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Buy Owner is such a huge scam on so many levels, that it is truly difficult to know where to begin. From their insanely false advertising, their entirely deceptive sales practices, their ridiculous contracts, with their no refund policies, and let's not forget their absurdly rude and disdainful customer service department, Buy Owner "takes the cake" when it comes to unscrupulous. I should know, because I was a victim. Please heed my warning, and do not use this company.
If you believe their ads, you're supposed to be saving thousands of dollars by using their services. In reality, you're essentially throwing thousands of dollars away. A Buy Owner salesperson came to my home in late Feb. 2007, and proceeded to lie to me to get me to sign a contract. I asked her about various packages, and she literally said they started at $10,000 and went up to $30,000. This was a total lie. They omit prices to steer you towards certain packages. I now know, after some investigation, that the prices start much lower. She led me to believe that $10,000 was the lowest, and that I'd be saving so much money when my house sold. I have since learned, that they size up the prospective client, and try to sell them the most expensive package they can, without disclosing any lower prices, even when asked. For some people it's $2000, for some it's $4,000, for me it was $10,000. This is illegal. I canceled my contract on the 3rd business day after signing up, but they refused to give me even a partial refund. After I complained to various agencies, they agreed to change my package to a lessor one that I had originally inquired about. It turned out that it was actually $5,000, so they were to credit me the difference of $5,000. They promised they would, in a taped phone conversation, in the interest of an amicable resolution. I agreed, but then I never heard from them again. No refund, no nothing.
Not only that, but they do practically nothing to find all of those buyers that the spokesman in the commercial claims they do. He even says,"We find you the buyers." It's simply not true. The South Florida customer service manager I spoke with even told me that they didn't have to find any buyers, because it's implicit in the name. Thus they spend all of their advertising dollars soliciting you, the seller. Why? Because they get your money up front, and could care less if your house ever sells. Well, they will start to care when their business plummets. Twenty four years ago, when there was a different company owner, and no internet, things may have been done differently. I don't really doubt that. Now, however, greed and corruption have gotten the best of them.
I completely agree, BuyOwner.com definitely Stinks. There is no good reason why anyone should pay them that kind of money, when they don't give you the exposure promised. They make it sound like their advertising is done for your specific property, when the truth is they just put all their advertising dollars into soliciting more people like you, to give them more money. What a scam. Plus, if they are using deceptive sales tactics, just to get you to spend more money, well that sounds super shady.
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Throw the salesman out the door and don't forget to kick the salesman in the butt on the way out!
This company is a scam. Any company worth their salt wouldn't take your money up front. Where is the incentive to sell your home? There isn't any. These folks are vermin of the worst kind.
I listed with Buy Owner, and then canceled and got my $8,000 back... I spent $500 with ByOwner.com (Great Company) and paid for 1 year of my son's college with the other $7,500. Call 1-800-ByOwner, they are the REAL DEAL!
These people just irk me. They do nothing to advertise. But the guy on the tv commercial says... Buy your own tv commercial!
They got this many views to their home but nobody called... if you got views then the advertising worked right? If they looked at your home and what you wanted for it and decided to have a good chuckle and move on, whose fault is that?
You could do what they do yourself... You sure can! Put up an ad on the internet. OH WAIT! How will the buyers know where to find you? No problem! Buy some tv commercials! throw up some billboards! Put some ads in the newspaper! Oh Yeah, that costs money! Nevermind.
And the best of all...they pay somebody to sit there and click on all of the ads so it will look like you have views. That's the most ridiculous statement of all. Y'all are just too much for me.
Do any of you understand the concept of advertising? What about SELLING ON YOUR OWN?
If you run an ad yourself in the newspaper and don't sell, should they refund you too?
And I guess if you sign with a realtor and don't sell, it's their fault too and they should all be killed.
Best of luck in your dream worlds.
FOR THE RECORD, I AM THE ONE WHO WROTE THIS COMPLAINT LAST APRIL, AND I AM THE ONE WHO IS NOW TAKING IT BACK. I understand that my issues with Buy Owner were based on misunderstandings. Those have now been remedied, and they have proven to be an excellent company. I am 100 per cent satisfied with Buy Owner and its services. They have an undeniable track record of matching up buyers and sellers to make countless, mutually beneficial transactions. We are in a particularly slow market right now, and that's precisely why both buyers and sellers should turn to Buy Owner. They should take advantage of Buy Owner's position of "no commission" to optimize their Real Estate deals. It makes the most sense for all parties involved. But if people are upset that their homes aren't selling, it's because of market conditions, and not because of Buy Owner. The savviest people actually benefit from using Buy Owner in this day and age, and end up saving the most money on their deals. Just remember to price your home correctly, unlike 2 or 3 years ago, when the market was hot and you could ask any amount for your home. Not today. People tend to be holding on to last years prices, which frankly, aren't this year's prices. Now reality must set in for everyone, and if you truly want to sell your home, you will price it aggressively. If you can use the tools that are out there, such as Buy Owner, and combine them with common sense, you will have a good chance to sell your home. Good luck everyone out there! Stay strong.
