Sell Your Home Without an Agent and Save Money

CHICAGO, April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ForSaleByOwner.com will offer homeowners tips for saving thousands of dollars by self-listing their homes in an upcoming segment of home improvement program "Designing Spaces" on Lifetime TV. In the episode airing Thursday, April 12, 2012, at 8:30 a.m. [CST], ForSaleByOwner.com tours a Florida home currently on the market and addresses how to sell the home without an agent, keeping more money in the sellers' pockets.

During the educational segment titled "Smart Advice for Home Owners," ForSaleByOwner.com discusses strategies that allow independently minded sellers to navigate the home-selling process themselves while avoiding seller's agent commissions. This must-watch TV segment for homeowners covers the benefits and basic steps of listing by owner, from preparing to sell, setting a price and marketing, to negotiating and closing.

With online listings now available to anyone, the by-owner market has changed dramatically from the days when homeowners would simply put a yard sign in front of their house. ForSaleByOwner.com Director of Business Matt Brown visits ForSaleByOwner.com Listing ID #23235136 to explain how by-owner sellers can get an MLS listing without a full-service agent. Brown also walks viewers through the basic steps of how to prepare, price, market, show, negotiate and close.

"We believe anyone can sell their home on their own with the right tools and information," said Eddie Tyner, Vice President of Tribune Digital Marketplaces and General Manager of ForSaleByOwner.com. "By providing the same tools and resources previously only available to real estate agents, ForSaleByOwner.com continues to equip sellers with everything they need to save thousands of dollars while also providing buyers with a hassle-free platform to find their next homes."

Viewers of the "Designing Spaces" segment will receive a special code for a free 14-day listing trial on ForSaleByOwner.com, where they can find a variety of products and online tools to help them reach millions of buyers.

Last year the typical by-owner home received, on average, 98% of its asking price compared to the 95% received for homes listed with agent assistance(i). That three percent difference can amount to thousands of dollars saved during the sale of a home.

A recent study shows that nearly 90% of home buyers rely on Internet listings when searching for their new homes.(i) ForSaleByOwner.com helps sellers get their property in front of a large audience by leveraging the same online tools available to an agent, including a package that lists a property on the MLS.

For more homeowners' tips and tools, follow us on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/ForSaleByOwnerDotCom and Twitter, http://twitter.com/#!/forsalebyowner.

About ForSaleByOwner.com ForSaleByOwner.com is the nation's leading by-owner real estate website, connecting home sellers with home buyers since 1999. The company offers a wide range of listing packages priced from $85 to $699, plus advertising, information, tools and resources to empower people to sell their homes themselves.

In 2011 alone, ForSaleByOwner.com customers saved over $82 million(ii) in commissions on total home sales of more than $2.7 billion.

By selling a home without a real estate agent, sellers can save thousands of dollars by eliminating the commissions and fees a full-service agent would command. A homeowner selling a $300,000 house through a full-service real estate agent would forfeit up to $18,000 of their hard-earned home equity, based on the traditional 6% commission rate that has become the industry norm. ForSaleByOwner.com was acquired in 2006 by Tribune Digital, a division of Tribune Company, based in Chicago, IL.

(i) NAR, Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2011
(ii) Based on sellers paying a 2% commission to the agent representing the buyers of their homes as opposed to paying a full 6% real estate commission.

SOURCE ForSaleByOwner.com