Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Web site aids do-it-yourself home sales

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Tuesday, July 18, 2000

Web site aids do-it-yourself home sales
Also: Architect's design of Humane Society building is featured in state magazine

The Smallwoods are trying their hand at selling their house on their own.
   They've done it before, but this time they have more help.
   The Smallwoods are guided by an Internet site, www.homebytes.com that began in Texas in March and gives them support throughout the transaction. The Internet-based business is helping people who want to sell their own home but are torn between using a real estate agent and doing it themselves.
   Through the site, the Smallwoods added the power of the Realtor Multi-Listing Service - something that other for-sale-by-owner sites don't offer.
   The company promises all of the support and marketing tools of a real estate agent, but the service is provided much less expensively. The Smallwoods can sell their house for a flat fee of $499 plus a 3 percent commission for the agent who sells the house. That's significantly less than the 6 percent, or $8,394 in commissions they would pay for a real estate agent to sell their three-bedroom home at 7537 Yorkshire.
   The Smallwoods have sold their house in Oregon, but this time they have a Texas-licensed real estate agent to consult when there are questions, including real estate law. Plus, being in the MLS system gave them two showings that they wouldn't have otherwise had.
   "It's a great idea," said Laura Smallwood. "It takes a little bit of the fear out of the process."
   Using the Internet instead of a real estate agent works best for people who are self-reliant, are not self-conscious about criticism while their home is being shown, or want to have more control over the real estate transaction process, said Steven Lowrie, director of industry relations for the Web site. The site has tools to help sellers write their own ad, calculators and contracts and forms that can be downloaded.
   But real estate agents shouldn't feel threatened, he said. By enticing for-sale-by-owner into the MLS system, agents are getting commissions on houses that otherwise never would have been in the market. About 30 percent of homeowners try to sell their home by themselves, according to the company.
   A scan of some of the houses available in Texas through this service shows that they range in price from a $995,000 Highland Village home to a $79,900 home in Fort Worth. Lowrie said some of the appeal for the site, not surprisingly, comes from sellers in the upper end of the market who would spend more on commissions.
   The average home listing price on the site is $210,000.
   Homes also sell faster, Lowrie said. The listings sell in 21 days, a 40 percent shorter duration than the national average for selling a home.
   Leasing old Venture space
   A 16,000-square-foot space is still available at the former Venture building at South Padre Island Drive and Everhart Road. That space could be taken by a soft goods retailer within the next 60 days, said Jennifer Reynolds, of the real estate department of Kimko Realty Corp., which is managing the leasing of the building.
   The former Venture building will soon have new tenants with Best Buy and Ross Dress For Less, which have already signed deals to move into the building.
   Architecture for animals
   Cotten/Landreth Architects Inc.'s work in designing the Gulf Coast Humane Society building at 3118 Cabaniss Parkway was featured in Texas Architect magazine, the bi-monthly magazine of the Texas Society of Architects.
   The issue focuses on architecture for animals, about how projects such as the one located in Corpus Christi and the Houston SPCA facility are changing the attitudes about choosing a pet at the animal shelter.
   The clean, modern environment can increase the number of pets adopted, and thus decrease the number of pets that are euthanized, according to the article.
   Tom and Cora Keeler commissioned the Gulf Coast Humane Society building in 1996. It was built by Van Fleet Construction Inc. of Kingsville.
   The new facility doubled the previous capacity, provided for surgery and health care, introduced an improved method for cleaning the floors and included an on-site full-time caretaker's residence.
   The $3.2 million building was dedicated in 1998.



Business reporter Andrea Jares can be reached at 886-3678 or by email at jaresa@caller.com. On Real Estate is published every other Tuesday in the business section.

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND

[an error occurred while processing this directive]