Fortunately, with the advent of the Internet and modern technology there have been a few platforms recently that allow homeowners to feed their listing to all of these sites at the same time. One listing service that I had a good experience with is Hauseit. These guys will have a discount broker use their listing technology to blast your listing out to just about every relevant website and broker database out there. They also are strict about charging zero commissions for the listing side. This is a great semi-FSBO approach as you can still opt to offer a commission to buyers’ brokers. Another free listing service is called Postlets which is owned by Zillow. The service is entirely free but they only syndicate you to Zillow and some other low traffic sites. The problem with Postlets is that even though it’s easy and free, I have a feeling that it is geared towards rentals, and it doesn’t get you into the multiple listing service. Not getting into the multiple listing service is a fatal flaw as buyer’s brokers represent 80% of the buyer market. I would also caution against using some of the larger national for sale by owner websites even though they have been around longer. The reason for this is they are not local companies which will actually get you on the relevant local websites. For example, Hauseit will get you on StreetEasy, which is a very popular consumer search website in NYC. Hauseit will also get you on OLR, which is the dominant broker only database in the city. You have to be careful about specifying the places that your listing will go to because even though a large national listing company may put you on the multiple listing service, they fail to specify exactly what multiple listing service they will put it on. They could very easily put you on the New York State MLS only. If that were the case, you would be missing out essentially on all of the brokers in Manhattan. If you want ultimate control, you can still do it yourself by individually listing your home on the dozens of major real estate websites out there. However, the issue with this is the large amount of time required and the fact that you won’t be able to get on a few critical sites and databases. For example, you will not be able to get on any multiple listing service or realtor.com because you’re not a broker. I personally believe this route is fatal because you will miss 80% of the buyer universe. If you have any questions or would like to know more please visit my blog or shoot me an email. Good luck and I hope this has been helpful for you in your quest to sell FSBO in NYC!
"The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can't, both are usually right" ~unknown