New Sarasota FSBO Site Takes Off

If you own a piece of Sarasota real estate worth around the current median price of $300,000, and you sell the property in 7-8 months (faster than the current average of a year or more) using a new Web-based For Sale By Owner (FSBO) service, it’ll cost you just 0.1 percent of the home’s value — or less than $300.

No real estate agent’s fee, no commission. Just a listing fee, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. That isa new low in real estate commission/fee structure and a great opportunity to save, but you have to do much of the work yourself if you want to take advantage.

That certainly hasn’t deterred Earl J. Niemoth, 59, who has been busily writing computer code to make it easier and more productive. Combining his two areas of expertise — real estate and computer programming — then add an MBA from the University of Chicago, and what do you get? A new small business: FSBO-Southwest Florida.

It’s a strong website chock full of features including a “Home Valuator” that Niemoth says blows the roof off a similar feature found at the wildly popular Zillow.com. That site was unveiled about six weeks ago, just about when Niemoth’s was ready. Although his site does not offer the satellite imagery of Google Earth or Zillow.com, it does provide a locator.

Niemoth conducts his business from a home office in Sarasota with a part-time assistant, and owns all of the business. He has no connections to other FSBO entities and the system is currently up and running for properties in Sarasota, Charlotte and Manatee counties. Lee and Collier are not far behind.

“So far, I’ve got 400,000 records from Manatee and Sarasota, which the county is required by law to record the actual sale and selling price,” Niemoth said.

That price database is what he considers the bible of selling prices. He points out that the average FSBO selling price in the region is $420,000, and that area newspapers average 28-48 of FSBO ads in their real estate classifieds. He hopes to sign up 3,500 listers in his first year, which would ring up almost $700,000 in sales.

HERE’S THE DEAL:

• The fee for listing a home on the site and accessing “additional services” is $198 for a six-month term and $75 for each additional six months.
• The additional services include unlimited changes to listings (instantly changing the selling price, contact information, description, pics, etc).
• Customers are granted unlimited number of additions and deletions of the photos for a listing.
• A subscriber may post up to 10 photos on the site, with each submission reviewed by management.
• The lister agrees to keep a customized 18″x24″ “By Owner” sign visible by placing it as close as possible to the street.
• If the lister has e-mail access, buyers can contact him through FSBO’s e-mail delivery system.
• The lister agrees that any other forms of advertising such as newspapers, magazines, radio or television will specifically give the FSBO ID Number and the website in its copy.
• Helene Wollmer, a real estate agent with Sarasota’s Sellstate Bestcoast Realty, decided to list several of her personal properties on the site, in addition to the local Multiple Listing Service, because in a changing market, you have to pull out all the stops.

“It’s a pretty good site, easy to get an overview and easy to use,” Wollmer said of Niemoth’s Internet venture.

Niemoth has no intention of stopping at just South Florida real estate. In addition to his current domain name, Niemoth also bought fsbo-tampabayflorida, centralflorida, ncflorida, seflorida, ecflorida, neflorida, nwflorida and fsbo-florida.org.

“I am going to roll out this concept across the entire state of Florida,” said Niemoth, who does not even hold a Florida real estate license. “I’m not selling property, but a service.”

There is obviously a demand for said service. With the Southwest Florida housing market one of the nation’s most desirable, but with steep commissions (which experts predict will decline in the coming years) and closing costs making a pricey venture even more expensive, any way to cut costs — even if it requires a little extra legwork — is at least worth consideration. Finance that home today by applying for a Florida home loan above!