Here are a list of FSBO sites that will list for free on the internet.

www.infotube.net
www.owners.com
www.homes-4sbo.com
www.fsbo-monster.com
www.abetterway.com
www.onlinerealestatetrader.net
www.houselister.tzo.com
www.craigslist.com
www.forsalebyownercenter.com

There are others also, but this will get you started.

Also, make brochures adding the features of your home, pictures, room sizes, square footage...etc., and have them available at all times by your For Sale by Owner sign. www.infotube.com has a feature where you can print brochures that includes the features you have entered on the website.

You also want to advertise in your local newspaper. It can become very expensive depending on your area.

Because you are not listing with a realtor, your home will not get the exposure you would get if you had listed with a realtor. Selling FSBO can take a little time or it can take a lot of time to sell, again depending on the market in your area. It also takes a lot of patience on your part.

I am sure some of the others on the forum will give other good tips.

Good luck!

I just ordered some FSBO supplies from the 'net, and Ebay. The Ebay site southernexposure75 has a FSBO sign where you can choose 2 descriptive lines, display your contact phone number, and can even change the "By Appointment Only" bottom line. The bottom line could be your web page, a statement about paying a fee to buyer's brokers, or whatever. These lines are made with stick-on letters, so I don't know how well they will work, I'll let you know. I chose "1437 square feet," "Big Custom Kitchen," and "Move Right In!" for the three lines. I seriously considered putting, "Buyer's Broker 2%" for the bottom line, but can envision a buyer getting and additional 2% discount on the home price by having a friend or relative with a Realtor's license jump in and "work" the deal. I guess I figure there is a lower chance of a real Realtor deciding to show my FSBO house to their buyers than there is a chance that any Joe or Jane Blow out there knows someone with a realty license!

Another source for supplies was chek168 for open house directional signs.

A website called Victorystore.com sells all kinds of supplies, including nice flyer boxes, FSBO kits, and St. Joseph statues. I got the flyer box and a string of multicolored flags to put out on open house days.

If your house is Mid-Century Modern, try lottaliving.com - they have a RE section where you can post for free, although most ads are for the California area.

I think the main thing is to be very well informed (and realistic) about the market conditions in your area. Do you see other successful FSBOs happening? Is the house in a hot area? If house is in a so-so area (market is mediocre, not fast-moving), FSBO may be a frustrating and ultimately fruitless endeavor. If the seller is patient and doesn't mind investing some amount of time and effort into trying FSBO, go ahead and try. Good luck.

Another FSBO site that lists home for only $1 is www.sellbyownerlistings.com

My old neighbor in Denver listed her home a month ago by owner, but paid a fee of $500 to have a realtor list it in the MLS -- she would have had to pay a 3% commission if a realtor showed and sold the home, but if she sold it herself, she didn't have to pay a commission. She had about a dozen showings in 10 days and sold it to someone she showed the home to herself, so she didn't have to pay a commission. Do a google search of for sale by owner and you can search to see if a service like this is available in your state.

We used a limited service broker where we paid a one time fee ($400) for an MLS listing that also listed in our paper's web site and a couple of other widely used real estate sites. I think he also got a very small cut of the buyer's commission, which we did have to pay if there was a buyer's agent. Although we had some flexibility over how to structure it.

I was concerned about not having an agent to arrange appointments, show the house, and otherwise be first line of defense for the buyer's broker. But it really wasn't any more trouble with the exception of a weekend that we were out of town where a broker could have shown it.

Although the limited service broker did apparently offer the services of dealing with the contract negotiation process, as we had no relationship with him, we decided to go it alone. So we did have to deal with all the negotiating, inspections, etc. on our own without the expertise of a good broker. DH and I are both in sales, comfortable with contracts, have a good attorney, etc.. It was a pain, but the money saved (about $15,000) was well worth it!

I have had bad luck with realtors, I know there are some fantastic ones out there, I just pick the wrong ones. Because of this, I have sold the last two homes myself. The first home that had previously been listed with a realtor for six months sold in two weeks, the second sold in a few days. I didnÂt give them away either, the 2nd home sold for the next to the highest in the neighborhood. ItÂs all about creating urgency though if you are going to go this route. I also eliminated phone call burnout by getting a second phone line. When you list by owner, you get every one and their mother calling to find out what your house is up for. Have a nice recorded message describing your home and the asking price with instructions to leave name and phone number if they want to schedule an appointment. This process will help with no shows because you will call ahead of time to verify appointments and you also have a record of people coming into your home. You will also get millions of real estate agents wanting the listing. When you call them back, you will tell them that they are more than welcome to sell your home at an agreed % but you are not signing a contract. However, the very most important thing you do is to schedule your appointments fifteen minutes apart to create the urgency. I chose two days a week to do showings, Wednesday and Sundays. When I called people back I would just say something like is Sunday at 4:00 good for you if not I would ask if Wednesday at 6:00 was good. When people arrived for their appointments fifteen minutes apart there was always people coming and going. In a slow market, you may have to do showings once a week in order to create the urgency. Every one told me this way of scheduling would never work because you must be available at all times, but I say its all how you do it. I used a title company that has an attorney on hand if needed, (I didnÂt) and they even gave me some contracts. Another thing worth mentioning, donÂt talk too much while showing your home, itÂs a distraction. I also did all the usual stuff like renting storage to remove the extras, fixed the broken, painted, made flyers, had for sale signs with appointment only on them and advertised locally. ItÂs a lot of work but I find it less stressful selling your self because your house only needs to be spotless on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Be very careful when listing on those sites. Read this thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: FSBO Real Estate Scams

Believe it or not I nearly sold my home at a garage sale! We were getting ready to put the place up for sale. I had done a good cleaning out of the closets and storage areas and decided that I wanted to have garage sale to get rid of stuff.
I had taken interior pics of the house put them on poster board, made up some sheets with the important info and put them by my "checkout" area.
I had several people take sheets. One called and asked for an appointment. They did a walk thru, called again the next day asked if they could see it again. The guy was here on an a job interview. If he got the job this was the house he wanted. Seems his wife's sister lived two streets over and they wanted to be close to her,she was the one that picked up the flyer and passed it on to them. House had everything he wanted. Unfortunately he didn't get the job.
Point of the story being don't overlook any chance even if it seems a little remote.

Carol, that's a great idea.

carol_from_ny wrote: "Believe it or not I nearly sold my home at a garage sale! "

Like roslvr said, that IS a great idea.

I like to go to garage sales in the spring. Many times people will mention they are preparing to move. Some have allowed me to come into the house to see larger furniture. Good way to check out the house/yard without having to call an agent first.

Seems like buyer's would find more possibilities by checking the classifieds for garage sales as well as real estate.

I agree with carol_from_ny --- you never know where your buyer will come from. On our last house sale, we had already bought our next house & were just starting to get the current house in shape to list. We were moving some furniture out on the front porch to paint the dining room & our normal yard service arrived. One of them asked what we were up to & we told her we'd bought a new house & were going to sell. She asked if she could see it & we let her in to look around - even though it was in a super pre-painting state of mess. That was a Friday, she called Saturday & asked if she could being her finance & father to look on Sunday and we had a contract the following Tuesday.

So - you just never know. I think word of mouth is great & LOVE the idea of a pre-listing garage sale with flyers!! I'm going to remember that tactic!