Property Listings Accepts a
Canada Real Estate for Sale. Canadian property listing classifieds. Internet Property Listings Real Estate For Sale Throughout Canada Search for available FSBO Private Sales and MLS Realtor Listings or List your property for sale on our Classifieds Web Site. | Home | Search / Add Listings | Selling Through a Realtor | Selling Privately | Buying Tips | Selling Tips | Moving Tips | | Business Opportunity | Pricing / Special Promotion | Listing Benefits | Payment Options | Payment Procedures | Pay for Listing | | Franchise Opportunity | Teen / Child Safety Tips | FAQ's | Links | Terms of Use / Disclaimer | Contact Us | Refund Policy | Decided To Sell Your Real Estate On Your Own Through Private Sale? List your " For Sale By Owner " home or property with us and maximize its exposure to thousands of potential buyers from Canada and around the World! Selling Your Property Through A Realtor Or Real Estate Agent? Advertise your property through us as well and expose it to thousands of potential buyers who find our site when searching the Internet for realestate! For Only $49.00 your property is listed on our web site until it is sold! This is a ONE-TIME only fee, no commissions, no contracts, no hassles and no headaches...............Ever! ( See our Special Promotion ) Welcome to Canada's Fastest Growing Real Estate For Sale Resource! Click on Canadian map to view available properties for sale If you are in the market to buy or sell a single family home, house, cabin, condo / condominium, mobile trailer homes, land, cottage, chalet, recreational or vacation land, fly-in-fishing or hunt camp, acreage, farm house, lake front, lot, resort, log home, ranch, modular home, vacation properties, apartment building, duplex, triplex, fourplex, horse ranch, barn, investment property, townhouse, house boat, lodge, bed and breakfast / B & B, time share, lake, sublet, ski resort, franchise, commercial building, restaurant, hotel, motel, inn, trailer park, business, warehouse and office warehouses, shopping centers, office buildings etc..... You've come to the right place! We list a wide variety of residential, recreational, seasonal, retirement, commercial and industrial real-estate properties, including for sale by owner through " Your Realtor " and for sale by owner ( fsbo ) through " Private Sale ". Here you will find every form of real-estate from tree houses to sky scrapers! Search for available properties in Canadian towns and cities including Victoria British Columbia, Edmonton Alberta, Regina Saskatchewan, Winnipeg Manitoba, Toronto and Ottawa Ontario, Quebec City and Montreal Quebec, Fredericton New Brunswick, St. John's Newfoundland, Halifax Nova Scotia, Iqaluit Nunavut, Charlottetown PEI, Yellowknife North West Territories etc...... Feel free to tour our site and view available listings for sale. Search through our many resources including a convenient mortgage calculator and detailed maps by MapQuest located on most listings. Also our moving and relocation tips, links and resources. MapQuest lets you see exactly where the property you are interested in viewing is located and also provides detailed driving directions to the driveway of your new home or land from any location. View All Properties For Sale! Special Promotion! Reg. $99.00 ........ Pay only $49.00 * $49.00 is a One Time Only fee for Advertising your home, condominium, cottage, farm, land, acreage, apartment, business etc. for sale on our Classifieds Web Site until it is sold. We will donate half of all income generated from this web site to help fund my cross Canada skate for MS. (Multiple Sclerosis) Click here for complete details. Our Company's Goal Our goal is to connect Realestate buyers with sellers, making our site "the place" people turn to first when buying or selling realestate across Canada, USA, UK, Asia, and Internationally! We help provide prospective realestate buyers from all provinces and states with a wide variety of properties to choose from. How? 1) By offering agents and private sellers affordable listing rates, special promotions and resources such as: House Hunter and Comparison Shopper . 2) By filling our classifieds database with as many private and MLS Realtor properties from every town, city, province and state across Canada, USA and the World! 3) By effectively promoting and marketing our web site locally, nationally and internationally so Canadian properties for sale will be seen by prospective buyers. 