Attracting non-lender business isn't the same as finding needles in haystacks. We've talked about marketing to homeowners in recent editions. How about home sellers?

You may have heard that the percentage of sales not involving a real estate agent -- For Sale By Owners, or FSBOs -- is declining. According to National Association of REALTORS® data, 12 percent of home sales are agent-free today, down from 13 percent in 2005.

But with 2006 being the third-highest year on record for existing home sales, 12 percent is more than three quarters of a million FSBOs per year. And among sellers' biggest concerns when working without an agent is setting a realistic price. New York's Newsday reported this week:

Experts suggest going to competitors' open houses, looking at ads and talking to agents. Sambrotto says several real estate sites, including zillow.com, give free or inexpensive but very general appraisals, which take into account facts like recent sales in the neighborhood and the number of bedrooms.

Real estate author Michael Kloian says a certified appraisal, which generally costs a few hundred dollars, can help smooth price negotiations. Unlike most free and online valuations, a certified appraiser will inspect for damage and "functional obsolescence," such as tiny closets.

Not only as an appraiser but as a WinTOTAL user you have tools and expertise to help FSBOs.

WinTOTAL users can publish a summary of a listing appraisal report prepared for a FSBO to their XSite. A unique URL helps the seller market the property and a professional appraisal gives his asking price more heft.

XSellerate includes messages aimed at home sellers going it alone, including a campaign released just last month with the compelling message "An Appraisal Can Help You Get the Best Price, Fast!"

And your Appraiser XSite includes great, pre-written content you can use to add credibility and become a resource for FBSO sellers searching for an appraiser in your area.

Before you decide to target home sellers, size them up as a group. They're not the same as the buyers your mortgage lender clients are normally working for.
Buyers are often impatient, outraged when "you" prevent them from getting the mortgage they were after, and may see you as an obstacle rather than an expert giving them good information.

FSBO sellers, on the other hand, want an expert opinion on what the house is likely to sell for. They want to cut the property's exposure time, and the seller's time and energy investment in marketing and showing the place. You can help accomplish that.

And where a buyer wants you to hit a number, a seller is often grateful if the isn't as high as he or she thought. They'd rather find that out when they first list their house, rather than after weeks or months of having it on the market with too high an asking price.

How to reach FSBOs? Only by making FSBO marketing part of your overall marketing plan. Include a blurb in your yellow pages ad, and on your business card. Have appraisers in your area who wouldn't touch a FSBO with a ten foot pole refer inquiries to you.

But the best way to be regarded as a credible resource for FSBO sellers is word of mouth — so get that first couple of FSBO assignments out of the way, and you're on your way to a more diverse client base.

Non-lender form debuts to much acclaim

More room to describe the intended user and use. An expanded Improvements section without the 1004-style check boxes. The ability to really drill down on highest and best use. Better and more effective disclaimers that protect you.
There's a lot to like about WinTOTAL's new General Purpose - Residential form, a new non-lender form available right now to WinTOTAL users. Take a tour by clicking here, or pull up a PDF by clicking here.

We designed the form to be flexible and comprehensive enough to cover all sorts of non-lender work. We've also made it freely available with attribution for any other forms vendor to re-create and distribute with their software. (If they choose not to, of course we'd be delighted to have you switch to WinTOTAL!)

And the GP-Residential is just the first in a series of forms we'll be putting out in the coming months as our General Purpose Series. It will include forms for land, 2-4 unit, condo, small apartment, small commercial and consumer assignments, all available both in letter and legal size. And we'll be out with a letter-sizes GP-Residential form soon too.

WinTOTAL users always get the latest forms for free via our Instant Customer Update system. All our forms are built by our dedicated forms team, tested by our QA team, and then rigorously used by our alpha and beta appraisers in "the real world." It's this structure, only found here, that results in smartly designed forms that work for you, not against you.

Panel suggestions for Convention welcomed

Our Annual Convention is slated for June 18-20 in Las Vegas. You can learn more and register by clicking here. You'll save $50 off if you register by March 1.
As we get everything ready for Vegas we're planning panel discussions and smaller seminar-style classes on the subjects that are most important to you and which will have the biggest impact on your business.

If you're a past attendee, thinking about coming to our Convention for the first time or just wish someone was talking about a certain topic, we'd love to hear from you what kinds of panels and special classes you think we should be putting on in Vegas.