Blog.ByTheOwner.com

ByTheOwner.com will have 3 representatives at the 2007 Mesh Conference.

The Mesh Conference is Canada’s premier Web conference, and it is being held in Toronto on May 30th & 31st, 2007. It is a chance to connect with people who are excited about the potential of the Web– people who want to know more about how it is changing the way we live, work and interact with the world.

We are looking forward to discussing the internet, ByTheOwner.com and finding ways to improve our business.

You can check out Matthew Ingram’s blog for some highlights: http://www.mathewingram.com/work 

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The Royal Bank of Canada’s Mortgage website has tips for selling your own home. They do point out all the money that can be saved selling privately and they also mention “pitfalls” to selling your own home.

ByTheOwner.com thinks it’s great that Canada’s Largest Bank has discussed selling privately on their website. However, we do have some suggestions on how they can improve this section of their site…

1) They mention that you “probably want to engage the expertise of a notary or real estate lawyer”. ByTheOwner would suggest that this is a “definite” as opposed to a “probably”. Calling a lawyer is the first step in our guide.

2) The Royal Bank’s second point is “Designing a real estate marketing plan” which links to a section about “Using a real estate agent”. While we agree that a Marketing Plan is very important, we know that you don’t need an agent to do this! More help on creating a Marketing Plan can be found on page 14 of our guide.

3) One of the “pitfalls” that they mention is “Limited Marketing Exposure”. We agree that we do not yet have the exposure of mls, however, 40% of home on mls do not sell! Our success rate ranges from 50-60% depending on the area, so we have a similar success rate to homes on mls! So obviously mls is not a big factor in selling your home.

4) The other pitfall they mention is and “Attracting Serious Buyers”. This is where we feel that the Royal Bank needs to improve or at least back their statements up with facts! They mention “Typically, people who visit FSBO properties are either “just looking” or bargain hunters”. What source did they get this from? ByTheOwner.com has not had this comment often in our testimonials or feedback. People can “look” at mls or bytheowner.com so we are not sure how this applies to for sale by owner homes. Having the photos and info easily available for buyers eliminates most of the “lookers”, but anyone who has a house for sale or an open house with or without an agent will get “lookers”.

All in all, the Royal Bank’s Website on selling your home is quite good, with lots of good tips and advice. Perhaps a few small changes and perhaps mentioning ByTheOwner.com when selling your home privately and their website would be even better!

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

Other notable cities with 7 listings or less incude: Ajax, Alliston, Aylmer, Bala, Beamsville, Belleville, Blue mountains, bolton, Cambridge, Collingwood, Dundalk, Fort Erie, Georgetown, Gravenhurst, Hawkesbury, Hunstville, Innisfil, Maple, Midland, Milton, Mount Forest, New Hamburg, Oakville, Orangeville, Orleans, Ottawa, Peterbourough, Pickering, Picton, Port Carling, Rockland, St. Thomas, Tillsonburg, , Whitby, Wasaga Beach.

ByTheOwner.com

ByTheOwner.com set a new record today! We just had a $1,400,000 Lot in Muskoka sell privately in less than 1 month! This is the most expensive property that we have ever had sell on our website! And of course this sets a new record for the most commissions saved!

Real Estate commissions in Muskoka vary, so lets look at how much this ByTheOwner.com customer saved at the different commission rates:

At 7% commission - $98,000 Saved!

At 6% commission - $84,000 Saved!

At 5% commission - $70,000 Saved!

Can you imagine how many years you would have to work to save that amount of money?

Can you imagine what you could buy with that amount of money?

Could you imagine if you had paid that amount of money to a real estate agent?

Contratulations on selling privately and saving a lot of money!

www.bytheowner.com

ByTheOwner.com / DuProprio.com is seeing a slight change in our customer base. When we first started out in Quebec city in 1997, we were mainly a new advertising form for people who were already selling privately. Owners who were accustom to using newspapers and small signs to sell their home privately, realized that posting photos online and using professional signs made a huge difference in increasing the number of potential buyers, reducing unnecessary calls, and making it easier to sell.

As we continue to grow, we are seeing more and more owners who would not have necessarily considered selling privately, until they saw our signs and visited our website. Our testimonials show that more often than before, our clients are people who are selling privately for the first time. For many of our recent clients, it was the first time they sold privately and we see words like “Surprised”, “Amazed” in our testimonials.

“I was very surprised with how very little work it was”

“The interest in our property was beyond our expectations”

“As a first time seller, this has been a great 1st experience for us.”

“This is the first time I tried to sell my home privately. Not only was it easier than I thought it would be, but I also sold in just over 2 weeks.”

Another comment we are seeing is that once people sell privately, they will not use an agent again…

“This is the second sale of our house through the service. My family now saved over 50K in agency fees over the past year.”

