Testimonials
Read what Picket Fence customers are saying
We had 37 people show up to our open house . Three people were very interested, including the one who we signed a contract with. And we met some very nice people too. I was apprehensive about this at first, but it went fine. I think I like it this way (Picket Fence) better. I think buyers like dealing directly with the owner too.
-- Bob Carlson, Burlington, VTThe American Dream, to me, isn't that I can buy a house, it is that I can sell my own house!
-- Peggy Russell, Seattle, WA via emailWe are under contract but I didn't want to write to say we've sold until we've really sold. The Picket Fence experience is awesome. We definitely prefer to buy and sell our homes direct with other owners...Honestly, your magazine and the popularity of it encouraged us to start dealing direct and it has been the best experience. Now we find that realtors complicate things more than simplify. This process is not that difficult and thank you for providing the service that you do
-- Lori Jacobs, HuntingtonIn 2009, at least $112,000,000* (One Hundred Twelve Million dollars) worth of real estate in VT & NH reported SOLD through Picket Fence Preview*' Almost $8,000,000 in real estate commissions have been SAVED on '09 alone! 42% of all Picket Fence advertisers SOLD in 2009 - not bad for a supposedly 'bad' real estate market. $16,244 was the average amount of commission savings for each seller!
*Since we rely on self-reports from sellers these numbers are very conservative (i.e. there are many more sales than reported here)
Just for fun - ask your agent what their stats are...they'll have to get back to you on that ; ) I think that's a wink
-- It works!
"We sold our farm! We are very pleased with the calls we got. We received 8 - 10 calls, mostly from our internet ad. But the buyers came carrying Picket Fence Preview in their hands. A realtor told us we'd never sell this on our own -- I can't wait to tell her she was wrong." $1,000,000 Sale Price
-- Doris Bushey, Shelburne $1M sales priceI need to cancel my ad -- we've had a change of heart. We had such a tremendous response to our ad, within just hours on the internet, that we're rethinking our plan. We thought we wanted another second home on a different lake, but now we're realizing what a special place we have and don't want to let it go - at least not for now Thanks for everything - you guys were so easy to work with
-- Win Whitcomb, GrotonIt's under deposit to a couple from Washington State - all cash! Then I got another offer from a New Jersey couple for $20,000 more! But since I already agreed to the earlier couple I went with that. I'm glad I didn't waste time with a realtor
-- Diane Coyne, St. AlbansIf you purchased your home in the last 5 years, you can't afford to pay 6% in realtor commission fees. If you list your home with an agent you will have to pay to move...the commission will be all of your equity and then some.
Do the arithmetic before you make an expensive mistake. 6% sounds like a small number, but it translates into a big number of dollars when you're applying it to the price of real estate
“Our house on South Cove Road, Burlington, closed on Monday June 2. Sold! We got a fair price and the new owners are very happy. It took a lot of patience in this market but the time and effort was well worth saving thousands of dollars that would have gone to a realtor!”?
-- Margy Cain, Burlington“This house was on the market in 2007 from April to October with a realtor - no offers, although some 40 people looked at the house. This year through Picket Fence it was on the market in April and about 25 people have called and it’s under deposit. You’ve been great!”
-- Charles Norris-Brown, Westford"The buyers are from Barre, they were very familiar with the neighborhood and they saw the house for sale on Picket Fences. They had hired a real estate agent over a year ago but they became increasingly irritated with the realtor’s efforts. Once the contract expired, they started looking on their own. Does this sound familiar! On my end, your book helped a great deal. You were right...it’s not that difficult!?Thank you so much for all the information...it really helped me sell my house on my own...and save me thousands of dollars!”
-- Jeff Chiodi, Barre“We have had our house advertised for 3 months on Craig’s List, 2 months with a realtor. We had more inquiries in 5 DAYS in Picket Fence, than we had in the previous 5 months. We had an offer on the sixth day, and signed purchase and sales on Day 9! Thanks, we couldn’t be more pleased.” ?
-- Sarah Young, Fairfax"Our previous listing in Stowe...went under contract. The buyer was a lead developed out of the ad we ran for two months with your publication. Ironically they were one of the first calls we had, but it took about twelve weeks for them to get to a decision. Thought you should know that we were (again) successful using Picket Fences."
