GSA Daily Staff Report - Scott Miller
Published April 13, 2009

Those “ggfsbo.com” signs are sprouting up in Greenville area yards like dandelions in spring.

It’s not a new phenomenon – the Greater Greenville For Sale By Owner real-estate listing Web site launched in early 2006 – but it is gaining steam.

“It’s just a different business model. There certainly is a need for multiple business models,” said Nick Sabatine, CEO of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors.

The Web site, and other flat-fee, no-commission real estate services like it, are becoming popular in the current market because more home sellers have little equity built in their properties and can’t afford to pay a Realtor’s commission, Sabatine said. More and more, he said, Realtors offer a flat fee service or allow customers to choose from a list of services and pay accordingly.

“That would work for somebody who might not have much equity in the property. There are a lot of those type of people out there especially in this type of market. I think in this market, it is growing,” Sabatine said.

“Not everybody can afford to pay a full commission.”

Trey Cole listed his East Earle Street home in the North Main neighborhood on ggfsbo because he was looking for a competitive advantage and said the online listing service allows him to advertise a lower price because he isn’t worried about paying Realtor commissions.

“It gives more room to negotiate,” he said.

But if his home was in a less visible subdivision, Cole said he would have called a real estate agent to connect him to buyers.

“If I didn’t live on Earle Street, I probably would have gone with a Realtor,” Cole noted. “A lot of people drive down Earle Street. It’s a desirable area. It’s a visible area. It’s downtown. A lot of downtown houses seem to be going for sale by owner.”

Eric and Jenny Stegall launched the Greater Greenville For Sale By Owner site in 2006, after leaving Mississippi in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They brought the FSBO concept with them.

“Since March of ’06 we’ve listed and sold over 500 properties,” Eric Stegall said. “It started out really from nothing. It took some time to get it off the ground. We gave out a lot of free listings.”

They chose Greenville for a number of reasons, from the scenic mountains to the north, to the diverse economy that the Stegalls now say has shielded them some from the souring market.

For example, they maintain the sister Web site in Mississippi, magnoliabyowner.com.

“Unfortunately it hasn’t been as successful as the Greenville site,” Eric Stegall said. “Greenville is unique in a lot of ways because of the diversified economy.”

Right now, most of the homes listed for sale are in Greenville, Greer or Simpsonville, with a few listed in Anderson and the Travelers Rest area.

“We’re going to be focused on expanding out into the Spartanburg market and Anderson,” Eric Stegall said.

“Our hope is to really service the entire Upstate.”

Eric Stegall has a real estate background and remains a licensed broker. Jenny Stegall is a computer programmer. Both have full-time jobs. The Web site is a hobby, though it does bring in revenue.

Flat-fee service

The site charges a one-time listing fee of $149, which is good for up to one year. Currently, 84 properties are listed for sale on the site, from $500,000 mini mansions to $100,000 condos. The “recently sold” section on the site ranges from a $715,000, five-bedroom 4,000 square-foot house in southeast Greenville to a $56,000 one-and-a-half acre vacant lot in Simpsonville.

“If it’s a half-million dollar house, the fee is $149. If it’s a $50,000 house, it’s a $149 fee,” Eric Stegall said.

The Stegalls said site interest seems to be increasing. They track unique visitors to the site. In the last 12 months, the site peaked at more than 9,300 unique visitors in March and dropped to a low of about 4,300 in November. Last month, GGFSBO traffic topped 7,000.

New listings are increasing too. Recently, they’ve had about 20 new listings a month.

The winter months are typical slow for the Stegalls, like they are for others in the real estate industry. And the Stegalls’ real estate listing business has been hit by the economy like others in the industry, Eric Stegall said. But he sees recent growth in homes listed and sold as positive sign.

“It gives me a lot of encouragement for the housing market in general,” he said.

tegall said they are not trying to “take anything away from Realtors.” Some buyers brought Realtor representation when negotiating with GGFSBO sellers, she said. That’s allowed, as long as the seller approves it.

In addition, GGFSBO homes are also listed on multiple listing service of the Greater Greenville Association of Realtors Web site, Sabatine said.

“Literally, you get what you pay for,” Sabatine said of flat-fee services like GGFSBO. “The homeowner doesn’t get the full representation that a full service program might give.”

The number of homes actually sold on GGFSBO in recent months is hard to track, Eric Stegall said. Some of the homes may have sold already but continue to be listed for sale. The sellers report to him and sometimes they’re late or don’t report at all. That lack of reporting makes it difficult to track how long properties listed with GGFSBO remain on the market before being sold as well.