Woman turns to Facebook to sell house

Stephanie Filer uses her Facebook page and Twitter profile to let friends know what she's up to, where she is and how she likes her new job.

In April, she used the social media to sell her house.

“Facebook has been a tremendous resource for me to promote things – everything from promoting causes, raising money or promoting adoptable animals and the humane societies,” said Filer, 27, who recently moved to Des Moines from Cedar Rapids. “I've had amazing results from Facebook, and best yet, it's free.”

Filer became one of a growing number of people who are using social media for more than just connecting with friends. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and the like are sporting promotions for garage sales, individual car sales and, in Filer's case, home sales.

Russ Nading, a Realtor with Iowa Realty in Cedar Rapids and president of the Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors, isn't worried about the private sector's use of social media and its effect on the real estate market.

Instead, he said, he's encouraging more Realtors to get involved and do the same thing.

“I'm not an expert in technology, but in being in contact with the younger people who work here it's definitely something they're using,” said Nading, 69. “I really think it will enhance our business, it's the wave of the future.”

Gary Wolter, 45, uses his Facebook page to promote houses he and wife Melynda are selling as the Wolter Team with Skogman Realty.

“I like to keep it 60/40 personal/business,” Wolter said. “I usually report what's going on about the market, open houses that we're doing or having just listed or sold one.”

“I don't want to turn people off,” he said. He's “simply using another tool to connect with people and meet their needs if they are in the market for a new home.”

Filer said she was cognizant of her audience when she posted her house on Facebook. At $139,900, the house was in the typical first- or second-time homebuyer price range, she said, “and that age group is predominantly on Facebook.”

“The great thing about Facebook is that I was able to get my house in front of people who might otherwise not have been looking,” Filer said. “I had a lot of people tell me they loved the house or they loved a certain decor but that they weren't in the market for a house of that price. That validated for me that it was sellable.”

How sellable was the house on Facebook? Apparently, very much so.

“From the time I added my house to Facebook to the time I had an accepted offer was just three weeks,” Filer said. “I had two offers and several others wanting to do a back-up offer.”

The buyer was a friend of Filer's - who saw the house on Facebook.