4) And by filling our web pages with helpful tips, links and resources for anyone buying or selling their home or land. New Realestate Listings Added Daily! Our rapidly growing realestate for sale classifieds database is being updated daily. Search for sales in rural areas, small towns and cities located in all Canadian Provinces and Territories . Please visit our realestate classifieds web site often to locate newly listed properties for sale by owner, through Realtors, agents and realestate professionals in your desired area. Since July 2003 Thank you for visiting Please come again! Click on the photos below to view our Feature Properties and to see how your listing will appear when viewed by prospective buyers. Feature Property # 1 Parrsboro Nova Scotia ( Realtor ) Feature Property # 2 Sudbury Ontario ( FSBO ) Feature Property # 3 North Bay Ontario ( FSBO ) Feature Property # 4 SOLD Manitouwadge Ontario ( FSBO ) Feature Property # 5 Lac du Bonnet Manitoba ( FSBO ) View All Properties For Sale! Alberta - British Columbia - Manitoba - New Brunswick - Newfoundland - Northwest Territories - Nova Scotia Nunavut - Ontario - Prince Edward Island - Quebec - Saskatchewan - Yukon - Alaska - USA - International Payment Options Internet Property Listings Accepts a wide variety of secure payment options including major Credit Cards, PayPal ®, Interac Direct Deposit ®, cheques and money orders. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service to you. Weather you are interested in buying or selling Real-estate, think of Internet Prop. Listings first. Internet Property Listings Built, owned and operated by J-R Daoust Member of the Kirkland Lake, Ontario Chamber of Commerce We service all Canadian provinces, the United States ( USA ), UK, Asia and International Countries. Alberta - British Columbia - Manitoba - New Brunswick - Newfoundland - Northwest Territories - Nova Scotia Nunavut - Ontario - Prince Edward Island - Quebec - Saskatchewan Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America Billions and Billions Served: Monthly Traffic to WSI Franchise Corporate Web Site Hits Record High By utilizing the same technologies that helped to establish online success for their clients, WSI Franchise own corporate Web Site now receives more traffic than any other franchise Web Site in the world. | Home | Search / Add Listings | Selling Through a Realtor | Selling Privately | Buying Tips | Selling Tips | Moving Tips | | Business Opportunity | Pricing / Special Promotion | Listing Benefits | Payment Options | Payment Procedures | Pay for Listing | | Franchise Opportunity | Teen / Child Safety Tips | FAQ's | Links | Terms of Use / Disclaimer | Contact Us | Refund Policy | Warning Beware of calls or e-mails from Africa regarding the purchase of your property. Click Here for "419 Africa Fraud Scam" information! Awards Alberta - British Columbia - Manitoba - New Brunswick - Newfoundland - Northwest Territories - Nova Scotia Nunavut - Ontario - Prince Edward Island - Quebec - Saskatchewan Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America
Purchase Property
Stering to Euro exchange | purchase property in Spain Xchange Business Treasury Services Foreign exchange terms Bureau de change The Xchange Business Sterling to Euro exchange Get a quote and see how much you can save! FREEPHONE 0800 953 1384 OR Click here to request a Sterling to Euro quote Buying a house in Spain. Buying property in Spain is now more popular than ever, with increasing numbers of people following their dream of purchasing a holiday home, buying property to rent out or moving lock, stock to the sun. The British love the pleasant, healthy climate and in recent years the Spanish local authorities have made great efforts to increase the number of foreign tourists and residents. Buying a property abroad is an exciting experience. However buying a property abroad is very different to buying a property in the UK. There are many considerations and we have listed some of the main ones below. Settle on a region - Spain is a big country with many different regions, with many beautiful areas not necessarily on the coast. Your individual choices and taste will determine the type of area that you choose. Climate, future growth and the type of life you want should all be considered when you are buying a property in Spain. You also have to decide on a type of property to buy in Spain ,such as an apartment, a villa or even an old farmhouse. View lots of areas to get a feel for the pricing the lifestyle and the general ambience. Talk to estate agents - When purchasing a property in Spain be aware that estate agents must be officially registered and hold a licence . As the process of buying property in Spain is very different you need a good agent to guide you through the pitfalls. Appoint a lawyer - Naturally the purchase of a property in Spain has different legal issues and costs involved. A Solicitor in Spain is called an Abogado and will advise and assist you, but it is worth researching the system and the likely costs Making an offer - Once you have decided on your dream property