Blog.ByTheOwner.com

ByTheOwner.com recently had a listing sell in 3 days. While having a home sell in 3 days, is nothing new for ByTheOwner.com, I think it is important to have a close look at why the home sold in 3 days and a close look at how much money the owner’s saved.

The property that sold in 3 days is:

ByTheOwner.com/113981. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, detached home, hardwood on the main floor and carpet on 2nd floor. The listing has fantastic HDR photos taken by our ByTheOwner.com representative (June Morley!), and a great detailed decription provided by the customer. The home received more than 450 views in one week and the seller indicated that they sold for $251,000 and paid NO COMMISSION. That means the owner keeps $251,000 from the sale of their home.

So lets examine the sale of this property a little bit more…

There are 2 other similar homes for sale by agents on mls:

Home number 1: has the same 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, except that it has carpet throughout. The home is listed on mls for $249,900 and if they sell for 98% of asking and pay 5% commission (Plus GST) then the owner will take home $232,045. ($18,955 less that the ByTheOwner.com owner kept from the sale of their home)

Home number 2: has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, and a carpet free 1st floor and carpet on the second floor. The owner is listed on mls for $259,900 and if the home sells for 98% of asking and pay 5% commission (Plus GST), then the owner will take home $241,330 after commissions and taxes. ($9,670 less than the ByTheOwner.com owner kept from the sale of their home)

The ByTheOwner.com customer sold faster and saved more than other simlar homes selling with an agent! Compared to the 2nd property, the buyer also saved money by buying privately! Compared to the 1st property, the buyer only paid $1,100 more for hardwood floors!

That’s a deal for the seller and buyer! That’s ByTheOwner.com!

ByTheOwner.com

The Kitchener Waterloo area has always been a great place to sell privately. ByTheOwner.com has had more than 800 homes sell privately from the KW region at an average time to sell of 43 days! To put those 800 homes sold into perspective: If each home owner saved $15,000 selling with ByTheOwner.com, then that equals more than 12 million dollars saved!

In addition to the sold homes, we also receive many testimonials from our Kitchener - Waterloo sellers.

Sold in 6 weeks
Sold in 3 weeks
Sold in 5 weeks
See all our testimonials

June Morley is our fantastic representative for the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Don’t take our word for it! Here is a blog from one of our customers:

http://www.traderscorner.ca/content/selling-your-home-owner

ByTheOwner.com

It looks like the buyers have returned in 2009. ByTheOwner.com set another record last week with 277,480 website visitors over the past 7 days, breaking the previous record of 271,597 visitors set in the previous week. This is great news!

In addition to website visitors, some of our sellers are reporting more activity and more showings. A few recent forum posts (all ByTheOwner.com customers have access to online forums in their “Your Account” section) mention that ByTheOwner.com sellers have received an offers in 3 - 6 days of listing online.

Contrary to the reports in the newspapers and on television, which are still writing stories based on 2008 news, the real measuring stick for the real estate market can often be seen by feedback from friends and what you can observe yourself. For example, friends looking for a home in Vancouver said that they just came from an open house that had 20 other buyers there! Also, a neighbour’s home for sale in Toronto had 7 visits last weekend.

We are still in a buyer’s market and it is important to have the best price if you want to sell quickly. Selling privately allows you to have the best price and still save money! However, if you see this type of action happening in your neighbourhood, then you know it’s a good time to do the work to sell privately:Have open houses, get those buyer’s into your home, show them that you have the best home, and sell and save!

ByTheOwner.com

The Bank of Canada lowered the rate at with the Canadian Banks can borrow money from the government. It now stands at 1%.

http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1197505

Ideally, you would expect the Banks to pass these savings on to the Canadian consumers. Let us see if the Canadian banks also lower their rates. So far, they have not. The Royal Bank’s 10 year mortgage rate stands at 5.9%. This means the Royal Bank can borrow money at 1% but consumers need to pay 5.9%.

ByTheOwner.com

Last week ByTheOwner.com set a record for most weekly online visitors!

From Monday, January 12th to Sunday, January 18th, more than 271, 597 visitors came to the ByTheOwner.com websites. This is more than our previous record of 266,094 visitors set in March of 2007.

This shows that not only do sellers see the benefits of selling privately, but so do the buyers. On each private sale, there is approximately 5% of the home’s value that can be saved by not using a real estate agent. In a buyer’s market, the private seller is able to have the most attractive price in the neighbourhood!