-- Darrow Mansfield, Stowe“Hi Bill, I am the very happy FORMER owner of 62 Seth Circle in Williston. The closing was yesterday. Please mark my internet as as SOLD. If you would like a testimonial, here it is: My townhome was under contract in three weeks and sold in seven weeks this winter (2008), and I saved $10,000 in commissions! I got lots of calls from the internet ad and even more once the magazine came out. Thank you very much”
-- Beth Wright , WillistonHi Toni, The house we advertised with you is now Under Contract! For your information, the house went under contract on Sunday evening. (less than 2 weeks). We are very pleased with the results from Picket Fence Preview.
-- John King, Thetford VTSorry I didn't return the call I am just getting into the office. I have had good luck selling properties in PFP over the years (six houses and counting). Each time we have had good response from the ad with qualified and interested buyers from not only Vt. but out of state and one very interested buyer from England. I also get a number of calls from brokers whose clients see the ad in PFP and still want to work though a broker. None of these have worked out for me. I have always had success with PFP and I recomend it to everyone. Shelburne 1+ million
-- Brian Precourt, ShelburneHello Bill & Staff, I'm pleased to inform you that we have SOLD our home in Hinesburg. When we advertised our open house we had 18 different families come and look and even had some offers that day! We stayed focused on the price and even though the market is soft we sold the property for nearly what we were asking. I would highly recommend anyone to use your services as we saved over $25,000.00 in commissions and were not distracted by commission based decisions! Thank you very much for everything, we greatly appreciate your help in this huge move my family and I have undertaken to Northern California.
-- Brad Smith & family, HinesburgThe biggest fee that you'll ever pay is a 6 or 7% real estate commission.
-- Words of wisdomOne of the nicest things about selling on our own was that we were
in control of the showing schedule. We didn't have to leave the house
in the morning and wonder if people were going to look at it. We had an
answering machine -- people called -- we called them back and would set
up a time at our mutual convenience.
“Hi Toni,
Ironically, the day I sent you the email saying we hadn’t had any luck, a couple who saw our ad in Picket Fence -- a couple we hadn’t heard from in a month -- called with an offer. So anyway, the house is under contract...!”
“It’s Sold! Picket Fence did the job! I had an amazing response. A real estate agent tried to tell me to put it on the market for $40,000, hoping to get $35,000. I put it with you at $70,000 and could have probably gotten more!!”
-- Craig Ward, Peacham"Hi, Bill!
I have now had four different successes with Picket Fences! I listed my house in Essex Junction on your website. I had at least ten calls in the first few days, and four days after the ad appeared, I showed the house to an interested young couple, and we now have a contract. I am writing to ask you to insert "under contract" beneath the picture of my ad. Thanks again for this opportunity.”
“Hi Bill,
All of our homes in Grand Isle have sold! We had a lot of traffic from Picket Fence!
So,that means that I’ll get another new ad to you for this Friday, plus new web listings.
Thanks, Jodi
-- Jodi, Champlain Housing Trust"Thanks for the note, and thanks to Picket Fence for selling our house. This house was listed with 2 different Real Estate companies over the past year, to no avail. I had more action in 2 weeks with Picket Fence than they had in a year, could have sold a couple more like it, and actually did sell another home package because of it. Agents kept telling me that the market I was in was "dead", and they were right. The "Real Estate agent" market is "dead", not the Real Estate market. We sold for $377,500 and were asking $378,900."
-- Cheryl LeTourneau, St. Alban“Bill, I was wondering if you could change the status of our property to under contract, on the web site. In 4 days, we had 3 offers, while our neighbors, selling the same condo through a Realtor have had theirs on the market for 2 months, and counting!
-- Jason Berthe, Williston
I am pleased to request our house at 8 Whipple Rd, Lebanon, be moved to the ‘under deposit’ category. We listed our house on a Wednesday in mid June. We got a call on Thursday from someone who saw the listing at Picket Fence online. THAT"S ONE DAY! Since the magazine has come out, we have received a steady number of calls each week.
Our house had been on the market for a year and a half. We tried MLS, a national for sale by owner website (that generated nothing but Nigerian spam ‘offers’), signs, ads and open houses. A four bedroom colonial in the $500,000’s, our house was a ‘trade up’ house in the deadest part of a slow market. Picket Fence Preview came through with a cost effective way to present our home to interested buyers, and provided excellent resource materials. I would heartily recommend it.
Sincerely
C. Harrison and Margaret Trumbull
“I am writing this note to share my success story of selling my home in Randolph Vermont. I am pleased to tell you that I sold my home in less than 1 week. The people who bought my home saw the listing on your internet site prior to July’s publication! I have received calls daily from people who are eager to see my house! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Picket Fences for the opportunity that they have given me in saving thousands!!!