purchase in Spain you need to make your offer, in writing if possible (of course, subject to contract). When you make your offer include not only the price, but also the amount of deposit, when you are prepared to pay it, when you are prepared to complete, what you consider to be included in the price and, an often neglected point, that all machinery equipment and installations should be in normal working order. If an offer is accepted - The lawyer the legal responsibility for checking the land registry and will then prepare a private contract which will bind both parties to the deal . The solicitor will next prepare the public deeds (Escritura de Compraventa) for signature in front of a Spanish Notary. When the balance of the purchase price is paid and vacant possession of the unencumbered property is granted, the sale is completed. The notary will fax details of the title deed to the local land register to inform them of the identity of the new owner. Once you have bought a house in Spain and wish to spend more than six months in Spain you need to apply for a Residencia - to become a Resident. The main benefit of becoming a resident is that your taxes will be lower. Financing your property purchase in Spain Before you purchase your house in Spain you will need to have the relevant finance in place. There are many costs assoctiated with buying property in Spain . There are two main methods of financing a property purchase in Spain. You can apply for a mortgage in Spain where the interest rates are lower or you can use a UK based mortgage. Some people are lucky enough to have equity in their UK house which can be released to buy the property in Spain, in which case a sterling to Euro exchange and transfer service is required. It is more than likely that with either process at some stage you will require the services of a currency transfer company. Whether to transfer the whole amount, monthly mortgage payments or to transfer living expenses you will want to transfer your funds at the best available rate. We can exchange your Sterling currency to Euros and transfer to Spain for you. Get a quote and see how much you can save! Quick guides - purchasing property abroad Currency for purchasing property abroad Purchasing a house in Europe Purchasing a property in Australia Purchasing a house in Canada Purchasing a house in America Buying a house in Cyprus Our foreign currency rate could have a dramatic effect on thecost of buying property in Europe Contact Email: jp@xchangebusiness.co.uk Contact Telephone: FREEPHONE 0800 953 1384 Contact us | Why us? | FAQ? | Disclaimer | Testimonials Sterling to Euro exchange and transfer at exchange-currency.co.uk Exchange Currency © 2003
buy property with the
Advice for buying and reselling for a profit. - Oct. 14, 2004 Web CNN/Money Buying & Selling Investment Property Home Improvement Million $ Life Financing Best Places The art of the flip A new reality television show will follow real estate speculators as they buy, fix and "flip." October 14, 2004: 2:24 PM EDT By Sarah Max, CNN/Money senior writer SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) It's one thing to buy a house to call home. It's quite another to buy property with the sole purpose of turning around and reselling for a profit. It's called flipping, and in the coming months, a dozen aspiring real estate investors experience this firsthand -- on camera, no less -- as they attempt to buy, remodel and sell property within a period of six months. Flipping is the subject of an upcoming reality television series with the working title "Property Ladder," scheduled to appear on The Learning Channel in May 2005. "Everyone you talk to seems to know someone who has tried to flip property," said Char Serwa, the show's executive producer. In California, where most of show's subjects are buying, 2.6 percent of all houses sold during the month of May were owned for less than six months, according to DataQuick Information Systems, up from 1.9 percent the previous year. There are several varieties of flipping, said William Bronchick, author of "Flipping Properties." One is rehabbing, which is the focus of the show. Other flippers buy property that's in foreclosure or under construction and try to resell the property to other investors. "We're not advocating that people do this," added Serwa, explaining that each homeowner's story will be told in an individual episode, detailing the experience from purchase to sale. "This is truly an observational documentary," she said. "It's real life." Indeed, the homeowners featured on the show are not only footing the bill for the property and the cost of renovations, they're managing the projects on their own. Unlike other TLC makeover shows, seasoned carpenters and designers won't be pitching