One of the biggest challenges facing For Sale by Owners is how to effectively market their property.

All successful projects start with a ?Plan? ? a successful By Owner sale is no different. Here is a simple yet comprehensive approach to assist you in your FSBO Marketing efforts.

Step 1 - Determine your ?Marketing Budget? ? Yes you have to have a Marketing Budget! Consider it an investment as opposed to a cost. It is unreasonable to think that putting a $10 sign on your lawn is going to save you 6% real estate commissions. I would suggest 1% of the asking price of your property is realistic.

Step 2 ? Conduct a ?Market Analysis? ? Who is your potential market? Is your FSBO property located in a senior's community? Do you live near a Military Base? Who is the areas largest employer? Determine your market and direct your marketing dollars towards that target.

Step 3 ? Develop a FSBO Marketing ?Action Plan? (based on your ?Market Analysis?) ? You can't go and arbitrarily spend your ?Marketing Budget?. It is paramount to the success of your overall project that you have a comprehensive ?Action Plan?. Obviously "Value" plays a significant role - essentially you need to determine which FSBO marketing opportunities provide the best bang for your buck.

Step 4 ? Implement your FSBO Marketing Action Plan - Put your "Plan" into action.

While there are many FSBO marketing opportunities, it is important to make the right decisions of how to best distribute those limited dollars to get the best response. First off, ?FREE? is always a good start. There are many marketing opportunities that cost nothing ? hard to believe, but true. A simple search of the internet will provide many online ?Free' marketing services that cater to FSBO?s. Go to your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL) and use search phrases like ? ?Free FSBO Kit? or ?Free FSBO listing?. Unfortunately, the reality is that you will have to sort through to uncover the marketing services that are 'actually' free - rest assured, some, as advertised, are actually free! A few of that quickly come to mind are Craigslist, Zillow and FreeFSBO.com.

There are also several offline 'free? (outside of the cost of the flyer/feature sheet) FSBO marketing opportunities, including, but not limited to; community billboards and flyers to neighborhood mailboxes.

The next level of For Sale by Owner Marketing opportunities to explore will cost money. There are several so it is important to determine what products and/or services provide the best 'value' for your particular situation. A real estate lawn sign is an absolute necessity! Did you know that 18% of all home buyers see the sign first! Make sure that the sign references a website and your assigned FSBO#. A weatherproof brochure holder provides prospective buyer an opportunity to pick up a hardcopy ?Feature Sheet?. Classified advertising in your local paper is another obvious consideration. That said, depending on your ?Market Analysis' you may realize better 'value' from the local Seniors publications then your local daily. Most newspapers offer a ?Real Estate' package of some sorts ? this package typically includes a combination of weekday classified and weekend display type ads that allow for a picture of the property.

Another FSBO marketing opportunity takes advantage of the well established realtor network. There are Realtors that offer what is referred to as ?Flat Fee MLS? ? this is essentially a Listing Agent that is willing to list your property for a flat fee as opposed to the typical % commission. Essentially you (the homeowner) become the listing agent. That said, you also agree to compensate any Realtor that delivers you a Buyer (commission is usually 2.5%) ? in exchange your property is listed on the MLS and Realtor.com. This service can range from as little as $99 for a 'local' listing to as high as $699 for a national listing. It is important to assess your market, if you are in Florida for instance; a local MLS is going to severely limit your potential exposure. Many new home buyers come from out of state, it is very valuable to tap this market.

One more FSBO marketing opportunity via the Realtor network is a listing on Realtor.com. Realtor.com receives over 7.5 MILLION visitors a month, those 7.5 million visitors look at over 350 million pages ? this makes Realtor.com the most active website in the world! The beauty of this product is that Realtor.com is a 'consumer facing' website, which means the individuals that visit the site are HOME BUYERS ? not real estate agents. The National Association of Realtors claims that 70% of all home purchasers saw the home they eventually purchased on the internet first BEFORE they hired a Buying agent. The best part of this FSBO marketing product (Realtor.com listing) is that your contact information (name and phone number) goes on the listing ? calls come directly to you! Prices for this particular FSBO marketing product range from $249 to $399. Personally I can't think of a more valuable FSBO marketing product.

The bottom-line with FSBO marketing is you need a plan to be successful. The resulting savings are astronomical ? remember that's why you undertook this in the first place. Here is a quick review of how to successfully market and sell your own home.

1. Determine your Marketing Budget

2. Conduct a Market Analysis

3. Develop a FSBO Marketing ?Action Plan?

4. Implement your FSBO Marketing Action Plan

I?d like to say ?Good Luck' but luck will have nothing to do with it ? preparation is your ultimate weapon.

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