Barbara Grassey

I have attended Lydias ebay class and found it extremely powerful. Over 70 percent of people start their home search on the internet; people who aren’t using the web are getting left behind. eBay is a very inexpensive way to advertise your property and create a buyers’ list if you are an investor or an agent.

Both my parents were real estate brokers, so I am not anti-broker, HOWEVER, I can see that real estate agents are going the way of travel agents. Only the best and most professional will be left standing. People have discovered that finding a good real estate agent, especially in Florida where they seem to hand out R.E. Licenses along with the orange juice at the Welcome Rest Station, is a difficult task. In a market like this, you want an agent who has been around for about 25-30years -- someone who went through the down market of the 80s and understands seller financing and how to structure deals. A large difference between this down market and the 80s market is that the internet wasnt around in the 80s. We now have access to a global marketplace. Many of our buyers will be coming from overseas where their money is strong against our declining dollar.

A good agent is a treasure, but I still don’t sign listing contracts. I pay the agent who brings me the buyer. With 19,000 listings on the local MLS and about 700 sales, I think I would rather take care of my most important asset myself. And that means that I do everything I can to sell the house -- ebay, 5 day auction method, co-marketing, postcards, owner financing, incentives for the buyer, websites, all the free listing sites on the net. People who are afraid to leverage technology are going to be left in the dust. And any agent who is not using all the means at their disposal to sell their listings is doing their clients a grave disservice. If $997 is too much for you to spend to educate yourself -- well. Try to calculate the cost of ignorance. - Wed Jun 11 2008, 12:42