in to help. QUICK VOTE Have you ever bought real estate solely as an investment, and not to have a place to live? Yes No View results What the show's subjects do get is advice from host Kirsten Kemp, an actress, real estate agent and seasoned property investor. Whether the homeowners actually take that advice is another story. Viewers, meanwhile, may likely learn a few lessons as well, namely that buying, remodeling and selling property is hard work particularly when done in a matter of months. "A lot of things can go wrong," said Kemp. It's also financially risky. A slowdown in real estate means little to a homeowner settled in for several years, but it can be devastating if you're banking on selling for a quick profit. Buy it, fix it and sell it. Kristen Kemp, host of TLC's 'Property Ladder,' shares tips on flipping properties. Play video (Real or Windows Media) Factor in the transaction and renovation costs and there may be little profit at all. Any profit you do make, mind you, will be taxed at ordinary income if you sell in less than a year, noted Ron Phipps, of Phipps Realty in Warwick, RI. In seven years, Kemp flipped 40 properties, not always successfully. "I made money about 70 percent of the time, and 30 percent of the time I broke even or lost money." Here's a sneak preview of some of the lessons Kemp hopes to bring home. Leave your emotions at the front door When shopping for investment property, you want to find a house that tugs at you emotionally, said Kemp. If a house rouses your emotions, chances are it will do the same for future buyers will as well. When it's time to make an offer, however, your emotions cannot get the best of you. "You make money flipping in part by buying low," she said. "The people who say 'I just have to have this house' are the ones who overpay.'" Don't overdo it when renovating See the average cost for 15 common projects and how much they can add to the value of your home. Type of project: Bathroom Remodel - Mid-Range Bathroom Remodel - Upscale Bathroom Addition - Mid-Range Bathroom Addition - Upscale Maj. Kitch. Remod. - Mid-Range Maj. Kitch. Remod. - Upscale Master Suite - Mid-Range Master Suite - Upscale Family Room - Mid-Range Deck - Mid-Range Basement Remodel - Mid-Range Siding Replacement - Mid-Range Window Replacement - Mid-Range Window Replacement - Upscale Attic Bedroom - Mid-Range Average job cost (2003 Natl Avg): $ What will you get back? % Cost recovered % Value at sale $ Get your local results from Remodeling Online's 2003 Cost vs. Value Report "This is not the time to create your dream house," said Kemp. "You don't want to fix the property to a level that is not necessary." This is a dilemma many first-time flippers struggle with. On the one hand, they want to do a good job on the renovation. On the other hand, they don't want to put money in expensive light fixtures or elaborate built-ins if they aren't going to recoup the time or money they spent. That said, you don't want to cover up serious problems with a new coat of paint or a well-placed picture. "You want to attack anything thing that would be a red flag at closing," said Kemp. DIY when it makes sense The more work you can do yourself, the more money you'll make on the flip, said Kemp. Still, even do-it-yourselfers need help sometimes. Develop a list of reliable contractors, plumbers, electricians, drywallers and other experts to call on. Kemp, for one, says she has her own contractor to thank for getting her through many projects. While you're at it, find a good real estate agent, she said. "They can help you understand what is selling and what's not," she said. "They'll do a good job because if they do, they know you are going to list the property with them when you're ready to sell." Price the property to sell You give your blood, sweat and tears to a house, but it's no excuse to overprice it. "I encourage people not to get greedy," Kemp said. In fact, she recommends pricing property a little under market value. "Every day your house is on the market you're losing money." What if "Property Ladder" homes don't sell in time for prime time? That's just part of the story. And in real estate, sometimes that's the reality. --* Disclaimer Try an issue of MONEY magazine - FREE! More on REAL ESTATE How to buy and build on rural land Most overvalued housing markets When booms go bust... TODAY'S TOP STORIES Most overvalued housing markets Risks to the economy in 2006 Which was the worst ad of all in 2005? CNN Money contact us | subscribe to Money magazine advertising -- | site map | glossary | RSS | press room OTHER NEWS: CNN | SI | Fortune | Business 2.0 | Time © 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms under which this service is provided to you. privacy policy Reprints of site stories are available.