Yes, approximately 14 thousand dollars!!!”
Thank you,
“All the inquiries we received were from the magazine. Our buyers are local, making an offer after 2 weeks of advertising. The offer price was our asking price! Thanks!”
-- Brenda Beaudin, Williamstown VTWe had our home listed with an agent for 1 year with no response. After listing our home with Picket Fence Preview things really picked up. Agents will tell you should not to be home for showings and leave everything to them. I truly believe only you know the beauty of your home and the area, so who better to sell your home than yourself. We were able to answer any question the buyers had on the spot. Thanks to Picket Fence for their advertising and all the information we received to make the process so simple and much less stressful, not to mention the money we saved! February 5, 2010
-- Amy & Duncan Currier, FairfieldI was really impressed with the quality of the buyers that came to us (as a result of our Picket Fence ad). I used to be in the real estate business, and would estimate that 95% of the buyers were qualified to purchase the property. A few were pretty high-powered local business people shopping for family members; I was surprised to see how across-the-board your magazine readership is.
-- Bill Homans, Colchester VTI sold my Milton home for more than my asking price $495,000 vs $489,000...I sell all my homes through Picket Fence...it works great! - Dan Coolbeth, Milton Vt $495,000 SOLD
-- Dan Coolbeth, MiltonThanks for your help and assistance in selling our home. It moved much quicker than we anticipated in this market. This is the 3rd time we've used Picket Fence and it is always a rewarding experience! We're moving to Cape Cod after the closing, best of luck! - John and Anne Endicott, Arlington Vermont, SOLD $145,000
-- John & Anne Endicott, Arlington VtRealtors' own data finds FSBO’s sell quicker and closer to asking price than those listed with an agent
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released a report that concludes that people who sell by owner get closer to their asking price and sell more quickly than those who list with an agent. NARs report 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers was based on a questionnaire of 133,000 consumers who purchased a home between July 2007 and June 2008. More>>>
-- Agents' own data shows Private Sellers perform betterPicked up the magazine on July 31, saw a house I was interested located in Montpelier. Called and made and appointment on August1st. Made an offer and bought it!
Now I need to advertise my house with you!
-- Brooke Pearson, August 14, 2009One hour after Picket Fence posted our ad on the internet, we had an interested buyer. Ten days later, the Purchase & Sales contract was signed. From ad to sale - FIFTEEN DAYS!
Thanks you Picket Fence!
Chuck & Jean-Carol Dunham, Shelburne Sept 28, 2009
I should have known better. I was convinced by a realtor friend to let him list my property (I was burned out from dealing with the state over an Act 250 Permit). 8 months later with nothing from the agent I needed to sell this house. I advertised it in Picket Fence and, you're not going to believe this, it SOLD the FIRST DAY the magazine came out. Ironically my agent friend initially said that Picket Fence didn't have the reach that MLS did - based on my experience I would say that MLS doesn't have the reach that Picket Fence does!
-- Tom Wyckoff, Jeffersonville Oct 13, 2009Please unsubscribe me to the new property alerts at this time...we have purchased our dream home! This is a great service and we used it a lot!
-- V. DarbyOur buyer was 'working' with a buyer broker whi wasn't showing them anything of interest so they decided to look themselves and found us on PFP
Lewis Meier Essex Jct August 2010
-- Lewis MeierHello to everyone at the Picket Fence office.
I am pleased to announce that yesterday we closed on our land sale.
The Picket Fence is definitely the way to go. I took more than 100 calls, 81 of which were at length calls
with seemingly serious potential buyers. I showed the land to large
groups of people on Saturdays for several weekends. I had a back up
list of 18 people who wanted to be notified immediately if the sale
that was in the works failed for some reason.
Thanks for publishing and widely distributing such an attractive and well laid out magazine.
Sincerely,
Debbie McNeil August 2010
Toni of Picket Fence was always extremely supportive, helpful, and a real cheerleader while the house was on the market during these dismal, financial times. The letters that arrived by mail and email were also quite useful in keeping me informed of trends in the real estate market. Thanks Toni! August 2010 $429,900
-- Corinne Girouard Hanover NHThis is our second house we've sold on Picket Fence in 4 years. We've now saved over $56,000 in real estate commissions by using Picket Fence. Beth Loveless July 2010
-- Beth Loveless Williston VTYou're just plain stupid if you use a realtor to sell your house. This is the first time we've sold on our own and Picket Fence made it easy for us.