Buying and selling privately is the best way to go!

ByTheOwner.com

According to an article in the Toronto Star, the Bank of Canada will be making cuts to the prime interest rate on January 20th. Here is a link to an interesting article from the Toronto Star:

Bank of Canada set to cut interest rates again

ByTheOwner.com

Since the beginning of the financial crisis in September, the Bank of Canada has been lowering the rate at which it lends to financial institutions such as the big 5 Canadian bank. The Bank of Canada lending rate is now at a all time low. This means that the Canadian banks are able to borrow money very inexpensively. However, since September, there has not been a great decrease in the posted mortgage rates.

For example in 2005, it was possible to obtain a 10 year mortgage for 5%, however, recently, 10 year mortgage rates were well over 6% even though the banks can borrow money from the Bank of Canada at the lowest rate ever! It seemed like the Canadian banks were borrowing money at a low rate, but not passing those savings on to the consumers. (Perhaps trying to make as much money as they could to cover their sinking investments and bad debts).

However, it looks like one of the big 5 banks has stepped up and lowered their mortgage rate. Royal Bank is now posting a 5.9% rate on a 10 year mortgage. This is even lower than PCfinancial and INGdirect which usually have the lowest rates. Kudos to the Royal Bank for passing some of their savings to consumers. (Athought this rate should still be lower if they are borrowing money from the Bank of Canada at all time low rates).

These lower rates are great news for buyers and sellers because the lower the rates go, the more affordable homes become for the buyers and this results in more home sales, which is good for the sellers!

To compare more mortgage rates check our RateSupermarket.ca

ByTheOwner.com

After having more than 11 years experience in helping Canadian’s sell their home privately and save money, ByTheOwner.com is now offering all our customers a complete DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. We are so confident that our customers can sell privately and save more money than using a real estate agent, that we are willing to guarantee it!

Why offer a money back guarantee?

ByTheOwner.com wants everyone to know that selling privately will help you save the most money from the sale of your property. We want all our customers to be confident that they are choosing the best method to sell their home and save. Our guarantee will show everyone that selling privately is the best way to go. If we are incorrect, and an agent can net you more money from the sale of your home, we will not only refund you your ByTheOwner.com subscription fees, we will refund you DOUBLE your ByTheOwner.com subscription fees!

How it works:

If you try selling privately with ByTheOwner.com and then you list with an agent and net more from the sale of your home than you were asking on ByTheOwner.com, then we will refund you DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK*.

* Some Conditions apply. Please contact ByTheOwner.com for details.

Click here for more information

On Monday the British Columbia Real Estate Board announced that in 2008 the province saw a housing sales drop of 33%. The average price home peaked in March at $483,291 but fell 11 percent to $429,210 in December.

So who will fair best in such an environment?

Only those who take advantage of all the resources available to them and take an aggressive approach when selling their home….a lion like approach. Private home sellers can now have a financial flexibility and have an aggressive advantage over their neighbours who are using traditional methods.

Just by looking at the current BC average sale price of $429,210 this results in over $25,000 of savings if commissions are not paid out.(based upon 6% standard real estate fee). With a $25,000 flexibility you can take a big bite out of the competition and have the necessary edge needed to sell your home amid current market conditions.

Vancouver Sun Article

ByTheOwner BC!

The words you use to describe your property for sale can make a significant impact on the buyers. A recent article has quoted research studies from the University of Guelph and it identifies which words have the greatest impact on buyers. For example, the article mentions that “homes about which the seller was “motivated” actually took 15 percent longer to sell, while houses listed as “handyman specials” flew off the market in half the average time”.

Another interesting point is that “Words that suggested desirable attributes - “granite,” “maple,” “gourmet” - translated into a higher sale price”. You will notice from the list below, that specific details and specifics facts about your property matter much more to buyers than generic statements such as “good value”, or “motivated seller”. 

Although a correctly priced home (based on comparable sales and the market-value in your neighbourhood), is the most important factor in selling, a good description can also make a difference. Sellers who take the time and effort to give buyers specific details that are Positive and factually verifiable comments about their home,

Words That Help a Listing: • handyman special • curb appeal • move-in condition • landscaping • granite • gourmet • golf Words That Can Hurt: • motivated seller • good value • as-is • clean • quiet • new paint

ByTheOwner.com