Badger By Owner--Valley By Owner
Pricing and PolicyFAQTipsReal Estate MagazineResources
House # or Street Name: -OR- Phone #:

USING THIS SERVICE & SELLING YOUR HOME:

PRICING:
 WEB SITE:
 SIGNS:



Topic 1: Using This Service & Selling Your Home
Why should I list with WisconsinByOwner.com (AKA: ValleyByOwner.com, BadgerByOwner.com & DoorByOwner.com?

  • No similar service has the quantity of SOLD properties. See our home page for current number of SOLD properties.
  • We have the most well-known site in the area
  • Your property page has the potential to be seen by more people (more hits) when you list on our site. The more hits, the more likely you are to sell your property.
  • We put on 8-45 (depending on the time of year) new properties a week. Buyers like this active/updated aspect of our site.
  • See our home page for the number of listings we have and the number of hits per day our site is receiving. No other service offers that type of selection for buyers.
  • Our web site offers special features to buyers and sellers that no other site comes close to providing. Such as:
    • Sellers can log in and change any information about their property or to add open houses.
    • Open house page conveniently lists all upcoming open house dates/times. Also, open house appears on individual listing & listing results page.
    • Buyers can easily find the property that they are interested in by entering the seller's phone number. Other search options also are available on our Listings Page.
    • Map Search Tool available which shows locations of the properties on a map.
  • We are continually changing our site to make it easier for you to use.
  • We provide a professional, bright and distinctive sign that quickly attracts attention of potential buyers. Because we are local, the signs bring cohesiveness and a sense of professionalism to the for sale by owner property market.
  • All changes (including photo changes) to your Internet property page, while listed on our site, are free of charge.
  • This is a very economical and powerful way to market your for sale by owner home.
  • Your property information is available for view 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by potential buyers any where in the world.
  • Because our service is primarily local, and our signs are very plentiful, so many people know about our web site; making it a very popular place for home-buyers to visit. An Internet site is only as powerful as the number of people that know of its existence.
  • Our handy "Spec Sheet" option found to the right of an address on any Internet Property page.
  • We hire a search engine specialist in order to help our site rankings and run campaigns the most popular search engines.
  • Property web pages offer more information for potential buyer's - saving time and hassle for both buyer and seller.
  • Very nice photos view tool on each web page.
  • Our web site is on a dedicated server, making it faster and more 99.5% reliable with a fine ability to handle all the traffic we receive. We hire technical professionals to manage it and keep it running well.

How do I sign up for your service?

You will need to forward three things to us:

  • Property data. Property data can be forwarded electronically via our web site and/or email.
  • Photos (regular or digital). Photos can be sent via email or uploaded onto your web page via the Seller Login, after you have completed the electronic forms found on our List with Us page. Alternatively, especially if they are regular photographs, they can be mailed to our address.
  • Payment. Your payment can be mailed or paid securely with credit card via our Online Registration found on our List with Us page.

    Finally, have confidence that we will work with you, to get your information to us in the most convenient way possible, US Postal Service, Email, Online Registration, FAX, Phone or via our Appleton drop box (drop box only) located at 1821 W. Wisconsin Ave.

 

Is my property priced right?

An appraisal is when a property owner hires a company to offer them data on what their property is worth (A bank will hire an appraisal during mortgage or refinance procedures; so you may have one on record if you have done this recently. An assessment is what the city/town values your property. An assessment is used to set your property taxes. Both numbers are helpful as a guideline. Some customers look at the city/town records for recent closings in order to see what those houses sold for, then they compare that information with their property. You can also look at our web site and other web sites to make some comparisons. It can be helpful to figure out the price per square foot for comparison purposes.

