? about listing farm on Ebay

mandyh · #1 07/17/06, 11:06 AM

OK we have had our farm on the market with a realtor for 6mo. No luck. Our contract is up on the 24th. The people who have looked at the farm all think it's priced right. Even so, we went ahead and reduced our price.

We are thinking of putting it on Ebay. What is everyone's experience with selling real estate on Ebay. What would you suggest on listing it. Should we go for the 30 day or 90. Is it best to go with a setting a price or auction format. I'd appreciate any idea's. Thanks all

omnicat · #2 07/17/06, 11:10 AM

Well, putting real estate on ebay is more like an advertisment than an actual auction. The "winner" of the listing is free to enter into a contract, but it's not binding.

But it's definitely a way to get some attention to your farm. Farms can easily be sold to people out of the area - maybe your realtor doesn't have far-enough-reaching ads.

If the price is the same for listing 30 or 90 - definitely go with the 90 day. More time up - more people will see it.

agmantoo · #3 07/17/06, 12:34 PM

Pricing is the key to selling any land. Overly optimistic pricing by the seller will result in a lot of lookers but no buyer. Be prepared to explain to a potential buyer how you came by the asking price and be prepared to support your position. When the asking price matches the perceived value of the potential buyer the property will sell. PS....I mentioned above your responsibility but failed to mention the responsibility of the broker. Exposure is additionally necessary to get the property sold. Your broker could have fallen short, with Ebay you will get the exposure. Exposure combined with correct pricing will get the property sold.

mandyh · #4 07/18/06, 05:16 AM

The price is 30 days at $150 or 90 days at $300. I'm just not sure if we should run it with a set price or put up for auction. I wanted to see what other peoples experiences where with Ebay.

Land around here is going for $8000 to $15000 an acre. We got our price with a realtors help and by looking at what has sold and what is up for sale at the present time. There are three places up for sale right now rangeing in price from 395 to 450 that are just land and a doublewide, no other improvements.
We have 38 acres, spring fed swiming pond, 2 barns, huge indoor riding arena, restored home, deeded spring and everything is board fenced. The list can go on. We have it priced at $542000. Twice we have had interested buyers who said their mortgage lenders thought it was a good price, for other reasons it didnt work out for the buyers. It is a target specific property and hard to find a buyer for, I thought Ebay would be one way of getting it out there. I'd like to hear other idea's to. :baby04:

Chickieeeee · #5 07/18/06, 08:28 AM

another option, one that is free is craigslist.org. In our area this site is used for everything. We sell things, give things away, advertise our garage sales, use the want ads, the employment ads. It is free for everything (I believe) except for the ads to hire someone.

You do need to relist it every few days. So, I would do an ad on Word perhaps, and save it. That way you just have to cut and paste every few days. Don't forget pictures! The saying is true "A picture is worth a thousand words!"

joe · #6 07/18/06, 06:19 PM

http://www.landandfarm.com

comfortablynumb · #7 07/18/06, 06:49 PM

list it here in the barter forum, its free.

mayfair · #8 07/18/06, 07:02 PM

Since you have a very specialized property (riding rink and all) it is good to get the word out outside your local area. Good luck! I hope you are able to find a buyer soon.

uyk7 · #9 07/19/06, 05:48 AM

Ok, let me pitch my website. WWW.HomesteadHunter.com. Visiting is free so stop by and take a look! Thanks!

Stuart.Lynch@homesteadhunter.com

mandyh · #10 07/20/06, 08:57 AM

I was hoping to find out what kind of luck people have had with selling property on Ebay.

I do have it listed on this site. I looked into landandfarm.com, I'm just thinking for the money Ebay gets more traffic.

Homesteadhunter, I like your site and if we dont go with another realtor I'll post there. How much traffic do you get. If not a lot, you should try to get more back links from other realtor sites to raise your PR. Your ad rates are good.

goatlady · #11 07/20/06, 01:05 PM

No experience with ebay RE, BUT as a former escrow/loan officer the biggest hangup of selling property, any property, to an out of area/state buyer is the buyer obtaining financing through a local lender. It will be quite a hassel for the buyers to try to run back and forth, spend $$ on long distance calls and Fax to get the paperwork done without a realtor at your end helping them out by doing a LOT of the ground/foot work. Exposure is fine, but the bottom line is the closing. Another option maybe are riding/horse trade magazines since your property is a speciality property - aim for and advertise to that speciality. The Quarterhourse association, Arab association, whatever breed is prevalent in your area. Equine business magazines/newspapers. Just some thoughts.

