Gary Keller’s neighbor opts to FSBO instead of list again with KW

Gary Keller founded Keller Williams in 1983 with a single office in Austin, Texas, where he still resides in a gorgeous home in a quiet neighborhood in the hill country. Not all properties in the neighborhood are as upgraded as his family home, in fact, some are very small older homes on desirable lots, selling for hundreds of thousands over what they paid for them, simply for the land where they sit.

Enter Gary Keller’s neighbor whose driveway is across the street from his – In November 2008, the property was listed for sale with a Keller Williams agent for $490,000, the price was dropped to $465,000 in January 2009, and the listing was removed later that month.

Choosing not to hire an agent

The owners stayed, and recently, they listed the property on Zillow as a For Sale By Owner without an agent.

There are a couple of different possibilities here, as this could be indicative of a trend that consumers are posting directly, while others know it is possible that the owners are simply willing to wait it out, having doubled their asking price in a much more improved market than 2009 offered.

It’s possible that it isn’t a personal swipe against Keller Williams, and the owners could be choosing an alternative path for reasons that have nothing to do with KW, but some people are choosing to translate this move as an anti-agent or anti-KW moment.

On the flip side

Some time ago, we broke the story on AGBeat.com that the ForSalebyOwner.com founder gave up on his own listing and hired a real estate broker, and speculation varied equally back then. His decision wasn’t necessarily a statement against FSBOs either, but it provided an alternative view into the state of the industry.

Does Keller’s neighbor’s home being listed as a FSBO on Zillow mean an insult to the industry, or is it simply a shift in attitude of consumers who want a bigger piece of the pie?