To answer David's question, the house went under contract in early July, but your websites were definitely helpful, because I did not know about many of them until you mentioned it. I gave you a 'helpful' rating on your post :) I think the biggest asset that I have with a FSBO is the ability to give more concessions, such as price reductions or other buyer incentives, when needed.

I am curious to know what you thought your biggest asset was as a FSBO? Did any of my free sites help? congratulations.....

Yay! Congratulations, Lina!
Way to go!

Yes, I sold the house in July. Thanks to everyone for your answers!

So, what happened? Did you sell the house? I really like to know the ending of the story.
Marketing is more than putting a sign in the yard and listing it on MLS; what did you do and how did that work for you?

Also, I am not a fan of for sale by owner for multiple reasons that I wont bore you with but if I had to go the FREE route I would surely use a couple of sites:
http://www.craigslist.com http://www.livedeals.com http://www.oodle.com http://www.hotpads.com http://www.alamode.com


If I think of any others I will be happy to let you know. How is the process going for you right now.....

oh, by the way...when posting to these sites you can try http://www.postlets.com

Good luck!!

David Van Noy Jr
(816) 536-SOLD

In Michael's response back on June 27th he mentioned that your pricing is 85% more than what you paid for the property four months ago. A note of caution: visit hud.gov, search "flipping". Should a buyer want an FHA mortgage on this property, there are special conditions which need to be met. FHA may require two appraisals, and the buyer may not pay for the second one . You also may be required to provide invoices for materials and/or work done to substantiate your pricing.

Best regards,
Nan Gerike
Sr Sales Executive
Reece & Nichols Realtors
ABR, GRI, WHS
913-522-6530

Through a little research just on 66214, there are 38 active homes in all price ranges in your area and in this area about 6 homes a month sell. Using a basic absorption rate model the amount of inventory you have about 6 months supply of homes in the LISTED category. The key is that the people who are doing everything right have 6 months to wait if they are average. What you need to do is list with an agent, not because you are not intelligent enough about the process but for many different reasons that buyers use agents, agents sell homes through maximum exposure and negotiating directly just psychologically doesn't work. Then, you need to be the BEST home for the BEST price right now to beat the odds.

1. Power agent, and
2. BEAT the averages

I know this sounds like a salespersons answer but the statistics back it up and the results dont lie. You have identified that the MLS is an important part of the process and the other 7 major factors are what you are missing. Good luck to you, it sounds like you are working down the right path. I hope you get it SOLD soon.. or call 816 536 SOLD

There are currently 15 Active Listings in 66214
1 Accepting Back Up Offers
6 with Contracts Pending
7 Sold in the last 90 days. Low price= $166500; high price = 241000
Days on market for each of the Solds listed in MLS = 7,7,16,6,4,13,6
The Average Days on Market for the month of July is 33days (per heartland MLS)
I did not compute the average number of days on market for the Active Listings because I know from the numbers I crunched on someone else's behalf this morning that the top 10% of homes sold in the first 30 days they were on the market.
What made them sell that fast in this market?
They were priced right; best condition; and marketed well from day one.
Best of luck to you.

by the way, the answer is 149 days...average

Hi Lina,

There is nothing wrong with trying to sell FSBO. When trying to find what the homes true market value is, dont get hung up onthe hoems currently on the market. Make sure you concentrate on comparables that have sold in the area or subdivision, those will be the best indicator of value. The county appraissal is often irrelevant to value as well so dont worry about what that price is at or what it was at. Good luck with your sale.

Mike

Thanks to everyone for the quick response to my question! When I had first purchased this home, it was a fixer upper and the county tax appraisal was ~$108,000 for 2007. I had the place fixed up only to find out that the tax appraisal for 2008 was reduced (probably because of the condition of the property at the time of the appraisal as well as the overall market condition). I have the home listed at $109,900 right now, which is one of the lowest priced 3 bedroom, 2 bath homes in Overland Park. It seems like I just need to have more patience as we ARE in a slower market right now. Due to the effort I've already invested in listing the property myself, I plan to keep this as a FSBO for now and hopefully, it will sale without me having to reduce the price further :)