Keith Meyer Fairfax Vt
-- Keith Meyer FairfaxCurrently under contract. Buyers viewed ad on the Picket Fence website and became interested, they became very interested when I posted an open house. One of 4 couples who view the property and they quickly came back with an offer within days! Milton townhouse $182,000
-- Patrick Gallagher Sept 10, 2010Wonderful couple looking for a home closer to their children and grandchildren. What a pleasure to do business with them! We enjoyed the interaction with potential buyers and who knows more about our home than us! This is why we chose Picket Fence and not a realtor...not to mention, no real estate commission! Karen Fuller No Fayston Aug 31, 2010
-- Karen Fuller No Fayston Aug 31, 2010Another wonderful experience selling through Picket Fence!
-- Karen Yankowski, South Burlington August 28, 2010
We definitely had a lot of buyer/broker interference, which was frustrating. So many of the buyers get conned into using a broker. $385,000 Williston
-- Abby Trutor Williston Oct 14, 2010A great service provided, which I highly recommend! $85,000 lot
-- Steve Lowther No. Ferrisburgh Oct 5, 2010We tried to cheap-out at first using CraigsList but all we got were losers who had no chance of ever affording our place in this lifetime. Once we went into Picket Fence we sold within 3 weeks and had lots of qualified leads. Burlington $415,000
-- Jim Carnahand Burlington Oct 1, 2010Hi Bill, Please! forgive me for not letting you know that my house sold
last April through Picket Fence. I had a lot going on for several months
and it has been on my mind to let you know so that you can add me to
your statistics. I actually had 4 buyers lined up and took 2 offers.
Thanks so much for everything. I reccommend your service regularly to
people using an agent. Best
I had two offers within a month of putting my home up for sale. One of the offers was a result of the Picket Fence ad. The second offer -- which is the one that I accepted -- was a result of the Picket Fence 'For Sale' yard sign. I also had a third party who indicated an interest in making an offer if the current offer fell through.
-- Carolyn Bonifield, Essex Jct $374,500 October 28, 2010Your staff was very helpful! Thank you for not only helping us advertise, but also providing guidance regarding working with a Buyer's Agent as a seller. Burlington $287,000
-- Matt Sayre, Burlington Dec 10, 2010We sold it! We had lots of response from Picket Fence Preview (more informed and interested than those who had seen the yard sign). $195,000 2BR house
-- Lauren Wilson, Burlington VT April 28, 2011Thank you very much for your help, my condo is now under contract and it won't be necessary to list it any longer. You people were very nice to work with and although I was not allowed to put up a sign of any kind, people still found us from your booklet and online listings.
-- Peggy Emmons, Barre Vt May 1, 2011We were able to show the home to perspective buyers within 6 days of posting it on-line!! What a great experience!
-- Penny Lowery-Lothian, Barre Vt April 30, 2011This has been a terrific experience. We only showed our home twice because the second couple loved it and made an offer. I think a large part of our success was paying particular attention to chapters 2 and 3 of the book. It takes a month or two to fix up your home properly and get an appraisal. We set the price 4% above the appraisal and the sale price ended up about 3% above appraisal. I was happy to have the buyers share some of the benefit of avoiding a sales commission. It was wonderful to show the home ourselves on our schedule. Under Deposit -- 19 days -- $272,000 3BR Cape
-- Laura & Eric Buel, Middlesex Vt, May 4, 2011Many thanks for your help with selling our condo in Williston. We had our closing yesterday so we've finished! We very much appreciated the help of Picket Fences and would certainly recommend your services to anyone. Thanks again! $192,000 -- MountainView Estates Townhouse
-- Greg Glade, Williston Vt. April 15, 2011Working with Picket Fence has been great. We had a lot of interested generated from our ad posted with them, and will use PicketFence if we ever sell another home. Thanks, Leigh and Tim Lewis $222,000 -- 2BR Ranch
-- Leigh & Tim Lewis, Essex Jct, April 15, 2011Thank you for your service. We've had a very good experience dealing directly with the buyer. $435,000 -- 4BR, 6.9acres -- Under Contract in 8 days
-- Tim VonReyn, Williston, April 9, 2011Initially, we thought we could sell our house by posting for free on craigslist. We received lots of emails, but none of those leads turned into anything. A friend encouraged us to use picket fence. So we posted. Most of our prospective buyers and the eventual buyer found us through picket fence. $222,900 -- 3BR New North End Saltbox -- Under Deposit in 37 days
-- Kevin Fitton, Burlington, April 8, 2011Picket Fence has been fantastic! We felt as though we had more than enough exposure between the combination of the website (internet ad) and the magazine ad. We are thrilled to be under contract! $259,000 -- 2BR condo Upper College St - Under Deposit in 41 days
-- Jason Frank, Burlington, March 25, 2011Within a couple of hours after my post was online I was called, we lined up a showing 3 days later. The next morning she called me and made an offer, we negotiated a price an agreed. 5 days later ( today) I have a purchase and sales contract signed and have a deposit... I will be your BEST advertisment and am in lending locally !!!!!! $224,999 -- 2BR home in South End - Under Deposit in 5 days
-- Lori McDonough, Burlington March 26, 2011I'd placed a 1/4-page ad in the May and June issues of Picket Fence Preview magazine. The May issue came out on May 1st, I had 2 showings on May 3rd, and and on May 4th,an accepted offer at 97% of my asking price! Another Picket Fence success story! Not only did Picket Fence Preview bring me my buyer, but it saved me over $10,000 in real estate agent commissions. I continue to receive calls, but I am confident that this sale is "a done deal," so please pull my ad from your website and cancel & refund my June placement in PFP magazine. Thank you again for hosting the April seminar, which was enormously helpful, and for providing tools and forum that really, really work!