Land Loan by Adam
Understanding the Land Loan How to Make Your Business Card Call for Action No matter how many wonderful services you offer, if your card brands you as unprofessional, you stand to loose potential customers. This article shows you how to make business cards that are not only informative but also effective. Click here for more... Pehrson Web | SheLovesGod | Books | Music | Romance Novels | Work@Home | Quality Cooking Tools | LocateACoach | MarniePehrson.com Gift the Gift of Romance this Christmas with a CleanRomanceClub Gift Certificate! Click here for details. Login - Signup - Contribute - Use Content - FAQ - Search - EzineBuilder - Advertise With Us New Articles - Publication Directory - About - Writers Update - Home - Connect Your Accounts Check Out These Great Articles! 51 Online Marketing Techniques To Improve Your Websites Success 6 Simple Ways to Determine Which Marketing Ideas Are Best for Your Business Accounting Police: Do They Exist? Change Your Life in 21 Days From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money Selling Info Products How to Deal with Your Childs Inappropriate Behavior The Accountability Formula How to Promote Your Music To Radio and Get Results How to Sell Ebooks on Amazon Google Adsense: What You Need to Know! How to Make Your Business Card Call for Action Make your New Years Resolutions Evolutionary not Revolutionary The Perfect Home Based Business: Freelance Copywriting Healthy Eating on a Budget Quit Your Day Job: 10 Steps to Venturing Out on Your Own The Accounting Model Accountings Rosetta Stone Too Busy! Top 5 Things You Need to Know if You Are Buying or Selling a Home Turning 50 Want Your Article Here? Flying Solo? Thinking of becoming a Solo-Entrepreneur? Click here for Free resources available to you! Submit Your Articles to Hundreds of Sites ! | Find Ezines to Promote In Search For Ebooks: For Press Release Promotion Visit Our Partners At Upcoming Events BizCoachingClub.com Sneak Peek Business 2006: Essential Technology/Systems/Tools Business 2006: Maximizing Customer Retention Create Lasting Success - Beyond Meeting the Bills Leaders - Moving you forward More Clients Than You Can Handle Moving Your Business Forward - Coaching Group Passive Revenue: Leverage Underutilized Resources Request Reprint Print About Author Email to a Friend Report Problem Related Books Understanding the Land Loan by Adam Smith Send Feedback to Adam Smith More Details about land loan here. Feature Articles How To Generate Massive Free Website Traffic... Finding Your Home Business Niche... How to KNOW if You'll Reach the Goal... Top 10 Tips To Selling Successfully on eBay... A Completely New Way To Get Rich Rapidly... Retirement Worries? Imagine Double Your Inves... Eight Mistakes to Avoid When Naming a New Bus... Are Your Internet Marketing Efforts Escaping ... Click here for more Subscribe for Free 1ChapterFree Business Channel Home Business Home/Family Channel Marketing Channel Personal Development Good News SheLovesGod Bible Study SheLovesGod Inspiration Tech Update ThoughtsAlive BelieversAtWork Writers Ezine Enter email: First name: In a real estate broker business, almost every thing revolves around land. Obviously it is hard to run a business centered around land without knowing where to acquire prime land and how to finance the land. Lets take some time to familiarize ourselves with some of the key terms that drive the real estate broker industry. A good broker business often times will acquire land through land auctions and then finance these acquisitions with a land loan or a land contract . To learn how this all fits together lets suppose you are interested in investing in some real estate and developing your own little broker business to generate some extra income. Before you can really do anything in your business, you must first acquire some real estate. Now you might sift through the local papers and real estate guides looking for that ideal piece that fits all your requirements. This method could take quite some time as it