Local family opens Homes For Sale By Owner here

Homeowners trying to sell their own homes often don't have many advertising options, but the company Homes For Sale By Owner is changing that.

Karri Halley, who owns the company with her mother, Diana Hall, and her sister, Kelsi Hall, the company provides alternatives to the small newspaper ads traditionally used by people selling their own homes.

She said people who sell their own homes are often at a disadvantage compared to sellers who use Realtor's services, but Homes For Sale By Owner is trying to change that.

"A Realtor can publish a home, with a photograph, in a homes magazine, but that is not a venue that's open to sellers who sell their own homes," Halley said.

"We publish a magazine for people who are trying to sell their own homes, and it gives them an opportunity to have a photo advertisement in a publication that's distributed, as well as (on) the Internet."

Halley said the company has a Web site at www.homesforsalebyowner.com, and the ads that appear in the magazine, which is also named Homes For Sale By Owner, appear on the site.

She said HFSBO is a member of the national organization, For Sale By Owner, which links it to the larger group's Web site. As a result, people from all over the country can use the national site to find homes for sale in the southwest Missouri region.

"With the Internet being such a big venue now for selling all different types of things, this gives (self-represented sellers) an opportunity to have their homes advertised on the Internet in a location where people are going to see it," she said.

HFSBO was established in July 1999, and the first issue of its magazine was published in August 1999, Halley said. The company's three owners, all of whom live in Bolivar, are its only employees, she said.

Halley said HFSBO doesn't have a physical office location. The company uses a Springfield telephone number and conducts its business via telephone, the Internet, e-mail and on-site visits at the homes advertised in the magazine.

Halley said the current circulation of the HFSBO magazine is around 15,000, and there is a variety of advertising options available.

"One thing that's the same with all our advertising is that it runs until the house sells, with a 12-month limit ... so if your home doesn't sell in the first month, you don't need to make the decision of whether you need to pay to advertise again," she said.

Halley said there is always going to be a certain percentage of people who sell their homes themselves, and those people are the ones HFSBO hopes to reach.

"We're not really trying to convert people who already use Realtors, we're just trying to offer a service to people who are going to sell their own home anyway, just another way to advertise it," she said.

"A lot of our customers, by the time that they're ready to advertise with us, some of them have already been through the real estate market, you know, they've had a Realtor and they've been a little dissatisfied with the way that's turned out, so they're looking for a way to do it on their own," she said.

Halley said other customers simply can't afford to have the equity in their homes go toward a Realtor's commission. She said in Missouri, broker's licenses are required for people who publish homes magazines, and HFSBO does offer traditional real estate services as well as assistance for sellers who want to sell and show their own homes, but need help understanding the paperwork.

Halley said in addition to sellers, the HFSBO magazine also appeals to builders who build spec homes.