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Thanks for your feedback. A lot of your comments line up with the US. We suspect our market is the FSBO. According to NAR, about 10% of the market was for sale

Thanks for your feedback. A lot of your comments line up with the US. We suspect our market is the FSBO. According to NAR, about 10% of the market was for sale by owner(FSBO). If that number is correct, the FSBO market is twice the size of the largest real estate company. So about ten percent of the market here apparently doesn't need an agent. That's about 500k houses. We believe we have a lot to offer a "bare" FSBO. Only time will tell. Thanks for your feedback. It is appreciated.

dclowd9901 3y ago
Twice the size of the largest RE doesn’t mean much when 90% of the market is RE. People pick realtors, not companies, and companies have done pretty well to spread themselves evenly over the great US landscape. And you’re not primed to capture a market that is focused on spending $0 to list. That’s the reason they’re avoiding the real estate pipeline in the first place.
- montgomster 3y ago
  I see your point, but it is not universal. There are a number of reasons sellers choose FSBO. I have spoken with thousands of FSBO as an agent and as DearMonty on my website. Here are a few other reasons: 1. significant inside real estate knowledge who know how the system works. Examples are contractors, attorneys, title company workers, and there are more. 2. Poor experiences with agents. 3.A need to be in control. 4. They recognize the significant asymmetry and conflict of interest of the agent. Yes, there are bottom feeders and they need us more, but they may be harder to convince. Time will tell. I appreciate your feedback/
oefrha 3y ago
Pricing says $1 per listing for the first 100, then $995. If you’re targeting the FSBO market, doesn’t that mean you won’t be making any money most of the time? Am I missing something? Maybe the $1 per listing is temporary to kickstart it?
- markdown 3y ago
  > $1 per listing is temporary to kickstart it? It's $1 for the first 100 people who sell a home on the platform, then full price after that.
  - oefrha 3y ago
    Oh, I'm too used to SaaS pricing schemes to think that way...
    - montgomster 3y ago
      Ha! If I get your drift, we don't ever want to be seen as scheming. Transparency is paramount to building a trusting relationship with our customers. We will be very careful to avoid any hint of scheming. Thanks for your comment.
      - oefrha 3y ago
        Sorry, I wasn’t talking about scheming, I just thought it’s the standard free/discounted for the first X units you use (pricing strategy), and didn’t realize it’s meant to be site wide.
  - davewasthere 3y ago
    Although it reads as though it's $1 ea for your first 100 homes you sell, then $995 after that. And actually, probably need to make it $1/home for the first 1000 or so just to get the site to critical mass. Not going to get many buyers for 2 listings...
    - montgomster 3y ago
      We believe 100 customer at $1 is very generous. When the seller has a number of benefits besides saving significant money, when they see how well this works for others the $995 is peanuts when your saving $50k. Time will tell. Thanks for your feedback. I hope you are not right!
    - 3y ago
conductr 3y ago
> If that number is correct, the FSBO market is twice the size of the largest real estate company. That's the most apples & oranges thing I've read in a long time I recently used a real listing agent that I paid a flat fee of $500 to and they got the listing on the MLS given I filled out the forms and provided pictures (hired a photographer for $200). I was fine just having the MLS as the marketing vehicle as buyer's would find it without any marketing at all. It worked and saved 6%-$700 which on this particular property was about $35,000. (Oh I did do my own negotiating as a seller, but they offered to do that for an added flat $ fee that I don't remember) I think that's the model for this. Don't try to create a FSBO market, try to find a RE agent that does above in every market and create a network of that type of service. Then you can skim a fee off at some point from either the agent, seller, buyer, or anyone else.
- mlrtime 3y ago
  How did you avoid paying the 3% (In your example) buyers fee? Did you just refuse to work with any agents? For most people this will not work.
  - cj 3y ago
    If they're on MLS, they'll be on Zillow. Buyers these days do a lot of their own searching. If a buyer finds the listing on Zillow via MLS, it won't stop them from viewing the house even if they have an agent. Once they view the house, the owner could convince them to ditch the agent. I mean honestly, what does the average agent do for a client? Not very much.
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      This matches my experience as a buyer as well. It won’t get you 100% of the buyers, but it will get you way over 50% and likely over 75%. If I was working with an agent, I’m sure they’d discourage me from that listing, but as a seller in a reasonable market, I’m willing to give up a few possible buyers to save 5-6% on a 7-figure transaction. (I’ve also seen FSBOs that offer X% to buyer agents.) I will say that agents did do some work to make the transaction complete on both of my house purchases. Negotiations after the inspection can be tense and a good agent can help both sides get to the closing table.
dools 3y ago
We actually have this website in Australia it’s been around for a while: https://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/ https://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/
scarface_74 3y ago
This is the most cliched startup pitch in the world. “There is a $HugeMarket if we only captured $ASmallPercentage we will be successful”. I was guilty of it too as one of the tech leads when the company I was working for was working to get acquired.