I would like to lodge a complaint of my own. I am trying to buy a home. I am searching the BuyOwner website because I know that these people do not have to pay a real estate commission. I am hoping to get a home in the $300,000-$350,000 range. So I know that this is anywhere from $15,000 to $21,000 that will not have to be paid out at the closing. Yet when I am shopping, I see many of these homes still priced at the same amount as other homes in the area that are with realtors. That’s why I don’t call them. I call the ones that are passing at least some of this savings on to me.
Also, I wish more people would take advantage of the photos and virtual tours. I don’t have the time to run around every weekend. I sit at my computer and shop. I would like to be able to see all of your house. Not just a few photos. I love the ads that let me walk right through their homes without ever having to leave mine!
My wife and I bought our home through Buy Owner and had a great experience with the service. The seller had plenty of pictures posted so that we knew we were interested even before driving to the property. The only negative was that the buyer was extremely overpriced. Having just moved to South Florida, we thought the pricing was consistent with the area--were we wrong! As soon as the appraisal came back for $215,000, we realized the seller had to come down from their $259,000 asking price. After several negotiations with the seller, we were able to finalize an offer at the appraised value of $215,000. I only wonder how much time and aggravation we all could have saved if the seller would have been priced more competitively.
As far as the services go, Buy Owner’s title company held our deposit in escrow and sent somebody out as soon as we settled on a price. We didn’t have to wait around and were able to close on our new home before the holidays.
I hired Buy owner two years ago and I wish I had done some research before hiring them. They are the biggest scam out there. My home was supposed to be listed on Buyowner.com but when I went to pull it up it was not on the main sight, I had to do some major research to find my house. I finally gave up and fired them but didn't get away from them without having to pay $ 3000.00! I should have never let the sales women talk me into listing my house so high (she got a % of commission on the price just for listing it). Also, I never heard from the sales woman again, once she left my house after giving her pitch and telling me how beautiful my home was, I was turned over to a "representative" from their office. I fired Buy Owner after only a few weeks on the market because of absolutely no response and hired a Realtor, my home sold within a week! I wasted $ 3,000.00 of hard earned money with Buy Owner and will NEVER use them or refer them.
The same thing happened to me. The agent came by and totally misrepresented what they were selling. I explained to her that I wanted to give it a try to see if what kind of responses I would get, and asked her about cancelling if I decided I didn't want to continue on. She lied through her teeth. I cancelled so fast that there wasn't enough time for them to get their crew out here to take pictures for the virtual tour. As a matter of fact the only pictures that ever appeared on their web was the initial pics that were taken by the visiting agent.
When I called to discuss with them about cancelling and told them that I was agreeable to pay for whatever service they'd provided me to date, between my agent and the customer service person, the issuse was supposed to be resolved. Trusting that they would handle their part of the deal was a mistake. I was not only charged $500+ dollars for the initial charge, my charge card was again charged in December for an additional $700.
And as we are in January, I've received a call from some lender they used (who was also rude) telling me I owe them back money they paid to Buyowner and according to the lender, buyowner was paid, and they could "guarantee" me that buy owner would not refund any money to me or to them on my behalf and if I didn't pay what they (the lender) was asking, I would be turned over to equifax and the balance would show up on my credit as "a second mortgage."
What is unfortunate is 1) the company really scams the customers and is unwilling to modify some of their practices, 2) I received a phone call from a realtor (who saw my ad on buyowner) about 4 days after the ad posted and sais to me that buyowner wasn't a good choice, 3) I cancelled my service with them long before the submitted the charge to my card and they still would not do the right thing with regard to my cancellation and, 4) It's a shame these kinds of informative complaints don't pop up whenever someone does a search for buyowner.com.
I would advise people to be very caution when dealing with them, BEFORE you sign anything take the time to think over what you've been told, call the agent (if you can reach them - often time they won't call back) and ask more questions, record the conversation between you and the agent. I would advise you to read over the documentation they want you to sign, but my agent wouldn't leave it for my reivew and was insistant that I had to sign it that day to get the special they were offering.
