First, let me begin this with saying I am not “anti-FSBO” (For Sale By Owner) or anti-limited service brokerage. Yeah, I’m a real estate broker and of course I’d prefer you enlist me to help you sell your home. But if you really know what you are doing, and you have the time, and you want to sell your home yourself, go for it. Knock yourself out. There is clearly no shortage of homes for me to help sell.
But, if you are going to go FSBO, or go with a limited service agency (basically a real estate brokerage that you pay to put your home in the Multiple Listing Service while you do all the remainder of the work) then at least make sure you are spending your time, money and effort wisely. Let’s face it. Some marketing methods work, some may work, and some just flat-out don’t work — or the probability of them procuring a buyer are so remote that they aren’t worth the effort.
Here’s an example in the latter category received yesterday via email (names and MLS# obscured to protect the ignorant):
What you see above is the email in its entirety. That’s it, no attachments, no phone number, no nothing. Let me explain why this is a complete waste of time, and is not “marketing” your home effectively:
- If I had a buyer interested in your home, I would know it’s available the second it went into the MLS. Therein lies the power of the MLS. I don’t really need an email asking me if I have a buyer. I know my buyers, and what they are looking for. Heck, my buyer had your listing before you sent this email if it was of interest to them.
- But let’s say I am one of the lazy agents that doesn’t know how to set up good searches in the MLS to meet my clients needs. Then maybe an email asking me if I have a buyer for your home could be effective. However, consider this: If I am too lazy to set up a search, won’t I be too lazy to open up the MLS, log in, copy and paste the MLS number you provided into the system, and pull up the particulars on your home?
You see, your email that cluttered up my inbox (along with several others that day from actual agents who email flyers to hundreds if not thousands of agents in one fell spamming swoop) tells me nothing. Absolutely nothing. Do I have a buyer for your home? I don’t know. Where is it? How big is it? How much are you asking for it? Yes, I understand all that info is in the MLS, but if you are going to butt into my inbox, at least make it so I don’t have to stop what I’m doing, log into a system, and look it all up.
Normally, I would have clicked DELETE as swiftly as possible. But for the purposes of this post, I went into the MLS just to see what the deal was with this particular listing.
So now you’re going to get Jay’s bonus tips on ways not to sell your home!
Photos: Photos are important. Really important. These photos do nothing to help sell your home. Let’s face it, orange trees and cactus grow like weeds around here. If your landscaping is compelling, by all means showcase it. A photo of part of a tree (that needs pruning BTW) and a cactus are not compelling.
And then there is . . .
Pricing: Listing a home for $270,000 that comps at $200,000 (on a good day) is not conducive to selling your home. That foreclosure across the street? You may not like it, but it is your competition.
Again, there is nothing wrong with selling your own home. If you’re willing to take the time, understand marketing and want to take on the legal liability, go for it. But keep in mind, the Phoenix real estate market (and many other markets across the country) are not in the best of shape right now. If you really have no clue how to sell a home (and clearly some don’t) then you may want to leave it to someone that does this for a living. Will it cost you? Sure. But what is it costing you if you can’t sell your home?
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**Matthew Collinge´s last blog post..Vancouver Halloween Traditions: The Pumpkin Patch
Amen!!
Nice post Jay – I love that you’re always honest. I agree, if you have the time and can do it well, why would you pay someone to do it for you? However, selling real estate is NOT easy and a good agent can get more for a home and sell it faster than 99% (just a guess) of the owners out there. Not to mention the headache of marketing and selling the home… and the papers etc… yeesh!
It’s even more important, in my opinion, to enlist a good agent if you’ve already purchased a home – what if you have to start making the payments for both homes? It’s a matter of a few months before you eat up any agent fees, and then if you decide to enlist an agent, now you’ve lost more money and will likely have to pay a few more mortgage payments. Did I mention that you’ve already spent money on marketing the home? It could end up being a classic story of “I should have had it done right the first time”.
Jay, I’m a spammer. I can’t help myself. I know it’s in the MLS – but, when I gave my listing presentation, I told the homeowner about all the wonderful people I have worked with that will be getting a special notice from me about their house. And, I know I haven’t worked with you; but, I’d like too! I normally only send out those email greeting cards when I hold an open house and invite people who live on the other side of the world – the postage is free and they never stop by to eat the food. Cheap date.