I have an offer, now what? See our Service Directory page for Real Estate Forms & Steps for Buying/Selling
We recommend that you consult with your attorney first. It is easy to hire an attorney & allow him/her to draw up the paperwork (Offer to Purchase) with you and your buyer.  The attorney will make sure things are correctly completed, copies are made etc.. We recommend only placing "accepted offer" or "sold" online after all contingencies (inspection, other property sale, etc.) are met. When you have accepted offer placed online, now is the time to allow us to pick up a sign (if we installed it for you).   We will also replace installed signs if things fall through before closing and it is still within your initial 3 month period. NOTE: Please give us at least one week lead time for sign removal.  It is important to us that we remove any installed signs prior to the closing date.

How can I send digital photos?
Photos should be in jpeg format. Send them on an email as an attachment with the property address in the subject heading of the email. If you have dial-up Internet service, send one photo per one email . You can mail a CD with the photos, but double check your CD to make sure the photos on it before you send it in. A third way is the uploade the photos directly onto your web page (after registering with us) using oure Seller Login Upload Photo tool.

How do people generally handle the legal aspect of selling a house when they don't have a realtor doing the paperwork, it all seems so confusing and risky?
From our web site page titled Service Directory, you can download general Wisconsin Real estate forms for your convenience. You can also view Steps for Buying/Selling a home. Buying and selling homes is a serious and large financial endeavor. Most people report to us that they hire an experienced attorney to assist them with the legal aspects of buying and selling homes and writing offers for the buyers & sellers.

I want to stop using your service and list with a licensed real estate agent, what do I do?

Simply call us or email us with this information by Monday of the week you want the sign picked up. We will remove the sign and remove your property from the site. We do need to keep the site "by owner" and it is an honor system to let us know so we can pick up the sign. Please refer to the question about refunds for details on pricing.
Until the day we come to remove the sign, you can clip off the hanging part of the sign and lean it against the house to indicate that you are no longer selling 'by owner'. Please do not remove the sign (please review our policies found on this web site).


Can I post sold / accepted on my sign?

PLEASE don't put any kind of tape on the signs. Our signs are very costly ($110 each) and tape ruins them. Please call us to have us remove the signs ourselves so damage to the sign does not occur. When your property has an accepted offer, simply call us and we will arrange to pick up the sign at a time which fits your needs and/or closing date. We ask to have the sign at least a week before closing, which eliminates the potential of new owner damaging it or disposing of it. But don't worry, if we pick up the sign a bit before closing, yet closing falls through, we will replace it for free. You can read more detail, found on our Policy web page on this web site.

If necessary, you may also clip off the hanging part of the sign and lean them against the outside of the house in a place where we can find them when pick-up occurs. Another useful option has been to take a large garbage bag to cover the sign for the day or two before we remove the sign. Sometimes we have SOLD or ACCEPTED offer signs available for free use from our office; give us a call or email if you would like to pick one up from our office for you sign.

What makes your business distinctive?
We began this family business in 1999 after a time of house-hunting the old-fashioned way. We wished for a web site in which we could scan for properties easily. The number of visitors to our site has grown weekly (see home page for current daily average). There indeed was a need from both the buyer and seller perspective for a web site like this. We try to treat each customer like family; understanding the selling/buying property is sometimes a stressful situation. We also strive to make this advertising process as simple as possible. This service has been so popular that we now have 4 names which point to our web site: WisconsinByOwner.com, ValleyByOwner.com, BadgerByOwner.com & DoorByOwner.com.

What is the difference between using your service (selling 'by owner') and using realtor services?
When selling 'by owner,' you are marketing your property, taking all phone calls, showing the property, running the open houses, negotiating directly with the buyer and handling the paperwork independently (many individuals hire an attorney to do this part when selling 'by owner'). You can tailor your plan of action to your own needs.

One thing to remember, as you plan to sell 'by owner,' is that you are also paying for all the marketing/advertising up front. In contrast, when you list with a realtor, not always, but typically, they generally market the property for you, or at least put it on the MLS system. You are relying on them to advertise the property in the papers, take phone calls, show the property, run open houses and many realtors are involved in the negotiation process and paperwork process.

Wisconsin & Valley By Owner suggests thinking these things through. Also, visit our Service Directory and Tips web pages for more information.

