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, ShelburneI 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). I was a little hesitant about it when we were marketing a higher priced homes. It has not been a problem. 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 inters ted buyer from England. I believe the length of time it took to sell both homes was more my fault in that I started advertising before the house was far enough along in construction. Most of the potential buyers just could not visualize the final product.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. With your help we received over 50 phone calls and showed the property at least 30 times to very qualified prospects! 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! We showed them the house on Friday, and received an offer on Saturday, which we accepted! Closing is August 1. 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 we're under contract in 2-1/2 weeks in this market! CASH SALE!The people who bought our house are great. It couldn't have worked out better.
We had advertised the house on Craig's List for a while. We put my email address on that ad and my husband's email address on the Picket Fence ad. My husband got all the leads from the Picket Fence internet. I didn't receive one inquiry from craig's list. I think people on craigslist aren't looking to buy - they're just lookers! March 3, 2009
We 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. Darby