I think of it as eharmony, or, match.com – sure the girl wants the guy with brains, muscles, and money. But, sometimes I only have a picture of a street sign or a tree and cactus. No brians, muscle, or money. I’m doing the best I can with what God gave me to work with. Keep me in your prays.
Good post, Jay and thanks for the honesty. You are right. There are a lot of houses to sell.
If someone wants or needs to sell their home by owner, please recommend Infotube.net as a resource they may want to use. InfoTube.net, owned by the company that makes InfoTubes and InfoBoxes, runs a Free for sale or for rent website where anyone can post a property listing. The also provide free legal forums, a real estate marketing forum, great blog and some more cool stuff.
So, if you know of someone who wants to try to sell their own home, please tell them about InfoTube.net. They will remember and appreciate you, if they decide to list later.
Sellers looking to sell their homes “by owner” are only going to succeed in this market if they’re willing to sell under the market. If you’re a seller, and you’re looking to sell for top dollar in a very difficult market, FSBO isn’t the way to accomplish this. Good post phoenixguy.
I’ve had 2 recent sales with unrepresented sellers. They were both “entry only” mls listed and all my dealings were direct with the sellers. I was the buyers agent both times and both transactions were extremely painful. I advised the sellers to contact an attorney for contract help from the get go…they never did. Both sales closed but I felt like I was pretty well abused by the sellers who alternately blamed me for bringing them such low offers, which they accepted and then used me as a life line throughout the whole process. Not fun! I think ultimately those sellers lost out because they had no one representing them…legally I could not.
**Monika´s last blog post..Atkinson NH Trick or Treat
I love the people who send those emails. I always read them just for a good laugh or two. ahahahahahahahahah
**Jeffrey Buettner´s last blog post..Random Non Real Estate Fact
Hi Jay,
This email was actually an ingenious marketing piece until you had to go and ruin the beauty in its simplicity by blocking out the MLS number and the author!
Shame on you, this marketing piece had potential!
**Property Qwest Blog – Real Estate News and Housing Data´s last blog post..Foreclosure Capitals: Is Your City Next?
Oh boy! Hello! Come on people. I just don’t get it and yet I must delete a dozen of that spam a day. This post begs to be linked to. Stay tuned.
**Linsey´s last blog post..Maybe the Solution Isn’t a $700 Billion Bailout
I always delete “those” emails, as well as the ones sent by realtors that do include photos! If my client’s are interested in the property, I’ll find it for them on the MLS. However, I do want to hear about collegues listings, but only because I’m interested in them, not because I think I’ll have a buyer for it. And if you really want my attention on your listings, tell me about it, don’t just send an email.
What really kills me, is getting emails for homes that are in areas that I don’t sell in. I live in Colorado Springs, and Denver agents send me info on their listings. I could sell up there, but it would be foolish. I don’t know their market! And if I had a client that was interested in that area, I’d send them to a realtor in that area; one that would give me a nice referral. So, perhaps they should be sending me info on how much they give for referrals.
**Marianne´s last blog post..Home Organization Tips
Hah, that’s classic!
On the plus side though, at least you can breathe a sigh of relief when these sellers only have THEMSELVES to argue what “market price” is, rather than forcing an agent to waste time that could be better spent yelling at a wall or something
That’s assuming of course that they’d ever realize it was price that was the problem and still remain unable to find a reason to blame a nearby agent.
Can’t help the stupid.
**Edge´s last blog post..Property Taxes Going Up, MythBusters, Central Banks, and How Our Inflation Compares To Japan
I received an email once from a FSBO who did actually go into detail about the home. He said he was willing to co-op, and really hoped I had a buyer for his beautiful home. The tone was totally “suck-up” until I read the last paragraph: “Please, NO realtor calls to list my home!”
OK ……… DELETE!
**Elaine Reese´s last blog post..Happy Hallo-wiener!
Now you can look forward to the day he drops the price and you get the “Just Reduced” email!
**Tina Fountain´s last blog post..Cobb County Luxury Homes
I wouldn’t buy it without the fruit trees if they were cut down ;-?
As an investor I regularly see similar things listed on investor websites with no name, no phone number, no price, no mention of condition of the property. I just laugh. How do they expect to sell these things.
**Ned´s last blog post..Lessons from Warren Buffett on Real Estate
Lenders hate FSBO as well. Some of them are have special appraisal requirements for FSBO homes. Don’t be cheap, list the home wiith an actual living breathing agent please.