An annual survey by ForSaleByOwner.com, a site that advertises for-sale-by-owner properties, found that homeowners in Atlanta are the most likely to sell their homes at the Web site without a broker.
Of all the homes listed on ForSaleByOwner.com last year, 3.8 percent came from Atlanta, the company reported. “This marks the first time that Atlanta, which ranked third in 2004 and 2003, tops the survey. The Atlanta market saw a 71 percent increase last year in homeowners choosing to sell their homes on their own on the site,” the company reported.
“With housing prices cooling, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing more and more homeowners in all parts of the country choosing to maximize profit and safeguard equity by selling their home without a broker,” said Colby Sambrotto, COO of ForSaleByOwner.com. “It has become the logical choice for savvy homeowners looking to achieve significant savings when selling their home.”
Detroit, which topped last year’s list, fell to second this year, with 3.7 percent of the sellers at ForSaleByOwner.com. New York was third on the latest list, at 2.2 percent, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth in fourth with 2.1 percent.
Denver, which placed fifth on the list with 1.9 percent of sellers, “is the fastest-growing market for independent home sellers,” according to the survey, and placed on the list for the first time since the survey began in 2003. Dallas-Forth Worth is the second-fastest-growing market for FSBO sales at the site, ForSaleByOwner.com reported.
Chicago was sixth on the top-10 list, followed by Cleveland, Houston, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, in that order.
Data was based on geographical information for listings posted on ForSaleByOwner.com in 2005 in the 100 largest markets in the United States.
ForSaleByOwner.com also reported that about 15 percent of homes are sold directly by their owners, according to industry estimates.
