By-owner sites

B - Nationwide or Local FSBO Sites: Which are better?

Below is a list of some of the larger, nationwide for-sale-by-owner real estate web sites in the US and Canada. Note that prices can change at any time and are subject to seasonal and promotional offers.

Some fsbo sites offer various levels of service and/or they have different lengths of time a "listing" is displayed.

PLEASE NOTE: There are many excellent FSBO sites that service a particular state, region or city but there are too many to list here. The appeal they offer is that their listings are more likely to be currently active on the market.

Many display links to local community sites and related information that is relevant to their viewers. To see the sites in your area, click here.

List of national by-owner web sites  

2BuyHomes     Not a very professional looking site, but it has decent offerings. Many listings had no address, eliminating a drive-by peek.

49.50 or 5 months for $99.50  plus a Flat Fee option

BuyOwner    Hard to navigate this nice looking site. Homes shown, but no address to drive by.

Difficult to find info about their pricing schedule.

ByOwner   Search by State, zip code or ad ID. Does not appear to provide property address. Professional presentation.

Prices vary-depends upon your area, typically $249 to $399 plus options.

ByTheOwner    Canada They provide a very neat, buyer-friendly site with search options and good detail info.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Pricing varies, typically from $299.95 to less than $700. 

CanadaByOwner            Canada Counterpart to byowner.com in the US. Has a negative feature of revealing to all viewers the number of buyer hits. But search by AD ID, keyword or Province is very appealing. 

Cost is $79.95/mo or one time fee from $199 to $349.

ForSaleByOwner      Nice site although rather pricey. Primarily the same site as ByOwnerSales.com but more expensive. Has an ID search.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      $89.95/ mo to one time fee of $199 to $599 or up to $899.        

 FSBO.com      Can find home with ID number. A zip code search will bring homes from totally outside the buyer's desired area. Needs some refinement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Pricing typically from $69.95 to $199.95.  

FsboAdvertisingService      Very amateur looking site that actually provides good info for buyers, but lack of address with many homes prevents a drive-by. Homepage is way too text heavy and obviously unappealing. 

Their site is $49.50, 99.50 or $149.50.  

HomeGain.com  N/A   Not setup to assist by-owners in posting their homes. Refers you to Realtors.  

HomeSellCanada.com     Canada  Nice, clean, well organized site.  

$89.95 for 12 month listing. 

HouseMaxx.ca     Canada and US. Good info for buyers but somewhat confusing and hard to navigate. Trying too hard to be all things to all people. Many very dated listings (?).

Packages of $129  to $729. 

MilitaryByOwner     Slick site catering primarily to military personnel at or near the service bases throughout the country. Listings are marked as selling by owner or if using a real estate agent.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     From $14.95 (45 days) up to $79.95 (180 days) plus  other benefits. 

MyFsbo     Clean, easy to understand site. A search of their inventory and buyers will find that most listings have expired. 

Plans ranging from $14.95 to $149.95.

 Owners     Nice clean site with several pricing options. From free for 60 days to being listed on your local MLS and realtor.com for six months. Very cumbersome address look. Needs an ID search option. Will they swamp you with emails during the free trial period?

Propertyguys      Canada. Nice site with lots of features/benefits. Offer a Money-back guarantee on more expensive programs to entice sellers to go with the more expensive options.  

$349 to $1499 (and up). 

Propertysold     Canada           Homepage is on steroids. A little overwhelming. Good pricing plans and buyer info.

$59.95 to $149.95.

SaleByOwner     Lots of homes. Solid site. Appears to have most of the same listings as Forsalebyowner.com (close to being a clone site with different pricing).  

Variety of rates. $59.95 / mo to $149 (until sold) and higher with more options.       

Zillow     Zillow has never lived up to the hype it commanded. Ask for listings in one zip code and the system shows homes from miles and miles away. It wants to be all things to everybody, creating confusion in the minds of visitors.

 

NOTE: Sites that were NOT included:

Sites were omitted that concentrated on foreclosure property. We also tried to omit those that were composed primarily of real estate agent listings. But if a site gets desperate for inventory...

Your comments:

Your observations are welcome and will be considered as the sites are updated.  If you feel a key web site has been excluded that would compare favorably here or if one of the above has recently changed their offerings, please advise us through the CONTACT US link below.

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