Searching Tips and Tricks

We are always looking on ways to improve search. We get many suggestions regarding different terms and ways people would like to search through the listings. You requested and we listened. Here is a helpful list of ways to search through our listings that you might not have known about.

1. Searching by State/Province
You can easily search by State or Province on our site. Just type the State/Province in the location field and hit search. Note that some areas (i.e. New York City) have the same name for the city and state. If you type in just "New York" you will be shown the results for New York City. If you want to search the state, simply type "New York State" in the location field.



2. Open Houses
If you are planning to visit an area and want to see if there will be open houses in there, use the "Sort by Open House" functionality. This will place all of the properties that have an open house at the top of the results.



3. New Listings
Similar to the open house capabilities mentioned above, you can also sort by "New". This will place all new listings at the top of the search results.

Hopefully these tips and tricks will make finding your next home easy using ForSaleByOwner.com. If you have any comments or suggestions please let us know as we continuously strive to improve our search.

Home Prices Drop 18.6%

Home prices declined in each of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.

The monthly index found that, from February 2008 to February 2009, prices dropped 18.6% across the 20 markets, with the biggest declines occurring in Phoenix (-35.2%), Las Vegas (-31.7%), San Francisco (-31%) and Miami (-29.5%). Markets with the smallest declines were Dallas (-4.5%), Denver (-5.7%) and Cleveland (-8.5%).

Visit this page for a complete table of the 20 cities tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller.

Competing Against Distressed Properties

With distressed sales accounting for half of all home sales, many home sellers are finding that traditional sales are competing with discounted prices offered by foreclosed properties and short sales in their local area. To help home sellers attract buyers and compete against the discounted prices offered by distressed properties, ForSaleByOwner.com offers the following tips and advice:

Skip the Agent: Housing has lost more than $6 trillion in value since 2006, and hiring a real estate agent can cost as much as another 6 percent of the home's sales price. Selling “by owner” will allow the seller to save that money while also marketing the home at a competitive asking price. The National Association of Realtors also recently found that “by owner” sellers actually sell quicker and for closer to asking price than agent-represented sellers.

Price the Home Correctly: Home sellers need to price their home according to today’s market and not based on the high price that a neighbor might have received a few years ago. Using a combination of an online appraisal and a licensed home appraiser will help today’s seller price the home accurately based on recent sales activity.

Market the Home More Effectively: Traditional home sellers have access to more marketing channels than distressed properties, since not all distressed properties are found on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), popular websites like Realtor.com or by owner websites like ForSaleByOwner.com. Traditional home sellers, including for sale by owner sellers, can market their properties with these resources to reach a larger audience of buyers than financially distressed homes. (info on getting your FSBO home on Realtor.com)

Keep the Home in Top Condition: Foreclosed homes are typically in disrepair and are in need of some repair or renovation due after having been left vacant. It can easily cost a new owner tens of thousands of dollars and months of work to get the home back in shape. A home seller should stage their home to give it the appearance of being in “move in” condition. The house, as well as all closets, should be kept clean and free of clutter to create the appearance of a more spacious home. Sellers can make their home stand out by doing things like landscaping the front yard to improve curb appeal, replacing worn-out carpets and old appliances, applying new paint in key interior rooms, and tackling other minor home improvement projects.

Offer a Quick Closing: An advantage of being a conventional home seller is being able to offer a quick closing, often an advantage for buyers who wish to move quickly. Distressed properties can take many months to reach a closing date. Sellers should be prepared to offer a 30-day closing date to attract buyer who wants to move quickly.

Qualify Interested Buyers: Nothing is more discouraging than spending weeks with a prospective buyer, only to learn that he or she is unable to obtain a mortgage. To avoid such situations, make sure that your buyer is pre-approved for the loan amount necessary to finance the purchase of your home.

Get Help with the Paperwork: For a couple of hundred dollars, a local real estate attorney or a title company will craft and review all contracts between you and the seller, and ensure that you are adhering to all state and local disclosure requirements. Remind buyers that while a real estate agent isn't needed to buy real estate, that they should get an attorney and/or title company to handle their paperwork.

$3.9 Billion... and Counting

If you follow the real estate industry in any fashion, you probably know that last year the Federal government introduced a $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers and increased it to $8,000 for those who purchase their first home this year prior to December 1st.

