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For Sale By Owner
 ........serving the Florida Gulf Coast counties of Lee and Charlotte
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Consumer AlertQ: When is a FSBO site not a "for sale by owner" website?A: When it's a mortgage seller or realtor® lead generation system!SELLERS BEWARE There are many mortgage brokers and real estate agents/brokers trying to exploit the "for sale by owner" market to increase their leads. Their primary mission is not to create a strong FSBO homeselling forum to give you maximum market exposure.These sites exist to either subtly undermine and sabotage your sales effort so they can be there to "rescue" you and make a big commission (in the case of the realtor®) or get between you and potential buyers (the mortgage seller) to sell mortgages, not your house! The "FSBO" website owned by a real estate licensee is designed to have low traffic! The strategy is to create a strong sense of obligation and indebtedness on the part of the homeseller to the real estate agent/broker with a very low likelihood of actually closing a FSBO sale. The licensee will "assist" the homeseller in their FSBO attempt by providing a FSBO website and other marketing assistance, none of which actually reaches homebuyers. The homeseller, if not an Internet savvy consumer, will think they're leveraging the power and reach of the Internet when they are actually effectively hidden from the homebuying public. When the homeseller realizes there is no interest in their property (and how could there be when they've fallen into this trap?) they naturally start to believe the licensee's claims that they need a "professional." Of course, after all the "help" the licensee has provided you know who'll get the listing! In the case of the mortgage broker, it's every bit as bad. These people quietly, gradually, but invariably turn the homeseller into their own mortgage seller. They'll have the homeseller handing out their sales information to every buyer visiting the seller's open houses. Many will intercept all inquiries intended for you so they can get to the buyer first. All they really want to do is sell mortgages to buyers. They know that nearly all potential buyers will eventually need a mortgage. Their goal is not to see that any particular buyer buys your property or that your property ever sells. Rather, they want to sell mortgages to every one of your prospects. You and your property are only the bait in the mortgage seller's mouse trap. Whether the cheese is ever touched is not their concern. |
