Internet changing home sale strategies

Technology has dramatically changed the way consumers and businesses communicate. What was once global is now local; once time consuming, now quickly accomplished. Travel agencies have felt the impact of the Internet with consumers able to book discounted flights, trips and hotels online. Now, it looks as if the real estate industry may also be headed down that path.

“Real estate is one of the last industries to be changed by the Internet,” said Jay Barnes, a local attorney and the owner of a Web-based business called ILikeMOHomes.com, a flat-fee, For Sale by Owner [FSBO] listing service. “It’s not there yet, but this is where real estate is going to be.”

“This is as much a crusade as it is a business to me,” Barnes said. “It’s appalling that consumers have to give away so much money [the traditional 6 percent commission] to sell their biggest investment. People are smart enough to sell their own homes. They’ve lived in it; they know the home and the community.”

“Clearly, flat-fee service is becoming a larger part of real estate today than it was a couple of years ago,” said Sam Goldman, director of the Smith Institute of Real Estate at the University of Missouri.
For Sale by Owner homes have always been a part of the real estate market, but Barnes’s service provides sellers with essential marketing tools to help sell their homes.

The most difficult aspect of selling a home is getting potential buyers to the door. For $200, Barnes, who is also a licensed real estate broker, will set up a free account, deliver a yard sign, take photos of the home and advertise the house on the Web site and in other publications. If a seller is concerned about legal details, Barnes can set him up with a local attorney. Most attorneys charge approximately $600 for such work, he said.
“Using our service will save a homeowner thousands of dollars,” Barnes said. Someone with a $150,00 home could save $8,200 by going with us and an attorney instead of a traditional real estate agent.”

Currently, there are approximately 50 homes in Columbia, Jefferson City and Fulton listed on the Web site. Since the ILikeMOHomes.com Web site went live in November 2006, 10 of the homes have sold.

Jennifer Miller listed her house with ILikeMOHomes.com in early March. ‘I think what real estate agents do is invaluable,” Miller said. “But since the market is in the buyer’s favor at the moment, selling this way allows sellers to make the house more attractive to buyers by either lowering the price or making upgrades to the house. It gives you more negotiating power.”

Sellers are still somewhat hesitant when it comes to handling a large transaction such as selling or buying a home, but the market is changing to embrace those who believe they are the best people to sell their home.

“As soon as people know about this, it’s going to work,” Barnes said. “It’s a snowball effect. Right now, our snowball is small, but it will grow.”
In the National Association of Realtors 2005 market survey, it was reported that homebuyers relied on the Internet and yard signs to a larger extent than traditional real estate agents in the search for a new home.

“With a wide variety of brokerage models in use, consumers looking to buy or sell a home today can select from a broad spectrum of options,” said Donna Stone, executive officer of the Jefferson City Area Board of Realtors, Inc.

Choosing the way to sell a home is a personal choice — what works for one person might not work for another. However, Miller commends Barnes on introducing the flat-fee FSBO listing service to the area.

“He’s trying to open a door that hasn’t been opened in Jefferson City but is pretty much open across much of the country,” Miller said.