properties range from $104,900 to $725,000.  The average time on the market is as of today 65 days.  The average square feet is 2499 with $275,484 as the average asking price.

There are 90 single families currently under contract ranging from $74,900 to $599,000 in list price.  The average list price is $227,446.  The average square feet is 2082.  The average days on market range from 1 day to 253 days, with the average being 38 days as of today.  $300,000 plus priced houses averaged 33.91 days on the market.

There were 43 properties withdrawn from January 2008 to July 1, 2008  with the average asking price of $243,176.  These properties were on the market for an average of 74 days and averaged 2167 square feet.

Currently there have been 33 properties withdrawn from the market this year, with the average asking price of $295,584 at an average of 2640 square feet.