Freeholder · #12 07/20/06, 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goatlady

No experience with ebay RE, BUT as a former escrow/loan officer the biggest hangup of selling property, any property, to an out of area/state buyer is the buyer obtaining financing through a local lender. It will be quite a hassel for the buyers to try to run back and forth, spend $$ on long distance calls and Fax to get the paperwork done without a realtor at your end helping them out by doing a LOT of the ground/foot work. Exposure is fine, but the bottom line is the closing. Another option maybe are riding/horse trade magazines since your property is a speciality property - aim for and advertise to that speciality. The Quarterhourse association, Arab association, whatever breed is prevalent in your area. Equine business magazines/newspapers. Just some thoughts.

This is what I was thinking, too -- you need to target your ads to the people who are most likely to be interested in that type of property, so look for horse lists and magazines. Get it into the horsey network, advertize at horse shows and fairs, and so on.

Kathleen

timmcentire · #13 07/22/06, 06:58 AM

We have had a good experience with selling about 140 acres of land on eBay. Ended up with a great profit. We went the 90 day listing route and were overwhelmed at the response. You'll want to put in a lot of photos and have your photos hosted at a site that can handle a lot of traffic for viewers. You'll probably get a lot of questions, so be prepared for that.

What really made a difference, I think, was how we wrote up the ad. We spent some time, trying to make it right. Gave people the true image of the community near the land, kinda made it sound like Mayberry from Andy Griffith. I think that drew in a lot of people who are looking for a place that's better than what they have around them. Put in little tidbits like: "The farm is just down the road from where Mrs. Anderson's cat was rescued out of the big oak tree by the fire department last fall". People are looking for that kind of a place to call home. Just make sure you are honest.

Also, there is a young entreprenuer from northern Alabama, I think, that buys cheap houses and resells them via eBay with great results. He recommends it also.

mandyh · #14 07/22/06, 09:01 AM

How long did it take you to sell. Did you put a price on it or did you put it up for auction. Thanks

blufford · #15 07/22/06, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mandyh

.
There are three places up for sale right now rangeing in price from 395 to 450 that are just land and a doublewide, no other improvements.

I went to your site and what a beautiful property you have. I see you have some high ground there, is all the property usable? What are the economics of the area? Isn't that a tourist area with fishing and skiing and such?

Its not easy being the most expensive property on the block because alot of people want to buy the less expensive ones and let the value of the more expensive properties (like yours) pull their properties value up.

Maybe you could divide the property into several smaller parcels which would be priced lower and maybe easier to sell. It would be a shame to have to break it up though. Good luck.

mberryrfd · #16 07/22/06, 03:04 PM

[QUOTE=timmcentire] kinda made it sound like Mayberry from Andy Griffith. QUOTE]

i think i wont say a thing

mandyh · #17 07/22/06, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blufford

I went to your site and what a beautiful property you have. I see you have some high ground there, is all the property usable? What are the economics of the area? Isn't that a tourist area with fishing and skiing and such?

The home sits in the middle of property. The upper pasture looks steeper than it is. We used to cut hay on it. The wooded area above the pasture is steep, but we still manage to drive a tractor on it to put up fence.

The upper corner of the pasture is a stand of sugar maples. Yum!
The bottom field is 12 acres and 4/5 acres in the woods. The Savage river passes through this area. This whole area up to the home and barns is level.

Overall there is maybe the 4/5 acres down below and 6 acres above that we dont use for anything. I prefer to leave those area's alone.

Lots of hiking trails, camping, white water rafting, there's horse trails, separate 4wheeler trails and hunting areas. Deep Creek lake and Whisp snow resort is 20 miles away. The area's around the lake are very much tourist area's. Behind us is the beginning of the Savage Mountain Hiking trail, St. Johns Rock. It's all state land.

Here are some web sites with info on area.
www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/trailguide/
http://www.city-data.com/city/Frostburg-Maryland.html

timmcentire · #18 07/26/06, 06:23 AM

We put a price on it for the 90 days. We started the price out a little high to see how it would go and ended up lowering it a couple of times over the 90 days. It almost sold at the 30 day and 60 day marks, but it ended up selling nearer the end. I think it cost $300 or so to list and was well worth it just for the exposure.

daycab · #19 07/26/06, 08:10 AM

We sold a piece of property on ebay 2 years ago. I should have listed it for 90 days - We ended up relisting. We were asking 65K, so we got a bunch of responses from people wanting us to finance the property.We ended up selling to a cash buyer. I would make arrangements with a real estate attorney prior to listing.Unfortunately the real estate market is slow (around here anyway). Your price range may also be a problem, someone is either going to have a big down payment or a good income to swing the payments on that note! Good Luck.

mandyh · #20 08/03/06, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rose2005

We sold ours on wwwlandandfarm.com It was great. We had loads of interest and ours was not an easy house to sell as it was very large. We also had it with a realtor who was worthless.
I highly recommend using their site.Rose

I posted our farm on landandfarm yesterday. Over 200 hundred views so far. Wish us luck. If this doesnt work I still might list on Ebay.