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Mortgage brokers tap FSBO real estate marketWeb site product links brokers with sale-by-owner homesMonday,
June 21, 2004
Officials with United Companies Mortgage Corp. had wanted to tap into the for-sale-by-owner market as one more potential revenue stream. They'd been thinking about the idea for a while and about two months ago finally launched it with the help of a Web site with Myers Internet. "As much business as we can get, we're going to try and get," said Leigh Ann Fuentes, chief operations officer of the Baton Rouge, La.-based mortgage brokerage. "That was just something out there that a lot of companies do not explore and so we decided to do it." Warren Myer, CEO of Myers Internet, is hoping more mortgage brokers see potential in the FSBO market. The company's new Web site product was designed for mortgage brokers who are looking for ways to expand their businesses given dropping refinance volumes. With the Web site, brokers can upload pictures of FSBO properties, add links to virtual tours and provide detailed property descriptions. By doing so, they can market those properties to prospective home buyers, pre-qualify home buyers interested in those houses and they can also potentially originate a mortgage for the next home the FSBO seller is looking to buy. Securing future clients was United Companies' main hope in providing services, such as large yard signs and access on the Web, to FSBO sellers, Fuentes said. "The only thing we really get out of it is if they're satisfied how we've handled everything, they would hopefully refer their buyers to us," Fuentes said. FSBO sellers' reactions so far have been positive, Fuentes said. They've appreciated the free publicity and some have referred buyers to United Companies. The company "absolutely plans to continue" the service, she said. Although some real estate agents do market to FSBO owners, it's not a marketing technique that many mortgage brokers have considered, Myer said. Myer estimates mortgage brokers can generate as many as 20 to 50 leads per FSBO home listing. With the program, Myer said, mortgage brokers are simply providing more exposure to those properties, which aren't normally marketed beyond newspapers, yard signs and a few FSBO specific Web sites. Owners of FSBO properties also benefit from having pre-qualified potential borrowers viewing their homes, not simply anyone off the street, Myer said. That can help establish a relationship and may lead to the owners using those mortgage brokers when they're looking to buy another home. And if the FSBO sellers aren't able to sell their houses on their own, as often happens, the mortgage broker can refer them to real estate agents. That's a big reason why Myer doesn't view the Web site as something realty agents should see as competition. Because there's always the possibility of a FSBO hiring an agent, the Web site doesn't strain relationships mortgage brokers have with real estate agents, he said. Besides, he said, since FSBO sellers are going to try and sell their houses on their own anyway, it only makes sense to tap into that market. Myer has only just begun marketing the new service, which has been available for about the past three months to select mortgage brokers. He's promoting it at trade shows and informing the company's 4,000 owners of mortgage broker Web sites. The FSBO/mortgage broker Web site has a $199 set-up fee and a monthly fee of $199. Brokers can also sign up for a $39 a month service that provides them with a daily list of new FSBO listings, including the name, phone number and address. After receiving that information, it's up to the brokers to contact the owners about listing their house on the Web site. Brokers also can opt to find the listings themselves and then contact the owner. Myers Internet provides technology to the mortgage and real estate industries though customizable Web sites.
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