 

Do You Offer the MLS? Why not?

Currently, we do not offer the MLS. In the past, MLS allowed real estate professionals to share listings with each other. The real estate professionals would then share this information with buyers. With the advent of the Internet, all people, including the buyer, can now access and see properties publicly. Our web site is available to view by all people, all over the world as long as they have Internet access. Therefore, we would not think that offering MLS to a "by owner" property would greatly benefit the sale of the "by owner" property, considering costs associated with such a service. We recommend writing "Real estate professionals welcome" on your listing on our web site.



Topic 2: Pricing

How much is your service?
$175 for a 3-month period of time which includes sign and Internet page. Additional fees that may apply can be found on our Price page and are added to the $175 fee as needed. There are limitations to our driving distances, so please call for details if you are about 14+ miles outside our metro areas. If you register online via option B on our List w/Us page, your zip code will let you know if you would receive an installed sign (we put it in) or whether we would mail you a sign, digits & pennants.

If I list for only 1 month, can I get a refund?
No, Our fee schedule is based on the amount of work put into each property at the front-end of service. Even if you only have your house on for 1 week, we still perform the same amount of work if it is on for the entire 3-months. That is why our policies and fee structure are as set as they are. Please call us to have us remove the sign if you list with a realtor, take the property off the market or sell (before closing please)!

 

Topic 3: Web Site

How do I print a nice one-page spec. sheet?

There are two ways to print a spec. sheet from our web site:

1) Go to the property of choice. Look to the right of the address. Click on "Print Spec Sheet." Choose print.

2) Select/highlight the area you would like to print using the mouse. Look at the menu bar on the top of the page, Click on "file," then chose "print." In the print window chose "selection."


How are changes made to my page and what are their costs?

Updates and changes to your page, including open houses & photos, are done for no additional fee when using our service. They can be made three ways

  • Click on the "Seller Login" area, which is on top right of our web site. Changes made here go into effect as soon as you click 'save"
  • Emailing us, including your name and property address in the email
  • Calling us. Please provide last name and address

What is a search engine?

Search engines and directories have become complicated beasts in the last few years. Unlike a phone book, just because a business has a web site does not mean it will appear on a search engine. We have discovered that the sophistication and competition involved in getting on search engines is complicated and expensive. Our site has been submitted to search engines & directories. We have hired an expert in the area to work on keeping our web site available in search engines and directories.

How do potential buyers know to use your site?
We promote our site in various ways (please call or e-mail for details because our advertising is always changing). Having been established in Northeast Wisconsin since 1999, our bright and attractive signs are a common and familiar sight for potential buyers. Our large customer base helps spread the word. We also subscribe to advertising on Search Engines. We are in a number of phone directories.

 

 

Topic 4: Signs

Why didn't you put the sign on the strip of grass between our sidewalk and street?
Cities and towns do not allow signs to be placed in this strip of land. The City of Neenah has informed us that their street crews have been discarding a large number of 'by owner' signs found in these areas. If you use these smaller corner signs to draw people into your home you'll want to keep track of them and if they are for an open house especially, pick them up before the weekend is over.

Neenah Sign Rules:
Within the City of Neenah, any sign advertising property for sale must be located entirely within the boundaries of the property to which the sign applies. Such signs shall not exceed 32 square feet in area. If a sign advertising property for sale is placed within the street right-of-way the sign shall be removed and disposed of by City employees. Because of liability concerns, no sign which has been removed will be returned. Open house signs must be installed and removed the same day of the showing. We also ask that they be placed in such a way as to not impede or interfere with the safe passage of vehicles and pedestrians.

Do you offer open house signs or small corner signs?

We now offer "Open House" signs and "House For Sale" Signs. See our Pricing page for graphics of these. We also offer 30 foot yellow and blue pennant flags for sale. If you are a new customer, you can order these items as you sign up for the first time online. We would then drop off the items when we deliver or mail a sign. If you are already a customer and would like any of these items, you can notify the office and we can arrange payment and have you pick up the items from our office.