FSBO and the REAL Estate Thing - James Ringswald of Fort Wayne Living

It's time to sell your house. Perhaps, you are relocating. The kids are grown, or you are just getting ready to have your first child. Or, it could be that you want to live somewhere else. It's time for a change. All of these can become reasons to move. But, as you make the decision, a cascade of other issues become apparent. After all, your home is your most important investment. How and who will sell your home becomes the primary task. For many, selling by owner is a clear choice.

Selling by owner has become a more frequent alternative in the past 5-10 years. The information required to undertake this monumental chore is right at your fingertips. The Internet has made the selling of your home the clear option because of the ease of learning the requirements needed to do so.

Entrepreneurs have set up a multitude of businesses slanted toward the sell by owner market. FSBO advertising online is as frequent as a touch on the keyboard. Some companies are more reliable and more efficient than others. Their services pretty much offer all of the same things.

The owner signs up for the service. A representative comes out, takes photos, gives a complementary sign or two to set up in the front yard, and your home appears on the internet in a specified amount of turn around time. It stays there for a particular period, set by the business. Then the owner either sells his home, signs up again, or gets another period of subscription time as a bonus ( or a negative) whatever the case may be.

However, twenty-five years ago, James Ringswald designed a much more lucrative and well-rounded business that incorporates the best of FSBO and the traditional method of using the real estate agent as your representative in the process of selling your home.

Buy Owner Realty along with Fort Wayne Living Magazine and HomeSweetHomeDepot.com encompasses the best of selling by owner and having your very own real estate agent at the wheel. In his own words, Ringswald offers either a full service menu or an ala carte buffet. He has a whole array of services and in the midst of it, you cannot help but sell your home.

When talking to Ringswald the sense of talking to a well-known old friend comes to the surface. He knows his business and there is great comfort in that, and he also wants to help you sell your home. He can do this because he knows his market from every angle.

Here are just a few of the questions Ringswald answered when we talked about his well-formed
Organization.

ABS) How did you become interested in this type of business? As a realtor, yourself, you bring dual assets to your business. How did you develop the idea for the business.

James) I wanted to offer more of a range of services between the two extremes (100% FSBO/ 100% on their own with no guidance whatsoever and the other end of the spectrum, traditional Realtor-MLS listing, where the seller has to pay a big commission and has very little control over the sale). So, kind of like the (a) restaurant business I originally wanted to buy, I developed a menu of options/ services for sellers to choose from. Some people wanted the all-you-can-eat buffet/ traditional MLS service, others wanted our famous "House Special"/ our complete professionally assisted by owner program, and still others just wanted our famous home made pie and coffee/ our advertising only (through our homes magazine and / or website service.

ABS) What are the advantages and disadvantages of FSBO internet advertising?

James) The greatest advantage of FSBO internet advertising is the ability to reach a great number of potential buyers with ample information and photos of individual properties for sale.

The greatest disadvantage or challenge would be to gain public awareness of the website itself. We use our home magazine, Fort Wayne Living, and yellow page advertising to drive traffic to our website and our magazine gives us a dramatic advantage in driving traffic to our website over the numerous other FSBO websites.

ABS) What would you say are the real advantages for a homeowner to sell, " By Owner"?

James) Obviously, selling by owner can help the seller save a lot of money, but what sellers tend to get pretty excited about is the opportunity that handling their own showings give them to really provide their buyers with a much better presentation of their property, since no one knows their home better than they do. Owners know all about any updates/ utility costs, furnace efficiency ratings, name brands of cabinetry/ windows, fixtures/ association rules/ restrictions, area schools, the neighborhood, nearby conveniences, etc. than anyone else could ever hope to... and most owners would much rather be able to be present during showings than have to leave for an hour or longer while someone else (who typically has never been in their home before) is attempting to show their home to a prospective buyer. And for most sellers, staying comfortable at home is much more preferable and convenient than having to pack up the entire family and go out in the weather for an hour or two so someone else can show their home.

James Ringswald offers a service from A-Z. His service begins by talking to the homeowner. Then he lays out in a methodical way all of the options available to each homeowner so they can control the way they will sell their home. Ringswald is there for each homeowner in whatever way that is most advantageous for them

Twenty-five years ago Ringswald saw a need in the Fort Wayne real estate community and filled it. As time has gone forward he has grown his business along the same technological ways necessary to support his clients and their home selling efforts.

This has become the most important benefit for him, and has been more than valuable for the Fort Wayne home selling community