FORSALEBYOWNER.COM is supposed to be a site which allows sellers to list their home for sale by owner.
I had planned to use their site to sell my Georgia home, but now am glad I did not. I registered on their site and tried to use the site to contact sellers, in certain states, asking them if they would consider a trade - their home for my home.
This is perfectly legal and is often called a 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange.
What has happened, is NONE of the messages I sent to the seller were sent to them. Instead ALL OF MY MESSAGES, were blocked by this company and returned back to me as a MAIL FAILURE.
The result is I wasted my time contacting select sellers, who had homes I was interested in. The sellers never got the messages.
This site charges sellers $300 to $700 in fees to list their properties. Therefore, the sellers should get every message that is sent. Let the sellers, themselves, decide if they want to respond to the message or just delete it.
That FORSALEBYOWNER.COM has some kind of program and FLAGS, certain words.
If you use the word, AGENT, REAL ESTATE, TRADE etc, it is flagged for return. If you write in your e-mail address or phone number in the body of the message, it is flagged for return. If you write in a site, where a seller can see your property in pictures and details, it is flagged and returned.
I have contacted, by phone, their customer service and technical support many times. Their staff is either not knowledgeable, tries to help but fails to do so, and down right rude and insulting.
In fact, one person, whose name I will not reveal, told me that THEY do not want any real estate agents to contact their sellers. THEY do not want anyone - like myself - to offer a trade deal.
I told this person, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BLOCK REALTORS NOR ANYONE WANTING TO DEAL WITH A SELLER!
To that, he was very sarcastic and was practically laughing at me. He kept repeating, like a parrot, IT IS YOUR E-MAIL SERVER. I know that is not true.
In fact, lots of the seller ads say they will pay an agent 2 or 3% to bring them a buyer.
This, to me, is a clear restraint of trade. As I said before, they need to send the messages and let the sellers - THEMSELVES - decide whether to answer the message or not.
If I had paid that kind of money, I would want to get every single message. Who knows, maybe a seller would want to do a real estate trade with me. Maybe a realtor has a buyer for that seller.
FORSALEBYOWNER.COM is clearly doing great dis-service to the people who paid them a good deal of money to be on their site with the hopes of getting them homes sold.
Again, I am glad I did not list my home for sale with them.
I am just filing this report, so others will know my own personal experience. With that knowledge, they can make their own judgement whether to join this site and spend their own money.
ForSaleByOwner Reviews
FORSALEBYOWNER.COM is supposed to be a site which allows sellers to list their home for sale by owner.
I had planned to use their site to sell my Georgia home, but now am glad I did not. I registered on their site and tried to use the site to contact sellers, in certain states, asking them if they would consider a trade - their home for my home.
This is perfectly legal and is often called a 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange.
What has happened, is NONE of the messages I sent to the seller were sent to them. Instead ALL OF MY MESSAGES, were blocked by this company and returned back to me as a MAIL FAILURE.
The result is I wasted my time contacting select sellers, who had homes I was interested in. The sellers never got the messages.
This site charges sellers $300 to $700 in fees to list their properties. Therefore, the sellers should get every message that is sent. Let the sellers, themselves, decide if they want to respond to the message or just delete it.
That FORSALEBYOWNER.COM has some kind of program and FLAGS, certain words.
If you use the word, AGENT, REAL ESTATE, TRADE etc, it is flagged for return. If you write in your e-mail address or phone number in the body of the message, it is flagged for return. If you write in a site, where a seller can see your property in pictures and details, it is flagged and returned.
I have contacted, by phone, their customer service and technical support many times. Their staff is either not knowledgeable, tries to help but fails to do so, and down right rude and insulting.
In fact, one person, whose name I will not reveal, told me that THEY do not want any real estate agents to contact their sellers. THEY do not want anyone - like myself - to offer a trade deal.
I told this person, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BLOCK REALTORS NOR ANYONE WANTING TO DEAL WITH A SELLER!
To that, he was very sarcastic and was practically laughing at me. He kept repeating, like a parrot, IT IS YOUR E-MAIL SERVER. I know that is not true.
In fact, lots of the seller ads say they will pay an agent 2 or 3% to bring them a buyer.
This, to me, is a clear restraint of trade. As I said before, they need to send the messages and let the sellers - THEMSELVES - decide whether to answer the message or not.
If I had paid that kind of money, I would want to get every single message. Who knows, maybe a seller would want to do a real estate trade with me. Maybe a realtor has a buyer for that seller.
FORSALEBYOWNER.COM is clearly doing great dis-service to the people who paid them a good deal of money to be on their site with the hopes of getting them homes sold.
Again, I am glad I did not list my home for sale with them.
I am just filing this report, so others will know my own personal experience. With that knowledge, they can make their own judgement whether to join this site and spend their own money.