is hard to come by really good deals in this manner. On the other hand, perhaps a friend mentioned in passing how he built his first house on a piece of property he purchased at a land auction and got a great deal on. Your friend may be on to something here. Have you ever thought about checking out a land auction? If you have not been to a land auction now is the time to go check one out in your area. Thanks to the great format of auctions, the land you are bidding on will start at a relatively low bid price and the land auction will proceed just like a normal auction. Often there will not be much competition for land and you will be able to purchase a great piece of land from the land auction. After you have got your piece of property from the land auction you must find a way to finance it. This is where the land loan comes in. A land loan is exactly what it sounds like a loan for a piece of land. The land loan will be secured by the real estate that it pays for and you will be able to get a loan for the amount of the sale price of the real estate property. Your lender will likely dictate some terms as to what can be done with the land to ensure the value of the land remains intact and the land loan balance can be paid off. If you are into rentals then you might consider building a house or two on this property, depending on the size of the property you won in the land auction. Once your land loan is secure and you have built the houses and landscaped the property then your energies must turn to making this acquisition profitable to you. Hopefully you have added value to the land and can sell the property at a profit. This will create a nice little return on the project and allow you to focus your efforts on the next project. On the other hand you might consider exiting the property by selling the land and closing on a land contract with the buyer. A land contract insinuates that you are essentially financing the purchase for the buyer. Thus, when a buyer signs a land contract he is agreeing to submit monthly payments to you directly at the agreed upon terms. In turn you will pocket some of the money and turn the rest over to the bank that issued you the land loan. By using a land contract you can help somebody who has bad credit purchase the land and charge them a premium on that agreement so that you are making money on top of money. That is to say you are making interest on top of the net profit you got with the sale of the property. Adam Smith is an internet marketer for 10X Marketing. You can learn more about the real estate market and depreciation from OneMinuteMillionaire.com Keywords: land loan, land contract About the Author Adam Smith, adam10xmarketing@gmail.com More Details about land loan here.Adam Smith is an client account specialist with http://www.10xMarketing.com - More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. This article has been viewed 43 time(s). Check Out Our Content Channel Categories Career/Business Marnie Pehrson Computers/Tech Beth Sunny Corporate Rhoberta Shaler Current Events Lee Schaeffer Holiday/Parties Kimberly Lainson Home Business Stone Evans Home/Family Mia Cronan Marketing/PR Marnie Pehrson Money Matters Bob Robertson Personal Develop . Leslie Householder Build Ebooks - Ad Rates - Affiliate Login - Links - Services - Restore Login - 1ChapterFree Serious Entrepeneurs Wanted - Financial Freedom - Women's Magazine - Free Email Marketing - Small Business Grant - Make Money At Home IdeaMarketers is a Project of Pehrson Web Group 514 Old Hickory Ln * Ringgold GA 30736 706-866-2295 * Order Line: 800-524-2307 webmaster@ideamarketers.com Web hosting provided by Blu Sky Web Solutions Please Note : IdeaMarketers is a free-forum whereanyone may sign up for a free writer account or publisher account and post. It is always up to the discretion of the visitor to decide about anything mentioned on the service. We do not personally endorse any company, person, product or service listed on our site unless we explicitly say we are endorsing them.
