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New York Tops List of Housing Markets With Most Self-Directed Sales

[1]New York tops the list of real estate markets where consumers sold their homes on their own, according to data released by Owners.com today. Owners.com [2] has ranked the top 20 markets where consumers sold their homes using it self-directed flat fee multiple listing service (MLS) model in 2014. Also high on the list was Chicago, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Philadelphia.

Self-directed real estate allows individuals to sell and buy homes without using a real estate agent. According to Owners.com, self-directed real estate appeals to consumers for several reasons including transparency, accessibility, and saving money. VP of Owners.com, Eric Eckardt said self-directed sales puts power back into the hands of consumers.

“Over the last few years consumers have been empowered by this. Ten years ago you would visit a real estate agent and they would show you all the listing in their catalog,” he said. “Now, you can look online and find all those listing on your own.”

Eckardt said the number of consumers using online sales has doubled in the last 10 years. Right now, of the 5 million homes that were sold in 2014, about 30 percent of them were done using self-directed sales. According to Owners.com research, 2014 was a high growth year for these sales. Sellers saved an average of $9,500 on commissions by selling their homes on sites like Owners.com.

“Real estate had not changed for nearly 100 years, but technology has helped remove many of the barriers in the industry. Today, consumers can finally conduct their own research, make informed decisions and ultimately buy and sell homes with substantially lower transaction costs,” said Steve Udelson, president of Owners.com in a press release. “Empowered consumers are leveraging technology to take control and save time and money in the process.”

The 20 city ranking for self-directed sales along with average list price are as followed:

  1. New York - $496,576
  2. Chicago - $307,755
  3. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota - $225,717
  4. Dallas-Ft. Worth - $255,414
  5. Philadelphia - $272,961
  6. Atlanta - $279,379
  7. Detroit - $257,314
  8. Cleveland - $208,669
  9. Phoenix - $261,978
  10. Washington, D.C. - $454,240
  11. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne - $231,449
  12. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale - $356,177
  13. St. Louis - $209,561
  14. Denver - $368,783
  15. Kansas City - $201,111
  16. Boston - $441,130
  17. Los Angeles - $499,030
  18. Nashville - $246,428
  19. Greenville - Spartanburg-Asheville $240,473
  20. Charlotte - $226,092