Alternative Agent/Real Estate Service in Utah

[slcbyowner]

I operate a for sale by owner site: slcbyowner. We are actually the largest strictly for sale by owner site in Utah. Even though most buyers and sellers don't realize this, forsalebyowner dotcom and owners dotcom are really just fronts for traditional agents, and despite their titles, actually allow/encourage agents to use their service.

Before you groan and shoot off an email or response claiming I am not an agent, think about how the role of an agent is changing. You can try to hold it off by claiming that as an agent you offer more than just information (i.e., the sacred access to the MLS), or you can ride the wave of change and partner with modern forms of information sharing.

Either way, I appreciate discussion about real estate and hope that we can benefit from each other's perspectives.

[hbocat.com]

I took a look at the site. Well organized and you have a good amount of inventory. I also like the yard sign. What has worked best for your marketing efforts? I also saw that you mentioned on one of your listings that it was provided by craigs list, what did you mean provided?

Do you plan to offer MLS flat fee? Virtual Tours?...etc

Cheers,

[slcbyowner]

We've considered partnering with an agent so that we can offer flat fee MLS listings. It's funny, people hesitate to pay $25 to list on our site, but will not think twice about paying $500 for an MLS listing (that will bring buyers agents who will expect 2-3% commission). So we'd like to humor them and offer that service; on the other hand, we started this business because we don't like the whole concept of the MLS and we'd hate to support its continued existance.

We do put our homes on craig's list, as well as a few other online "classified" type sites. Between that and having our signs in yards around town, we do seem to attract a decent amount of buyers.

Not sure about virtual tours--we allow 10 photos. I think once you've seen 10 photos you should have a pretty good idea about whether or not you are interested in a home. Adding a virtual tour seems to be overkill, but I might be wrong.

Thanks for your interest. Are you an agent? Any ideas about how to go about partnering with an agent if we choose to go that route?

[hbocat.com]

I was concerned that we would have difficulty finding a broker, but I had done appraisals a couple of years back when in college and decided to ask the appraiser if he wanted to use his license. He said yes, then changed his mind due to cold feet and posibly not being prepared to handle a high volume. After that, we found another broker that was providing a similar service as us and agreed to give us a break on the price from the public and do the flat fee for us. I saw on craigs list in our area someone advertising the service for $200.00 (we could still charge the market avg of $400), but they never replied when I e-mailed them.

We are also looking into what it would take to model after Redfin and Buyside Realty services. Those will be the big boys in rebates for buyers.

[slcbyowner]

In our area it is blueroof (rebate/flatfee/fsbo). I've also read about redline (seattle, I think?) in the NY Times. These services on the surface seem revolutionary, which scared us at first (scared not because we rely on income from our site--we started the site mainly because we hated being forced to work with agents to buy our home--a long story). However, we looked at blueroof dot com and it still has the same problem as the mls--they don't really let buyers connect with sellers. Home addresses are not listed, buyer contact information is not listed. Like the MLS, it still seems like they are trying to make money by LIMITING information to buyers and sellers, and keeping them separate. Their value, then, is in the information they guard, not in the service they offer. This is just an old model. If anything, I think services like blueroof, redfin, etc. are just transitional to a larger, looming change in real estate. Information should be free. Service should come at a cost.

I have to keep deleting because I'm preaching. Your site, by the way, is beautiful. What are your plans for getting the word out to sellers/buyers?

[hbocat.com]

Thanks for the compliment on the looks of the website. I did the graphics and layout while a buddy that promotes the software accrisoft did the back end work.

I recieved a responce back from the Sarasota Herald that HBOCAT.com would be featured in their real estate business column on the 16th. We are starting our marketing clock the day of that article. We will likely do newpaper inserts. The other angle I am using is attracting part time field reps throughout the state on craigs list. We are giving away $10 for every sign they give away and commissions on services sold (mls, virtual tour). We where given pricing to be in Homes and Land, but when I called on of the publishers in Miami, they refused to list any companies that promoted FSBO's.

Each day brings about new marketig ideas.