All.
Thank you for all your postiings...This was a tremondous help on who to use when selling my home...
THANK YOU.
warREn
Hatfield, PA
Hi I was called by a lady to list her house. She had faxed Buy owner a cancellation request. I noticed there was a real estate channel listed as broker with a $100 commission.
The lady is facing foreclosure in a dead market. I could probably agressivly market the property for her and sell it. The MLS in Miami said their hands are tied. The customer is willing to pay them too. She thinks they have put a lien on her house after she gave them an intial check.
I called the Broker and asked why not release her. She'll pay the $100 or whatever you are getting and buyowner. They would not cooperate. I don't know why the Real Estate Commission of Florida allows them to operate. With a Brokers Lic, you are really supposed to be looking out ofr the best interes of your homeowner. I can not see how these $100 fee people who are putting all these listings are protecting the public. This woman has been in her home for 35 years and is close to losing everything.
I'vs sold RE for over 20 years, most of the time if the house is marketed properly you'll recieve more from using an experienced Broker.
What I saw with the forms used was pretty horrible. paying out thousands, liens etc and having your hands tied. Get a sign from Home depot. If no Luck call the agent in your area who has been lic 5-10 years.
Avoid this kind of nightmare. I could only refer this lady to a RE attorney. Problem is if you are in this kind of situation, hiring an attorney may not be possible. Good Luck to All
I totally agree; this BuyOwner doesn’t do any good. No one should fall into the same trap I fell in.
The sales person and I agreed for 2399 and I found out that he had actually written the contract for 2499. I didn’t see this until after 2 weeks. (I know I am the one to be blamed for not reading the contact clearly before signing). Before you sign, read everything again 2-3 times.
Only one person called after 4 weeks. He said he saw our yard sign by driving by our community. My house is still listed on BuyOwner, since I don’t want to take it. They said I can keep it until it is sold.
Since the pictures their so called “professional photographer” took are not good enough (too much light and not nice at all), I am going to send a new set of pictures. At least, they ask me to e-mail the my pictures so they can upload.
Take my word, DON’T use this company. If you are planning to sell on your own, use MLS and simple pay the 2.0 – 2.5% for the buyer’s argent. I am going to list on MLS today. I’ll update again after 4 weeks.
If you email me I can send you my phone # if you want to talk to me. I’ll post my honest feedback on every web site I can find.
I am so thankful that i googled " BUYOWNER SCAMS". I'm ready to sell my home and, being a cynic like I am, I know that every service/business has a negative side somewhere. so after looking over the BUYOWNER website i did some google searching...and VIOLA! Thanks for all the info on your bad experiences with BUYOWNER. I'm outta here...off to meet with my local realtor.
My house has been with buyowner for 2 years. I check everysay how many people go on it. Theirs been about 4000 matches and about 1000 views . No phone calls had about 4 open hiuses and not one person came to the door. What a scam. Now I have to pay a realator to sell my house.. We only been with this man for about one week we has people look at the house and we even got an offer. What the hell your company is a big scam.. never again I will never recommand anybody to this company. Lost a ton of money to your company. NO THANK BUYOWNER thats what should say on your commiceials.
any company that makes you pay such a large amount upfront before you home is even sold should make you cautious...you know once you pay the fee, they have their money so they will not devote themselves to selling your home or advertising it ...THEY GOT THEIR MONEY FROM YOU ALREADY...never trust any company that asks you to pay upfront 100%...it should be a small sign up fee, THEN they work to sell your home and THEN you pay them a fee for actually helping you sell your home...sometimes it is just common sense.
You're kidding right? They're trying to get the best for their house they can, or they wouldn't be attempting to use a non-traditional route to sell. How about you just make an offer and see what they say? Ridiculous complaint. And if you read some of the other complaints you'll see they quickly found out they weren't really saving all that money.
Wow I cannot believe all the complaints about this company and the wrong doings. Basically as all the other complaints state this company will come to your home promise a system that will help sell your home and its not that way at all. Your listing when published will be incorrect price and all. It takes weeks to get it right and in the meantime its timed so you lose money on the correction and how long the add runs. You can't get adeqite help from the staff very unprofessional bossy rude. And once you do complain oh boy the owner of the company is so on the defense because now I know this is bussiness as usual for him. I just can't understand why its been going on for so long and he gets away with false advertising and poor bussiness practice. Unfortunately I was in a hurry and signed up based on what it used to be. So beware this is a problem and you will have to learn the hard way like we did. A waste of money!