Thought i'd post real quick about one of the new things i've really been working towards with getting listings.

I've started calling 4 FSBOs a day to schedule previews and meet the homeowners. So far it's working quite well overall , i'm pretty surprised the numbers are working in my favor.

Anyone want to share their #s on how FSBOs are working for them? I came up with a spreadsheet the other day to calculate how many i need to call/contact and followup with to get enough listings to bring in the income I want.

Anyone want to share numbers so I can know how many more to call? One issue i've been worrying about is how many FSBOs are in my area, at any given time, there are only about 30 or so in my county.

Any thoughts?

How do you search for FSBOs? drive by? or search online? i've seen most of the FSBOs listed as NO AGENT PLEASE!!!

All methods...

Driving around, newspaper , different websites including craigslist (CL was THE BEST).

so far, 50% of them have called me back willing to do a preview, only 25% have been against the thought of an agent preview.

It's like that one guy said....if they can offer you a 3% co-brokerage, you're only 3% away from a listing!

Personally I think pre-foreclosures is where it's at.Regular homes aren't moving as builders are dumping new properties to finish out there inventory.So at least in my area the pre-foreclosure,new homes,and reo's is what's moving in this buyers market.Knowone wants a house at market value so right now alot of regular listings are dead weight.

20 something, what do you mean "call you back"? do you leave a package? a phone message? I have gotten a good response knocking but leaving stuff, not so good.

Called me back , as in left a voice mail message and they called back (Within a day right now).

Haven't door knocked yet ,as alot of these properties are in rural areas and i don't want to attempt knocking on a farmer's door, he might shoot me.

(Especially if your a real estate agent )LOL

Yeah....I got one listing right now that's in a territory where the neighbors will shoot at eachother to get back.

The one specific property had a neighbor "Sabotage" the well.....Amazing stuff.

I call FSBOs from a couple of popular FSBO sites here. There are about 100 or so new listings every month (of which about 80% are in my price range). Only once did I go through them all without getting a deal.

Realdealer, what are you doing to try and get listings from that group?

I'm trying to be followup intensive , to the point when they list, i'll be in the front of the pack......My *Thoughts* are that if 80% of FSBOs list, i could do pretty well to be in the front of the pack.

I start off by believing that everyone on that list NEEDS me. My job is to eliminate all those who do not qualify. So I put them through a series of questions where each one distills the list a little more until I'm left with the best of the best.

I don't do any special follow-up. Instead I call the list next month and if they happen to still be there they get another chance to qualify.

So realdealer would you like to tell us some of your questions you ask to widdle away at the list?
Thanks

[/quote]Personally I think pre-foreclosures is where it's at.[/quote]

True. Fsbos and agents understand marketing but only the few that truly understand supply and demand will sell houses in the current market. Pre-foreclosures, reos and builders often involve people that have room to move. When sellers don't have enough equity to pay commission no amount of marketing can sell their houses.

Mark, my questions won't do you any good if you're looking for regular listings. You need to develop your own set of questions for your particular niche.

So far, everything has been going well with working FSBOs (and i've thrown some expireds in the mix as well)

I'm trying to contact 5 fsbos/expireds a day, with either a phone call or showing up in person.

Now, i've got a question for those that work on FSBOS at all :

What do you do when they have pictures of the property online? My call so far has been to get in the property to take pictures for my email newsletters and such. When i call them and tell them i'm doing previews, and taking pictures for potential buyers, i've had a FEW respond and say "Well, we have pictures online". I've been able to sidestep it a bit, but i'd like to know if you have anything you find very effective.

I'm tracking my results, and so far......


71.43% Favorable responce rate to a phone call
14.29% Non-Favorable
14.29% No Responce from phone calls
28.57% Have Let me preview

Be very careful with FSBOs and DNC List. It's a fine line (no pun intended)!

???? Where is the Pun???

fine....DNC violation = fine; fine line between solicited call and unsolicited call. Never mind.

Ok , I'm still meeting with FSBOs....


Is there anyt good objection-handler that you use when the sellers either don't want you to take pictures of their property. OR they already have pictures online?

If I could figure that one out, my succuess rate would be improved much better.


So far, out of all the contacts i've made with FSBOs, i've got 1 guy who seems like he'll list soon, and another that could lead to quite a few refferals. It's starting to pay off, but i need either MORE FSBOs to contact, or improve my objection handling so I can get more appointments.

Get the tapes by David Knox - Take the BO out of FSBO. If nothing else it will reinforce what you already know.