We sold my mother’s house! I had 3 or 4 realtors come out before I
decided to sell it myself. We received more for the house than what all
of the agents told us to start at. We had the appraisal so we knew what
it was worth from the beginning. - $1,500,000 Lakefront Property
I wanted to (finally) write PFP to share the news of the sale of our condo. My wife and I listed the condo in mid April and it went under contract in six weeks! The entire PFP staff was very helpful and friendly, and the PFP seminar was helpful as well. I would suggest you go into more detail re: the process of dealing with a buyer who is represented by a real estate agent. Yes we sold and are happy we went through PFP, (and would do so again), but the buyer's r.e. agent left an extremely bad taste in our mouths. Maybe we just had a rare experience... At any rate, I wanted to make sure you could record us as a SALE! Thanks again, please feel free to contact me with any questions.
-- Owner, Burlington Aug 4, 2011Awesome support from Picket Fence! We have sold by owner in another
state but found your seller's seminar helpful and informative. Anyone
who is hesitant to sell by owner should attend to see how simple it
really is. Thank you Picket Fence!
Jon and Marie VanGuilder
All of the people who inquired and looked at the house were from Picket Fence, not craigslist or the free press. Thanks Picket Fence!
-- Kate & Ernie Brown, So. Burlington July 28, 2011Yes I did sell my lakefront log cabin in Averill. This is my second home I have sold through Picket Fence and I also have purchased property from your magazine. I'll be selling more real estate in the near future and I'll be using you again. Thank you ever so much - again!
-- Robert Chartier, Averill VT July 18, 2011We just wanted to let you know that our house is under contract and our
closing is in two weeks. We listed our house in your April and May
issues and showed it twice and the second showing made an offer! We are
so excited and the process has been a piece of cake!
Thanks,
Mike and Kristen
It has been a very easy experience!
-- Brenda Godfrey, Jericho VT June 15, 2011Wish we had been more patient and just "let it ride" with Picket Fence a little longer, before spending money on other services. That would be my advice to other sellers - let things work their magic for a few weeks before risking any % of your home sale!
"Stay away from 'flat-fee' real estate companies"
-- Kristin Towbin Waterbury VT June 7, 2011We accepted a full-price cash offer for the house and land across the road. These folks spotted us in Picket Fence and will be turing our beloved farm into an organic blueberry farm. That makes us happy. Thanks for everything!
-- Judith Peabody, Worcester VT June 17, 2011Thanks to my Picket Fence Preview I found a home. Thank you for this great service.
-- Roger Beaudoin Sept 9, 2011Hi guys,
We're happy we stuck with Picket Fence and didn't waste thousands of
dollars dealing with a realtor who we feel wouldn't have done nearly as
good a job at presenting our house. It took us six months to sell, but we
priced the property fairly from the beginning and had a very detailed fact
sheet attached to the "For Sale By Owner" sign as well. The fact sheet was
important, especially for the drive-bys to either entice them further, or
weed them out (if the house wasn't the right size for them, etc.). Another
individual would have bought our house earlier if hers had gone under
contract. We showed the house to 12 different individuals/couples and had
several calls and e-mails. Almost everyone who saw it loved it, but most had
a house of their own to sell first. We were complimented many times on our
clean, uncluttered, well maintained house.
Thanks to the service you provide at Picket Fence!
Judy and Doug Powell Williston
-- Judy and Doug Powell, Williston