I orignally responded to this post to help Lina with the question at hand, not defend myself from Joe's response that insinuated to question the honesty in my answer..so this is my last response and Im done with my point:

Of course buyers look online for homes (83% actually as of the last survey by NAR), the internet is by far my number one marketing tool, but if you noticed I said..."if you do not have an agent with a business plan that can effectively market your home (by many means) then just putting a home in the MLS is almost worthless". This does not mean the MLS is worthless or that people dont use the internet to find homes. If you put a home in the MLS, that doesnt automatically mean it is effective marketing. The MLS is only a small part of the marketing of a home (since the MLS itself is actually not public) the IDX feed I assume is what you meant since that is what is public but lets just use the MLS data that is entered as an example here...lets not get into how important it is to have a user friendly website that allows for many different search features (of the homes in the IDX feed) and maximizes the exposure of your listings. Since it is the website itself , not only its content that attract buyers to the site. But again, I wont get into that right now, lets just talk the listing being entered in the MLS itself.

Is the information thorough, accurate, and descriptive? Are there the maximum images aloud by the MLS? Are these quality images preferbly taken with a wide angle lense that maximizes the features of the home? Is there a virtual tour or video to set your homes apart from the other 100's of homes on the market? Is the school information filled out so the home will show up on School searches? Are the marketing remarks descriptive and filled out in a way for optimization on search engines and other IDX sites with keyword search capabilities? Is your listing effectively being marketed to attract the most amount of showings from buyers agents as well as buyers? Is your listing buyers agent friendly? Is the home priced properly in the MLS? Did one's agent use comparable solds to determine what price to put the home into the MLS for? Does one's agent have comparable data prepared to use as ammunition in an attempt to get an offer from showings that have taken place on the home (or when negotiating with a buyers agent when an offer does come in?) . And that is just a small example of how different the range of effectiveness of listings in the MLS can be.

You can find (several times) references on this site provided by realtors that 80% of home buyers look online before visiting a home. Real Estate 2.0.1 is that there is more transparency than ever. You can look at county websites to see what homes in the area sold for, you can see pictures of most homes online. If you would be more comfortable with someone doing the work for you hire an agent, if for 3% you don't mind getting your hands dirty do it yourself.

In response to Joes remark:

"an honest real estate agent would tell you that the majority of activity is on the MLS"

If that were the case, sites like Trulia would not exist. Agents who do not know any better would tell you that. Real Estate 2.0 has changed how people find homes.

Mike

Lina - I have sold two homes FSBO and would encourage to you stick to your guns. I have also sold a home with an agent and in nearly every case the showings were from the MLS listing. I can't address if you are priced high or low or what your current market is but an honest real estate agent would tell you that the majority of activity is on the MLS.

Hi Lina,

It is important to remember that if you do not have an agent with a business plan that can effectively market your home (by many means) then just putting a home in the MLS is almost worthless.

While the slow market and low demand for half duplexes does hurt...It seems to me that one issue you also are having is that the only half duplexes to sell in your subdivision in the past 2 years for over 100K each had a garage and were 14.795% larger then your home. I know you have recently refinished the entire home but the 85% increase is asking price from when you bought it 4 months ago is probably a stretch. If your improvement costs were such that you have to sell your home for its current asking price then you probably over developed the home for its size (especially since the home does not have a garage). I am not trying to be harsh or offend you, I am only being honest.

Mike

Through a little research just on 66214, there are 38 active homes in all price ranges in your area and in this area about 6 homes a month sell. Using a basic absorption rate model the amount of inventory you have about 6 months supply of homes in the LISTED category. The key is that the people who are doing everything right have 6 months to wait if they are average. What you need to do is list with an agent, not because you are not intelligent enough about the process but for many different reasons that buyers use agents, agents sell homes through maximum exposure and negotiating directly just psychologically doesn't work. Then, you need to be the BEST home for the BEST price right now to beat the odds.

1. Power agent, and
2. BEAT the averages

I know this sounds like a salespersons answer but the statistics back it up and the results dont lie. You have identified that the MLS is an important part of the process and the other 7 major factors are what you are missing. Good luck to you, it sounds like you are working down the right path. I hope you get it SOLD soon.. or call 816 536 SOLD