dclowd9901 3y ago

Twice the size of the largest RE doesn’t mean much when 90% of the market is RE. People pick realtors, not companies, and companies have done pretty well to spread themselves evenly over the great US landscape. And you’re not primed to capture a market that is focused on spending $0 to list. That’s the reason they’re avoiding the real estate pipeline in the first place.

montgomster 3y ago
I see your point, but it is not universal. There are a number of reasons sellers choose FSBO. I have spoken with thousands of FSBO as an agent and as DearMonty on my website. Here are a few other reasons: 1. significant inside real estate knowledge who know how the system works. Examples are contractors, attorneys, title company workers, and there are more. 2. Poor experiences with agents. 3.A need to be in control. 4. They recognize the significant asymmetry and conflict of interest of the agent. Yes, there are bottom feeders and they need us more, but they may be harder to convince. Time will tell. I appreciate your feedback/

oefrha 3y ago

Pricing says $1 per listing for the first 100, then $995. If you’re targeting the FSBO market, doesn’t that mean you won’t be making any money most of the time? Am I missing something? Maybe the $1 per listing is temporary to kickstart it?

markdown 3y ago
> $1 per listing is temporary to kickstart it? It's $1 for the first 100 people who sell a home on the platform, then full price after that.
- oefrha 3y ago
  Oh, I'm too used to SaaS pricing schemes to think that way...
  - montgomster 3y ago
    Ha! If I get your drift, we don't ever want to be seen as scheming. Transparency is paramount to building a trusting relationship with our customers. We will be very careful to avoid any hint of scheming. Thanks for your comment.
    - oefrha 3y ago
      Sorry, I wasn’t talking about scheming, I just thought it’s the standard free/discounted for the first X units you use (pricing strategy), and didn’t realize it’s meant to be site wide.
- davewasthere 3y ago
  Although it reads as though it's $1 ea for your first 100 homes you sell, then $995 after that. And actually, probably need to make it $1/home for the first 1000 or so just to get the site to critical mass. Not going to get many buyers for 2 listings...
  - montgomster 3y ago
    We believe 100 customer at $1 is very generous. When the seller has a number of benefits besides saving significant money, when they see how well this works for others the $995 is peanuts when your saving $50k. Time will tell. Thanks for your feedback. I hope you are not right!
  - 3y ago

conductr 3y ago

> If that number is correct, the FSBO market is twice the size of the largest real estate company. That's the most apples & oranges thing I've read in a long time I recently used a real listing agent that I paid a flat fee of $500 to and they got the listing on the MLS given I filled out the forms and provided pictures (hired a photographer for $200). I was fine just having the MLS as the marketing vehicle as buyer's would find it without any marketing at all. It worked and saved 6%-$700 which on this particular property was about $35,000. (Oh I did do my own negotiating as a seller, but they offered to do that for an added flat $ fee that I don't remember) I think that's the model for this. Don't try to create a FSBO market, try to find a RE agent that does above in every market and create a network of that type of service. Then you can skim a fee off at some point from either the agent, seller, buyer, or anyone else.

mlrtime 3y ago
How did you avoid paying the 3% (In your example) buyers fee? Did you just refuse to work with any agents? For most people this will not work.
- cj 3y ago
  If they're on MLS, they'll be on Zillow. Buyers these days do a lot of their own searching. If a buyer finds the listing on Zillow via MLS, it won't stop them from viewing the house even if they have an agent. Once they view the house, the owner could convince them to ditch the agent. I mean honestly, what does the average agent do for a client? Not very much.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    This matches my experience as a buyer as well. It won’t get you 100% of the buyers, but it will get you way over 50% and likely over 75%. If I was working with an agent, I’m sure they’d discourage me from that listing, but as a seller in a reasonable market, I’m willing to give up a few possible buyers to save 5-6% on a 7-figure transaction. (I’ve also seen FSBOs that offer X% to buyer agents.) I will say that agents did do some work to make the transaction complete on both of my house purchases. Negotiations after the inspection can be tense and a good agent can help both sides get to the closing table.

dools 3y ago

We actually have this website in Australia it’s been around for a while: https://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/ https://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/

scarface_74 3y ago

This is the most cliched startup pitch in the world. “There is a $HugeMarket if we only captured $ASmallPercentage we will be successful”. I was guilty of it too as one of the tech leads when the company I was working for was working to get acquired.