On 8/8/06 I purchased a Platinum package for $6,099 from Buyowner of Chicago, Inc. Via Bonnie who represented herself as an advertising consultant for the company. The purchase has been paid via my MasterCard. The company has delivered services but many items were misrepresented in clever ways, obscuring the fact that this service is only available to Internet savvy buyers. A few of the claims were:
1) Buyowner does not charge a percentage of the sale price of the home. Technically this is true, but in practice by sending a consultant instead of a sales agent they are able to charge any price they believe the customer will pay. The price schedule shown to me ranged in price from $4999-$9999, which is 1.5%-3% of the value of my home. I do not have a copy.
2) The consultant compared Buyowner to Google, I dont recall the details, nor do I have the documentation she showed, however, this is deceptive. Google gets 2 BILLION page views per month. According to Media Metrix Buyowner has 14.5 million page views per month. My property shows up 10-30 times per day on these pages, of which Ive had 0 calls. Chances are many of these views are skipped over in quick searches that are essentially mistakes.
3) The company advertises our property in the newspaper and a catalog.in reality I have no information verifying the circulation of the catalog. The company only advertises their service, not my specific home, as a realtor would. I expected some print coverage, which I knew would cost Buyowner thousands. This was the major factor in making a decision to use their service, as I realize this is expensive.
The sales consultant visited and researched prices giving her an opportunity to select a price schedule which matched the value of my home. My research shows the value of this package is approx. $1,695. With a 100% markup, it approaches the $3,400 which I found to be a typical price. I called customer service on 8/15 asking for a refund, they said my consultant would call. I called a 2nd time 3 days later and finally reached Bonnie. She could not give a refund, but brought this up to her management. I got a call from Christine, who refused to supply her last name and refused a full or partial refund citing company policy.
The Buyowner service really just gives a web presence, similar to an online MLS listing. It includes automated phone listing and some signs. However, if your buyers are not Internet savvy, the SIGN is the only way they will find your home. Real Estate agents avoid Buyowner homes because they typically dont expect a co-op commission (~2%).
This makes the Buyowner service marginally better than $10 signs to attract buyers who use newspapers and real estate agents to find a home. For a home such as mine, this is about 95% of the buyers. This was a huge mistake and Buyowner refuses a refund, citing that the home could have sold in the first day. I could also be hit by a bus tomorrow.
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