“We would do this again in a flash”

“Definitely would use this service again”

“This is the third home I have sold using ByTheOwner”

“We would definitely use this method again!!!!”

“I will never sell with a realtor ever again”

Unfortunately, a comment that we often see in our testimonials is that our clients had to deal with the constant calls from real estate agents.

“No matter what real estate agents tell you, don’t lose your faith “

“As expected we heard from many agents that were nay sayers, telling us we would not be able to sell our house on our own.”

“It is really sad that every realestate agent (or at least MOST) will call you and reassure that YOU are INCAPABLE of selling privately.”

“Don’t be discouraged by agents telling you your doing the wrong thing by selling by owner”

“The agents will tell you homes do not sell ByTheOwner but I have successfully sold twice now using their service.”

“We had numerous, and I mean numerous realtors approach us and offer to sell our house for between 220 000$ to 240 000$. One thing you must realize is that many realtors will quote you an unreasonably high sale price as a means of “buying” your listing, only to have your house sit on the market while others sell.”

“…most importantly do not to get distracted by realtors. We will never go with Real Estate Representation ever again “

We find our testimonials to be a great source of information for our clients. Many people describe the process and provide tips and advice. If you would like more information on how to sell your home privately, you can download our guide to selling your home privately.

www.bytheowner.com

Google has developed a section of their site for advertising homes for sale. Currently they are just looking at advertising properties in the US. Here is a link to the blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/homes-not-just-homepages.html

Here is the link to their homes site:

http://base.google.com

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CityNews talked about ByTheOwner.com in August 2006. Click here to see the video »

Also, ByTheOwner.com has been featured on A-Channel news in London, Dec. 2006. Click to start the video.

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There was a fantastic article entitled “When selling home, truth is best policy” in the Toronto Star on Saturday, May 12, 2007.

The article is written by a Real Estate Lawyer and it discusses the importance of being honest when selling a home. The article also questions a form, which real estate agents give to their clients to complete, that offers protection only for the agent, and also leaves the seller open to legal repercussions!

The article discusses a document which real estate agents use called a “Property Condition Disclosure Statement” (PCDS). This is a form which agents give to their clients to complete. At the bottom of the form is a disclaimer that states the real estate agents involved assume no liability or responsibility for the accuracy of the disclosure. This disclaimer is for “the benefit of the realtor only and not for the vendor”. The article describes an example where the owner filled out the PCDS and stated that a well was in good working order, but when the new buyers moved in, the well was dry. The sellers had to pay $46,393 to replace the well.
The author offers some lessons at the end of the article:

1) Sellers should never sign a Sellers Property Information Statement. (If you do sign one, you “should keep the name of a good litigation lawyer handy.”)

2) Buyers should always make their own investigations. These include home inspection and where there is no municipal water service, a well driller’s certificate and potability test.

3) Both buyers and sellers should bear in mind that the disclaimer “is for the benefit of the realtor only”

4) It’s always a good idea to have an agreement of purchase and sale reviewed by a real estate lawyer before it is signed. There is no such thing as a simple real estate deal”.

Why would Realtor’s provide their clients with a document which protects the Realtor, and at the same time leaves the seller open to litigation? Real Estate Agents often advertise that they have the “Legal know-how”. Here is a quote from the Canadian Real Estate Association’s website (howrealtorshelp.ca): “A mishandled document can ruin a sale, or lead to legal action. Your Realtor has the experience to recognize potential hurltes early…”. Based on the article above, you have to wonder who’s interest is protected if you use an agent?

As mentioned by the author, “It is always a good idea to have the agreement of purchase and sale reviewed by a real estate lawyer before it is signed”. This is what ByTheOwner.com recommends in our guide to selling privately. Our advice is to not sign anything until your lawyer has reviewed the contract and your lawyer has answered all your questions. After all, who is more educated on Real Estate Law, Realtors or Lawyers?
The full article can be seen at :

http://www.thestar.com/Athome/article/212301

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ByTheOwner.com recent had another property sell in one day. That makes a total of 131 properties that have sold in less than 24 hours on our site (we have another 69 properties that sold in 2 days!). It just goes to show that you never know who is ready to purchase your home, or who is looking to buy in your neighbourhood.
Our lastest 1 day sale in Guelph sold for $174,000. Had he gone with an agent, he would have paid more than $9,000 in real estate fees (5% + GST). Imagine paying that for 1 day of work!!!

Congratulations on saving $9,000 in one day!

http://www.bytheowner.com

As my last article discussed the staging techniques of an empty house, I thought it appropriate to present the staging challenges and benefits of a lived in property.

Home Staging is a real estate service which focuses on increasing the value of a property by making it look its best. Home Staging helps to sell a house quickly and for most money.

Most people continue to live in their home until it’s sold. So, staging a lived in home presents its challenges, as it’s not always possible to make and KEEP it perfect all the time. But there are some basic things that can and need to be done.
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