FSBO - what do you think of our site?

Very nice effort.
You have a photo of the outside of a bar, but no photo of your building.

1.) on your floor plan, you don't indicate the front door entry
2.) on your floor plan, you don't show window placement
3.) on your floor plan, I am confused as to what the space is (hallway? closet? something else?) to the left of the kitchen
4.) there is no discussion I saw as to typeof heating
5.) there is no discussion I saw as to air conditioning

But all in all, a very nicely done and well thought through FSBO site!

Very good points, thank you both

Very nice listing - I like your FAQ section. The only addition to the good points above: lose the picture of the toilet. I think you should emphasize the windowed bathroom, because that's a nice thing, but reframe to the right to crop the crapper.

Need to show the other side of your kitchen on the floorplan. Nice pictures. Since you've worked so hard to clean your apt - couple of picky points. Remove the towels from your towel rack, it'll look much cleaner or refold to precision. Pillows look rumpled.

Also, the LR feels dark, can you take it at a diff. time of day, or with more light?

What does the maintenance include? Heat? Electricity?

Pretty pictures.

Couple of picky points:
1) Show the other side of kitchen in the floorplan and indicate location of sink
2) What does the maintenance include? Heat? Electricity? Water (I'm assuming)?
3) Pillows look rumpled, either neaten or remove.
4) Ditto towels on towel rack in bathroom.
5) Do you indicate what direction the apt faces?
6) LR looks dark, retake with more light.

I looked on Google Street and the block looks really nice with alot of trees. A picture of that would be helpful. Also, in the FAQ I would personally get rid of the question and answer portion and just state all the facts including the F Train in the area. A really nice presentation and the pictures are great. As stated above, please finish the floorplan and you will be good to go.

Really appreciate all your insight, thank you everyone. Great points.

I think the building roof decks are a nice amenity, but I'd reframe the sell from "right above" (which is just going to make some potential buyers think about the noise factor) to "easy access"(which is more likely to make potential buyers think about using the feature).

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Hi fsbo mrb,

1. I had to look hard for the price. Make the financials more important. Your price does not need to be hidden! It's a big (one of the most important) selling point - so make it more important.
2. Is your listing price the exact market price of this unit, as of today? How did you determine your listing price? If the listing price is not within 1% of TODAY'S market price, make it so. If you don't know how to determine TODAY'S market price, consult with someone who can help you. Such as http://www.realdirect.com/
3. Images need a once around the block with photoshop. A little exposure here and levels there and your pictures will pack a bigger punch.
4. As wonderful as your website is, and as hard as you worked on it, it's kinda secondary -- you want the power of the search engines working for you... if you use Real Direct for a consult, they have a plan for about $400/month that lets you fsbo, yet you can use them to buy your advertising at a fraction of what it would cost you individually. A big cost savings to be in all the major databases, including nytimes and streeteasy.

Remember, that as a fsbo, your buyer just may be a bit more savvy. Maybe. And they may not need the hand holding. Maybe.

The most important parts of the FSBO process:

1. Pricing. NOTHING is more important. Pricing is worth 95% of the deal.
2. Ability to close a deal. I'd rank this 4% of the process.
3. Marketing and merchandising. 1%

SO -- as important as the pictures and floorplan and website and getting into the databases, until your listing price is within 1% of "the market" you are working too hard, and should have limited expectations of any results. Once you are priced correctly, then do the rest - and that should all fall in place.

We recently sold our manhattan coop fsbo in 3 days (9 days to contracts out/18 days to contracts signed), but only after the price was exactly at the market price.

Good luck to ya. (but I don't believe luck has anything to do with this -- try, preparation meets opportunity...)

all of the above - kitchen looks bordering on very nice, ditto bathroom - you need to za za zoo up the lr and bedroom - looks institutional and a bit tired tho perhaps in person isn't so, maybe better lighting, some decent "krooka kraka" (aka accessories) and yes to the heating/ac info. get rid of the redick ugly exterior stairs pic. the "common" roof decks floor plan - just include language in the description.

I would not use the kitchen photo as your home page pic. Use instead the second photo down (of the living room). Also, the shot of the computer desk/bookshelf is out of focus. Should retake that.

With regards to the site itself, it is quite redundant to have all the thumbnail links open the same roll of pix. Either lose that feature or take more pix so each link is different.