Pioneering FSBO company files for liquidation
Florida-based Buy Owner has operated in 10 markets
By Inman News, Friday, July 30, 2010.A Florida-based company that helped for-sale-by-owners market their properties around the country has reportedly filed for liquidation.
Buy Owner of South Florida Inc., which does business as Buy Owner, has turned over its assets to Michael Moecker & Associates, an auction firm that liquidates insolvent companies, DailyBusinessReview.com reported.
The auction firm told DailyBusinessReview.com that it will continue operating the BuyOwner.com website and provide services to consumer for the time being, in order to continue generating revenue to pay off creditors.
The Deerfield Beach-based company does business in 10 markets, including Miami, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta, Daily Business Review reported.
According to the company's website, Buy Owner was established in 1984 and expanded to the Internet to become "the first 'by owner' " company to provide magazine-quality text and pictures to a real estate website."
Buy Owner promises to provide exposure for clients' properties through an "ultra-aggressive advertising campaign" that includes highway billboards, television commercials and Internet advertising.
The company says it also employs "talking yard signs" that use "a state of the art computer system that speaks directly to the buyer" providing a full property description.
Buy Owner operates corporate offices and authorizes franchises, which it says distinguish the company from networks of "real estate agents just trying to make some extra money by associating themselves with a 'by owner' name."
Buy Owner and 18 affiliates filed an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or ABC filing, on July 26 in the Broward County 17th Judicial Circuit of Florida, DailyBusinessReview.com reported. An ABC liquidation is an alternative to filing for bankruptcy in federal court.
Buy Owner reportedly settled a class-action lawsuit last year that required it to pay refunds to many clients who were clients between 2002-08. The lawsuit alleged that Buy Owner hadn't allowed clients to cancel contracts, the story said.
Buy Owner reportedly owes more than $3.9 million to its only secured creditor, and $1.2 million in back wages to executives.
CEO Scott A. Eckert and other members of the Eckert family involved in running the company resigned on July 23, the publication reported.
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Submitted by Andy Yakubovsky on July 31, 2010 - 5:10am.
It is a shame about any company going out of business but even the buggy whip companies went by the wayside. Which brings me to a point I would like to make about the value of professional Real Esate Sales people.
There is nothing as important in the real estate sales process as a PROFESSIONAL Realtor. The average person has no idea what the full duties of a realtor are form the mundane to the life altering. There is a reason why real estate sales people have been around for decades/centuries. The simple reason is that we provide a valuable needed service to the home seller and buyer.
Submitted by John Burchardt on July 31, 2010 - 8:21am.
BuyOwner; where "U" make the difference...their program was drastically overpriced and each presentation included a pitch for their realtor program. They failed because of their steep price and reliance on TV advertising. Thier magazine was very nice, but no one had ever seen it any where; and for $2.5K to $4K up front it was only a matter of time.
Andy, I disagree that the most important part of the RE process is the agent. Marketing is the key to success; whether it's done by the home seller or an agent is irrelevant, especially with today's technology. I agree that an agent can be a great facilitator, but without a quality loan officer, (90%of the time), there is no deal. John Burchardt
LocalHomesForSale.com
Submitted by Marc Rasmussen - Sarasota FL Real Estate on August 2, 2010 - 5:49pm.
Most home sellers are missing one or all pieces of the puzzle - expertise, marketing, knowledge etc.
The bottom line is that it just does not work often enough. Sure sellers can sell their home but it is more the exception than the rule.
Because of this BuyOwner probably suffered from too many people saying it did not work for them. If their systems and marketing made more houses sell they would have thrived.
As a Realtor I would love to get paid like BuyOwner - whether the house sold or not. We could charge our sellers a smaller fee.
Most real estate transactions involve Realtors. We may not be THE most important part of the transaction however our systems may be. A Realtor is present to orchestrate the transaction. Sometime we do next to nothing while other times we are critical to success. However the most important thing we offer is our MLS system. All Realtors working together to sell property is very powerful. If we were like Europe and did not have a centralized database of properties (MLS) our real estate markets would not be as efficient.
Marc Rasmussen
http://www.LuxurySarasotaRealEstate.com