Blog.ByTheOwner.com

ByTheOwner.com is Canada’s Largest FSBO website with an average of more than 150 000 weekly unique visitors in 2007. Below is our March 2007 inventory of our current active listings of for-sale-by-owner homes. These are homes for sale with no agents: Private sales

We also have for sale by owner homes listed in the following cities:

Elmvale, Etobicoke, King City, Maple, Ottawa, Strathroy, Tweed, Wasaga Beach, Baden, Bala, Bayshore Village, Blenheim, Blind River, Brantford, Brighton, Bruce Mines, Buckhorn, Caledon, Chatham, East York, Elgin, Embro, Fergus, Forest, French River, Georgetown, Harriston, Keswick, Kilworthy, L’Orignal, Lambton Shores, Lindsay, Listowel, Magnetawan, Midhurst, Milverton, Morpeth, Owen Sound, Paisley, Peterborough, Picton, Port McNicoll, Port Severn, Port Stanley, Severn Bridge, Smith Falls, Sprucedale, St Josephs, Tiny Township, Turkey Point, Tyendinaga, Washago, Acton, Alban, Alexandria, Angus, Arden, Ariss, Arthur, Aylmer, Barry’s Bay, Baysville, Beaverton, Bloomfield, Bridgenorth, Bright, Britt, Burks Falls, Caesarea, Campbellville, Carlisle, Casselman, Castleton, Chalk River, Clarence Creek, Clifford, Cloyne, Coboconk, Cochrane, Concord, Conn, Consecon, Corbyville, Courtice, Crystal Beach, Damascus, Delhi, Drayton, Drumbo, Dundas, Dunnville, Elora, Emsdale, Erin, Fenelon Falls, Flesherton, Fonthill, Gananoque, Glanbrook, Glen Robertson, Glencairn, Gloucester, Gooderham, Hanover, Havelock, Hillsburgh, Ingersoll, Inverary, Iron Bridge, Kapuskasing, Kearney, Kerwood, Kingston, Lagoon City, Lake Joseph, Lake Muskoka, Lefaivre, Manitoulin Island, Marlbank, Maxwell, Mckeller, Melbourne, Merrickville, Minden, Monkland, Mount Brydges, New Tecumseth, Newcastle, Newmarket, Newtonville , Niagara-on-the-lake, Norwich, Port Sydney, Portland, Pottageville, Powassan, Priceville, Ramara, Ramara, Rexdale, Ridgetown, Shanty Bay, Sherkston, Stouffville, Stratford, Thamesford, Thessalon, Thorndale, Trout Creek, Waterdown, Wellesley, Wendover, Wiarton, Wingham, Wolfe Island

http://www.bytheowner.com

ByTheOwner.com was present last weekend at the Kitchener-Waterloo Home and Garden Show at the Kitchener Auditorium. It was a fantastic weekend, as we spoke to thousands of people about for sale by owner and selling your home privately. It was great to meet some of our past clients who sold their home with ByTheOwner, and it was great to meet future clients who will be using us to sell in the near future. Dianne (Kitchener-Waterloo Rep), William (Sales Manager) and Joanne (Director of Builders and Developers) were present to talk to all the home show visitors. We were amazed how everyone had heard about us, seen our signs around, or knew someone who sold with us. We asked everyone passing our booth if they had seen us before, and everyone responded with: “For sure, I seen your signs everywhere”. We would like to thank all the people who came to see us this weekend and we look forward to returning to the home show next year.

http://www.bytheowner.com

ByTheOwner.com is Canada’s Largest FSBO website with an average of more than 150 000 weekly unique visitors in 2007. Below is our March 2007 ranking of our Top Canadian cities for “For sale by owner” (FSBO) sold homes in Ontario.

http://www.bytheowner.com

A recent article in the Durham Homes Magazine points out the importance of a good credit score when applying for a mortgage. A score between 550 and 750 in usually required to obtain a loan. The score is calculated by considering your past payments punctuality, amount of current debt, credit history, and types of credit used. An important note is that recent searches on your credit history account for 10% of your score, so do not let a lot of companies do credit searches on your history!

 Here are some ways to increase your score:

- Always pay your bills ASAP (at least 4 days before they are due)

- Keep your credit card balances below 50%

- Use one credit card often (but pay it off)

- Avoid having too many open lines of credit

- Do not cancel old credit cards (Unless you have other cards)

- Do not ask to reduce your credit (It lowers your ratio and it will hurt your score)

Your credit history is really important and it takes a long time to fix, so look after it!

Year to date, ByTheOwner.com’s sold properties increased 32% in 2007, as 691 properties were sold during January and February, 2007. This compares with 523 properties sold during the same period in 2006 for an increase of 32% year over year.

New listings increased 60% for the first 2 months of 2007, from 982 new listings during January and February, 2006 to 1,566 new listings in 2007. Currently ByTheOwner.com has an online inventory of 3,700 properties for sale. Website traffic has jumped from 100,000 weekly unique visitors in 2006, to 170,000 weekly unique visitors in 2007. 

Based on the increase in new listings and weekly visitors leading up to the busy spring buying time, ByTheOwner.com in predicting further growth in sold properties for 2007.

Staging a Home for sale will cost you money. Is it worth spending time and effort on it ? After all, once the decision to sell has been made, you just want to get it over with as fast as possible, right ? I hope not, as your house is probably the biggest investment you have made. Stop thinking about it as a «home» and start looking for the biggest return possible on your investment.

(more…)