But it took awhile to come up with something unique I could do that wouldn’t take a large cash investment.  I was struggling enough as it is, and though I did want to be different, I didn’t want to have to end up in bankruptcy because of it.

In the end, I settled on some custom banner stands that would allow me to hang a large picture of the interior design of the home that I was selling.  I thought that if the prospective buyer would get a glimpse of what they would see inside the home that I would entice them to call and make an appointment for a viewing.

As it turns out, the last half of the year saw an increase in home showings by nearly fifty percent, and the number of new homes that I sold increased over last year by ten percent even though the market was in a slump.

Needless to say, trying something different ended up being profitable for me and I am very thankful for that.

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For example, I was recently able to acquire a fifty unit apartment block and get approval to turn the whole building into condominiums.  After calculating the return on investment for the property after converting it to condos, I could hardly pass up the opportunity to make a pile of cash out of the deal.

But I really had no idea that it would be so lucrative until I talked to one of the advisors on my team that helps me make decisions when it comes to renovations to increase value.  Lisa let me know that we could get a large order of hot tubs and spas from a vendor in town that was going out of business to turn our condos into luxurious homes for our potential clients.  I asked her to find out more information for me before I committed to her recommendation.

Within a day she brought me back the numbers regarding the cheap hot tubs and spas and I decided to incorporate them into our plans.  They will add both to the profits and looks of our now luxurious condo development project.

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Unfortunately for the agents, the Internet has also made it easier to operate without an agent.  I think it is essentially the Internet that has given birth to the FSBO (for sale by owner) movement; pre-Internet, it just wouldn’t have been as possible.

Here are the reasons why the Internet makes FSBO so easy:

1. Buyers can do a real estate search online.  It’s no longer up to an agent to find potential homes for you.  You can find them yourselves on any number of websites — searching by price, location, number of bedrooms or bathrooms, lot size, etc.  Talk about making it easy to find your dream house!
2. Buyers can view pictures and decide whether or not to tour a house.  This cuts down on the number of properties you need to visit, for one thing, meaning that you are less likely to be wasting someone’s time if you ask to see their house without a real estate agent present.  It is also helpful if you are looking for a house out of state — you can look up Jacksonville Florida real estate or Houston real estate, for example, without ever having even set foot in the cities!
3. Sellers can connect with buyers online.  You are no longer dependent solely on the FSBO sign in your front yard.  You can buy an MLS number yourself online, which enables you to list your FSBO property on all the major — and frequently searched — websites.  You can also list your house on special FSBO websites, which is nice for folks who don’t want to have to deal with someone else’s real estate agent!

As you can see, the Internet has made FSBO happen in ways that would never have even been possible before!

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