According to the government's Interim Results of the 2009 Filing Season, $3.9 billion in first-time home buyer tax credits have been claimed on more than 567,000 tax returns. Incidentally, if you bought a your first home anytime after April 8, 2008 and have not claimed the tax credit, I'd recommend that you contact an accountant to determine you eligibility and file an amended return to get this free money. (you can also click here for eligibility requirements)

It will be interesting to see how these figures grow this year and into next year's tax season, as first-time home buyers account for roughly 40 percent of all homes sold. Last year there were 4.9 million homes sold and this year will be less but still probably north of 4 million. Not every first-time home buyers will be eligible for the tax credits -- due to the tax credits' income thresholds and because it applies only for purchases made in the fist 11 months of 2009 and roughly last 9 months of 2008.

But we can assume that since most first-time home buyers are under the income thresholds ($95K for individuals and $150K for joint filers) and will time their closings to occur prior to December 1st, it is easy to assume that the $3.9 billion in claimed tax credits is only the beginning.

Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/FSBO_Guy

Customers Ask, ForSaleByOwner.com Listens & Responds

Unlike many "by owner" real estate websites, ForSaleByOwner.com offers live customer support and we answer questions about buying or selling a home. Here's a good question that was recently asked of us that is applicable to many home sellers:

Once I have accepted an offer, do I have to take my home off the market or can I wait until they are approved for their mortgage? - Pete in Gallup, New Mexico

And our response:

Pete,

Hindsight is always 20-20, it is recommended that sellers pre-approve interested buyers before any offer is submitted or accepted. That is especially true for today's market, where buyers are having a harder time getting financing due to stricter mortgage guidelines. The pre-approval process doesn't take that long, and can be even be done through an online lender like Quicken Loans.

In your situation, does the Offer to Purchase state anything about taking the home off the market? In New Mexico, like most other states, most real estate contracts stipulate that once an offer has been accepted, the seller must disclose to other parties who come forward that the property is "Under Contract" but that the seller is accepting "Backup Offers."

We recommend that sellers and buyers hire a real estate lawyer to handle the sales contract, and provide counsel on all state and local laws.

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Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/FSBO_Guy

Sold By ForSaleByOwner.com

We're using today's blog post to ask recent ForSaleByOwner.com customers to share their tips on what they did to get their home sold in today's marketplace. Share any tips and pieces of advice so that others may learn from your successful experience and get their home sold while saving on commisison.

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions by FSBO sellers, so address one or more of these topics as you share your advice.

- How did you arrive at an asking price?
- Did you hold open houses?
- How did you know that interested buyers were qualified for a mortgage (did you ask for a pre-approval letter,etc)
- How did you handle negotiations with the buyer, etc?
- Who handled the legal work and other paperwork needed to complete the real estate transaction.
- How much did you save on commission?
- What other advice would you share?

Post your advice by clicking on the below "comments" link.

Introducing Our New "Find a Pro" Service

You might have noticed a new tab along the banner of ForSaleByOwner.com. "Find a Pro" is our new resource to help sellers and buyers connect with with service providers to help them through the real estate process and become new homeowners. We're building up "Find a Pro" with experts in more than 20 professional categories, from title companies and real estate attorneys to electricians and general contractors.

We welcome professionals in all markets across the country to join our new service to market their services to our website's more than 50,000 daily visitors and active selling and buying community. Since our customers are independent sellers and buyers, this is a tremendous opportunity for service providers to gain new clients who to traditionally are steered to businesses favored by real estate agents.

A Harvard study found that new homeowners typically make improvements after they purchase a home and spend an average of 20-25 percent more on home projects than other households. The new ‘Find a Pro’ service helps businesses can attract new clients in the untapped "by owner" market, while providing valuable services that ForSaleByOwner.com customers need to sell, buy and maintain a home.

Real estate businesses and home improvement service providers can visit http://www.forsalebyowner.com/pro/new to learn more about the program and register as a participating provider.

Adding an MLS Listing to Your FSBO Strategy

Once upon a time, only a real estate agent had access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is a database of homes currently on the market. The MLS is a great marketing tool for any seller who wants to generate more exposure for their home. As this video explains, ForSaleByOwner.com offers a service that will put a seller's home on the MLS.

Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/FSBO_Guy

Mortgage Rates Hit New Record Lows

The Associated Press is reporting that interest rates on 30 year mortgages have fallen to their lowest level in the history of Freddie Mac tracking mortgage rates, which was back in 1971. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.78% this week, down from 4.85% the prior week and down more than a full percentage point from a year ago.

Using this mortgage calculator, we can see what this means for prospective home buyers, and those with higher mortgage rates who are considering refinancing. (If you do qualify for refinancing, by all means this is a great opportunity to do so.)

Let's use a $200,000 mortgage to see how today's low rates affect a monthly payment:

In this scenario, the cost of a monthly payment over the past year has dropped by more than $120. Over a year's time, that's $1,400+ in savings and, during the course of the 30 year loan, nearly $45,000.

It is anyone's guess how long today's low rates will last, and if it will help stimulate home buying activity. But there's a lot of favorable things happening for prospective buyers. We have record low mortgage rates, home prices that are at 2003 pricing levels, an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and a large inventory of available homes.

Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/FSBO_Guy

How to Hold a Successful Open House

If properly done, holding an Open House is an effective way to generate more marketing exposure and attract interested buyers. But it’s not as simple as tidying up and inviting people to walk through your home.

To get the most out of your Open House, follow these tips:

• Make Sure Your House Is Ready: Just because you put your house on the market doesn’t mean it’s ready for inspection by prospective homebuyers. Your house has only one chance to make a great impression, so make you do a thorough cleaning and make any minor home maintenance projects that would make it more aesthetically pleasing. For helping locating skilled professionals in any home improvement area, visit our free “Find a Pro” section.
  
• Weekends are Best: Open Houses are traditionally held on non-holiday Sunday between 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Let people know that you’re having an Open House by placing directional yard signs at key intersections. ForSaleByOwner.com also lets sellers schedule and advertise their Open House event on their online property ad, and allows buyers to search for properties having upcoming Open Houses.
  
• Stage Your Home: People arrange their furniture and decorations based on their family’s lifestyle and tastes, but buyers are mostly attracted to homes that appear spacious. So you’ll want to stage your house so it makes a great first impression. Here’s more on how to stage a home.
  
• Create a Sign-In Sheet: Create a simple sheet that asks people to provide their name, phone number and e-mail address.
  
• Print Our Property Flyers: Print out plenty of copies of your ForSaleByOwner.com property flyer so that prospective buyers have information on the house and your contact info.
  
• Offer Refreshments: One of the oldest tricks of the trade is baking cookies right before an Open House. It gives the house a pleasant aroma of baked goods and the treats give people a reason to stay and ask questions about the house, which will provide you with more opportunities to talk about its features.
  
• Get Freshly Cut Flowers: Is there a better way to complement your home’s beauty with a vase of freshly cut flowers? Buy them from a local florist so that when people inevitably remark how nice they are, you can ease into a conversation about the terrific shops and restaurants located nearby.
  
• Keep a Professional Mindset: Visitors may make comments about what they do not like about the home. As a “by owner” seller, you have to keep a professional mindset and understand that you are not selling your home but rather a house for others to decorate as they see fit.
  
• Answer Questions About The House: You can never anticipate the wide range of questions that a prospective buyer might ask about the house and local community, but be prepared to answer questions about property taxes and the age of the roof, heating and cooling units, and major appliances. For questions that you don’t know the answer to, tell that you’ll call them with an answer.
  
• Find Out If an Interested Party is Pre-Approved: Not every person who comes through your house will be interested. But for those who ask questions indicating that they might be, don’t be afraid to inquire if they are pre-approved for a mortgage. If they are not, recommend that they contact a financial lender or a mortgage broker to take the necessary steps. They can also begin the pre-approval process here.
  
• Follow-Up: Within a day of your Open House, send a “Thank You” email to everyone who took the time to visit your house. Include a link to your ForSaleByOwner.com listing and ask if they had any questions regarding the house. A few days later, call up each person who visited your Open House and – in a friendly manner – ask if they are considering your house. If they are not, thank them for their time and ask if they have any feedback that might make the house attractive to other buyers. For those that are interested, offer them the opportunity to come back. Without getting your hopes up, be prepared by getting state-specific real estate forms needed to begin the formal sales process.