Part I can be found here: Stalking the FSBO - Part I: Identifying the FSBO

FSBOs are part of the real estate landscape whether the real estate industry likes it or not. Is it better to freeze them out by not taking buyers to them or is it better to win them over with value-added service? Or better yet, is it a smarter strategy to offer them something other Realtors don't?

FSBOs have every right to sell their own homes, but you know that you can offer the FSBO a better way - if only you could get in front of them. One of the biggest complaints that FSBOs make about the real estate industry is that once they put their sign in the yard, they are bombarded by Realtors who want to list the property. Well, why not? They asked for it, didn't they? But if you aren't getting through to them, it may be because you aren't offering anything any different than other Realtors.

Because you are trying to offer a service, you will understandably have an inflated view of your service's value to the consumer. The FSBO has the opposite view - s/he undervalues your service. So you have to find a way to meet in the middle. One way to look at it is the same as trying to bring a seller and buyer together - you want one to come up and the other to come down - then you have an agreement.

So here are some original approaches to meeting, negotiating with and serving the FSBO homeowner. And maybe you'll get yourself some new business in the process.

Be more creative at the point of contact

Let's examine the one characteristic that all FSBOs have in common - they are essentially do-it-yourselfers. Just look at Home Depot, Etrade, and CheapTickets.com. These companies and thousands of others are actively serving the do-it-yourselfer. If they can do it, the real estate industry can do it, too. It just means learning to modify your services to suit this particular segment of the market.

But first, you have to think outside the box. Marketing to a reluctant FSBO is very different from marketing to a demographic that wants and seeks the services of Realtors. In that market, all you have to do is make your services and yourself more appealing to the buyer or seller than your competitors. With the FSBO, you have to start with selling them on using a Realtor first, and using you second. Compounding the issue, you may not even be able to sell the FSBO all of your services. Therefore anything you get will be a victory, of sorts.

So, you already know who your market is - now you have to figure a way to get in front of them.

All or nothing doesn't work

Most Realtors try to sell a FSBO on the whole enchilada - the listing in exchange for full marketing and closing services. But that's like trying to sell bottled water to the Alpines. If a FSBO wants to save money, they certainly don't want full service. They know there is going to be work involved and they are ready to do it - they just don't know how much there actually is to do.

So skip the statements like "I can offer you turn-key service" or "I can give you the most service for your money." Those come-ons mean nothing to the FSBO.

Instead, find out which parts of the job are the most uncomfortable for the FSBO and offer to help them with that segment only. If, for example, you see that the FSBO has an open house scheduled, inquire as to the security measures. Offer your services as an extra pair of eyes and ears. Tell the FSBO that you want the opportunity to talk with buyers and possibly get some business if they aren't interested in the FSBO's home. If a buyer wants the home, you would like the chance to offer your services to the buyer, at no cost to the FSBO.

However, in order to do that effectively, you have to know what your services are worth. If you truly do provide turn-key service, you should be able to outline all the various steps you take in a typical transaction and assign each step a value. This will be your fee for service schedule. A simple dollar per hour breakdown probably won't do. Some tasks are simply more difficult or incur more liability than others. So charge more for accompanying the FSBO to closing than you would for assisting them with an open house. Prepare a contract just for the services that the FSBO wants, and be sure to add a legal disclaimer prepared by your attorney that absolves you of any agency liability.

Don't knock on the door

Try to contact the FSBO another way besides knocking on the door because that is what every other Realtor is going to do - to the annoyance of the FSBO. Real estate trainer Stephen Canale suggests giving People Search a try. The site checks multiple search engines to help you find other ways to contact your FSBO for you. In addition to simple name searches, you also have access to reverse lookups based on e-mail addresses, phone numbers and street addresses. You already have the street address, so go to it. This is also a great way to contact Expireds as well as FSBOs, according to Canale.

Present your proposal to assist the FSBO with some free services by e-mail or phone and then forward more information to them via e-mail such as comparables. Make sure you have actually seen the comparables so that you can report that house number one had an updated kitchen, and house number two overlooks a park.

Give something for nothing

Nobody likes to give their services away, but remember you are dealing with a reluctantpotential client. Many Realtors, particularly buyer's agents, are starting to promote FSBO homes on their web sites for free. The advantage to this is that you aren't promoting another Realtor's properties, and you are presenting your buying public with access to additional listings outside of the MLS that a traditional listing broker would deem unthinkable. Who's the sly fox, now?

Others are offering to hook the FSBO up with a mortgage broker to help them market the home more effectively. They can put the broker's rates on the back of the FSBO's feature sheets, for example. If the home closes and the broker gets to close the loan with the FSBO's buyer, there's nothing to prevent a little finder's fee for you.

One Realtor offers every FSBO he meets a lockbox to use while the home is on the market. Showing the FSBO how to use the lockbox and offering to keep the code for the FSBO gives the Realtor an insider's edge when the FSBO decides to list.

Be willing to negotiate

Chris Newell, an Ontario Realtor has negotiated a win-win deal with a FSBO who had been badly burned by previous Realtors. In exchange for a set number of services including advertising the FSBO's property in the newspaper and on the Web, printing the FSBO's feature sheets in color, and negotiating offers (at $500 per 3 hour block), the FSBO has promised to reciprocate. Newell will get: all prospects names and numbers who come through the house; $9,000 if he produces a buyer who closes; and the listing - if the house doesn't sell within four weeks.

Newell says, "I think I've negotiated a damned good deal with this FSBO, creating a win-win for both of us. I could have chosen to take the 'I HATE FSBO's' attitude, and be out of the loop on this altogether. Instead, I'm actively giving these sellers an attitude adjustment about Realtors, and they've made it incredibly easy for me to be 100 times better than other Realtors.

"Basically, it's called out-of-the-box thinking."

Also See:

Published: October 11, 1999

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.