Friday May 1, 1998 10:46 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Picket Fence Preview Homesellers Twice as Likely to Sell Compared to Agency-Listed Counterparts
BURLINGTON, VT-- (BUSINESS WIRE, NEW YORK)--May 1, 1998
Picket Fence Preview, a diversified for sale by owner sales and marketing
publication, today reported YTD sales figures for its Northern & Central
Vermont Offices. As of April 30, 1998, one hundred fifty eight (158) properties
are known to have sold or gone under deposit through Picket Fence Preview.
This represents a 54% increase over the comparable period a year ago.
"We were surprised to see a recent front-page story in the local paper
(5/13/98) about the year-to-date performance of Northwestern Vermont MLS
in this up market, said Bill Supple, CEO of Picket Fence Preview, Inc. Out
of a total of 2814 listings in 1998 only 318 sold up through April. This
represents a sales rate of only 11.3%."
In marked contrast, out of 715 total advertisers in the Northern VT edition of Picket Fence Preview during the same time period there were 158 properties under deposit or sold...this represents a sales rate of 22.1%, roughly double the sales rate of agent-listed properties! conservative.)
The average estimated savings in real estate commissions is $9,455/ seller through Picket Fence.
Of the 158 Picket Fence properties that sold January - April, the average asking price was $160,796. Assuming a sales price of 98% of asking price (typical in this market), a 6% commission amounts to $9455/seller. Since the property was sold through Picket Fence and a commission was avoided, this represents a savings of $9455 on average for each seller.
In contrast, the average sales price of agent-listed properties was $148,516.
Assuming a 6% sales commission, each seller would have paid an average of
$8911 in commission fees.
Picket Fence Preview Corporation is a diversified for sale by owner real
estate sales and publishing company which, through various wholly owned
subsidiaries, is involved periodical publishing, book publishing, mortgage
brokerage and franchise business development in the United States.
Statements herein may be identified as forward-looking for purposes of
safe harbor provisions under Section 21E of the SEC Act of 1934. Such statements
relating to the Company's future business are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements,
and other risks and factors.
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Contact:
W.F. Supple, Jr., Ph. D., 802/660-3167
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