Selling home on your
Alaska Journal of Commerce: Selling home on your own can prove costly 04/22/02 [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] Home Focus In this Issue Calendar Bulletin Board Movers & Shakers Business History Archive Around the World Legals Viewpoint Profile Cartoons Contact Us Advertise with us Subscribe About Us Classified ADs Oil & Gas Special Sections Wealthbuilders Fish Factor Travel Insight Property Wise Tech Watch Law Page Philanthropy Health Book of Lists -5° 17° 9° 8° 27° 33° 35° 41° 44° 39° 35° Choose City Anchorage Barrow Bethel Cordova Deadhorse Denali Park Dillingham Dutch Harbor Fairbanks Galena Haines Homer Juneau Kenai Ketchikan Kodiak Kotzebue McGrath Nenana Paxson Petersburg Pribilof Islands Sitka Skagway Soldotna Talkeetna Valdez Wrangell Yakutat Email Newsletter Palm Pilot Delivery Letter to the editor Comments Locate a copy [an error occurred while processing this directive] [an error occurred while processing this directive] 042202 prop_wise 2 Alaska Journal of Commerce Late night television and local radio programming is rife with infomercials and advertisements touting how easy it is to buy and sell your houses, buildings and businesses all by yourself and save staggering amounts of money to boot. -- Web posted Monday, April 22, 2002 Selling home on your own can prove costly By Ken Jelinek For the Journal Late night television and local radio programming is rife with infomercials and advertisements touting how easy it is to buy and sell your houses, buildings and businesses all by yourself and save staggering amounts of money to boot. They can be rather insulting to those of us in the real estate industry because they attempt to make us sound unnecessary, unethical and expensive. But the fact is, you really can do it yourself successfully. Cynically speaking, however, you can also fix your own car, generate your own electricity, defend yourself in court, trade your own stocks and never visit a doctor. You could probably do your neighbor's job too. One day, when everything is perfectly computerized and digital, you probably won't need a real estate agent. But for now, for the rest of us, we need the help, and that help is going to cost us. So, before you go spiraling off in your declaration of independence, ask yourself, "If it's really so easy, then why aren't all real estate transactions conducted without an agent?" You might also ask yourself if you would want to eliminate the real estate agent and take on all of his or her responsibilities when you are already bogged down with your own life in general, and especially if you haven't done it enough to do it right or do it well? Then, listen closely to your answers because we professionals in the industry are often patching up real estate transactions gone sour behind the well-meaning do-it-yourselfers. Keep in mind that I'm referring to all professionals in the industry including agents, attorneys, loan originators, title officers, processors, surveyors, tax assessors, appraisers and inspectors. But I'm referring specifically to the agent because he or she is the center in this wheel. Nationally, only three to five of every 100 home sales consists of successful "For Sale by Owner" transactions. The vast majority of those that attempt it end up hiring an agent within the first 30 days after they have realized the true cost, time and demands required for marketing and showing a home. Locally, the statistics indicate 15-17 percent of FSBOs are successful. While there are a lot of reasons for this, one of the main ones is that we have a robust seller's market with relatively low inventory. This can be quite tempting for sellers to strike out on their own because it looks easier than it is. But even the owners that sell their own homes usually sell to a buyer who has an agent paid for by the seller. The truth is that the vast majority of all real estate transactions are completed with agents involved on at least one side of the sale, and for this reason, most transactions go very smoothly. But sometimes they don't. One recent seller took the advice of a local FSBO program on pricing his home. Several programs will give you limited service for a set fee. He put an ad in the paper and sold it within three days. When the appraisal report came back he learned that he priced his home too low but was still committed to that price. Sure, he might have saved 6 or 7 percent in brokerage fees but he lost a lot more than that to the happy buyer because his FSBO consultant didn't know the market well enough. In a similar incident, a very excited couple heard of a perfect home on the market For Sale By Owner in their neighborhood. The sellers told them that they didn't want to pay any brokerage fees and proceeded to negotiate down the asking price by $9,000, which made the buyers feel special. A market analysis revealed that the starting price was already about $10,000 too high. And yet, it's going to be sold at the same market price to the buyers whether or not they have an agent paid by the seller. Recently a buyer made an offer on a duplex that was accepted with a counteroffer to increase the earnest money. Both buyer and seller agreed verbally and the only thing lacking was the buyer's signature on that change. In the meantime, the seller sold the duplex to a second buyer to get a higher price and quicker closing. He now has two accepted offers on the same property at the same time. Which party in this potential lawsuit would you like to be? Not all sellers innocently try to save money on real estate commissions. Some choose to "overlook" disclosing pertinent and sometimes legally required information to buyers because doing so might lower the final sales price or prohibit a sale indefinitely because they can't afford to fix a deficiency. How would you protect yourself without the watchful eye of an expert? Agents usually take on quite a bit of risk in marketing your house for sale or driving you around looking at homes to buy. They pay for everything up front and often don't get paid until the day it is recorded, which makes him or her, actually, quite a bargain. On the other hand, you could do it yourself. Ken Jelinek is an associate broker with RE/MAX Properties in Anchorage. He can be reached at 907-257-0196. [an error occurred while processing this directive] © 2004 The Alaska Journal of Commerce and Morris Communications Corp.