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Written by Steven Porrello
What is FSBO Madison?
FSBO Madison is a website that charges sellers a flat fee ($150) to list their homes on its self-branded listing page (fsbomadison.com). The basic plan does not put you on the MLS or other listing sites, but the more expensive plans will. The site is designed for FSBO sellers in Wisconsin but has very weak traffic and exposure compared with other listing services.
Key takeaways
- We rate it 2.5/5
- No MLS listing
- Low monthly traffic to listings
Bottom line: Is FSBO Madison worth it?
No, FSBO Madison is not worth the price. It’s too expensive for the weak exposure that you get. For the same price (or cheaper) you can get listed on the MLS and other real estate sites. (Learn more about our methodology.)
Quality of service
Despite not offering MLS listing, FSBO Madison’s basic plan does provide some essential services. You’ll get a 6-month listing on fsbomadison.com, the option to upload up to 36 photos, a yard sign, social media marketing, and the ability to make changes to your listings instantly.
Marketing
The biggest shortcoming with FSBO Madison is that it doesn’t list you on an MLS or on major real estate websites like Zillow and Realtor.com. Its own listing platform has very weak traffic (2,200 visitors per month) and will likely reduce your pool of potential buyers.
Cost
All plans are too expensive for the services provided. The basic plan is $150 and will list you only on FSBO Madison’s website. The other two plans will list you on an MLS and Zillow for more than most flat-fee MLS listing services.
Customer experience
Oddly enough, the company has no public reviews, not on Google or TrustPilot. So it’s hard to gauge how well its customer service handles user problems and troubleshooting questions.
User friendliness
The website, listing platform, and payment options are very outdated. For example, you can either use PayPal and pay a 3% fee, or you can mail in a check and wait a few days before listing your home.
FSBO Madison vs. top competitors
| FFMLS company | Locations | Avg. customer review | Listing fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beycome | AL, CA, CT, FL, GA, MN, NC, SC | 4.4 | $99-499 + 1% |
| Fizber | Nationwide | 3.9 | $295 |
| Homecoin | CA, FL, GA, MI, MO, NY, NC, SC, TN, VA, WI | 4.9 | $95+ |
| Houzeo | Nationwide | 4.9 | $199-999+ |
Quality of service
| What we like: | Possible drawbacks: |
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Aside from the lack of MLS exposure, FSBO Madison’s basic plan does provide sellers with some essential services: a six-month listing on fsbomadison.com, unlimited changes to your listing, 36 photos, a yard sign, and social media marketing. Social media marketing includes geo-targeted Google and Facebook ads pointing local buyers to your property listing.
But FSBO Madison doesn’t offer à la carte pricing, which means less flexibility if you just want some services but not others. Most companies, for instance, will offer you a comparative market analysis, additional photos, and the option to hire a photographer for a fee. With FSBO Madison, what you see is what you’ll get.
Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s included and what isn’t in each plan:
| Go Organic ($150) | Cast the Larger Net ($499) | Get More Help!($2,399) |
|---|---|---|
| 👍 6 mo. listing on fsbomadison.com 👍 36 photos 👍 Unlimited edits | 👍 Listing on MLS, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc. | 👍 Broker consultation 👍 Pro photography 👍 Support from broker |
| ❌ Listing on MLS | ❌ Pro photography ❌ 3D walk-through ❌ CMA | ❌ Pricing help ❌ Scheduling ❌ Staging |
The company’s two upgraded packages will both list you on the South Central Wisconsin MLS, push the listing to major real estate sites, help you price your home correctly, and offer a free consultation session with a real estate broker.
“Get More Help” goes a step further and actually connects you with a personal broker. This person will help you manage your offers, find a photographer, and walk you through the closing process.
Marketing (how it works)
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FSBO Madison’s marketing strategy involves listing your home on its self-branded webpage, fsbomadison.com. The company will also use geo-targeted Facebook and Google ads to draw more local buyers to your listing. The idea is that local buyers in the Madison, WI, area are already familiar with this page and will browse for home listings there.
In reality, the main webpage gets only around 2,200 visitors per month, and roughly 600 users search “fsbo madison” monthly. By comparison, Zillow gets 93.2 million monthly visitors and Realtor.com has roughly 50.2 million.
ForSaleByOwner.com is another a FFMLS that lists you to its own page instead of the MLS, but unlike FSBO Madison, “forsalebyowner.com” gets roughly 469,000 visitors per month, and its basic plan is free.
Since FSBO Madison’s main service is its self-branded webpage, these low numbers should be concerning. Listing just on fsbomadison.com could risk shrinking your pool of potential buyers and getting fewer offers than if you had listed on an MLS.
Cost
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Frankly, all three FSBO Madison plans are overpriced.
The basic $150 might seem like a decent deal, but this is only slightly cheaper than most basic FFMLS plans ($189–299), which provide you with more essential services and list you on the MLS. To get on a local MLS with FSBO Madison, you have to pay $499 — that’s way too high for a plan that doesn’t even offer a comparative market analysis.
The “Get More Help!” plan isn’t worth the cost either. You’ll get advice from a broker, but you’ll still do all the work yourself. The $2,399 price is barely less than working with a listing agent who charges a 1.5% commission.
Customer experience
It’s hard to gauge how well FSBO Madison’s customer service team handles clients’ concerns and questions. The company has no public reviews, neither on Google nor on Trustpilot. It also doesn’t have a Better Business Bureau profile.
User friendliness
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The website itself, however, isn’t very impressive. There aren’t many free educational materials on FSBO selling, nor any “here’s how this works” guides to lead sellers through the process.
You can also make unlimited edits in real time without approval.
The listing pages themselves are pretty mediocre. Some important details are included, such as distances to local schools, but the listings aren’t as comprehensive as on Zillow or Realtor.com. Photos are presented in a slideshow that will sometimes stretch the images or (in the case of vertical photos) surround them with too much black space so they’re hard to see.
Next steps
If you’re determined to sell your home on your own, we recommend finding a flat fee listing service that will put you on the MLS. Even if you live in Madison (or Wisconsin), we think you’ll have more visibility (and a larger pool of buyers) if you distribute your property listing across real estate sites that get more traffic.
For those interested in FSBO Madison’s “Get More Help!” plan, we would recommend exploring other low-cost broker options first, such as working with a low commission real estate company. For a little more than the sticker price on this plan, you can enlist the services of a licensed agent, who will take the bulk of the work from you and perhaps sell your home for more money.
Related reading
Top 10 Low Commission Real Estate Agents + Companies. From Clever Real Estate to Redfin, these are the best low commission real estate agents and companies. Sell your home with cheaper fees now!
The Ultimate For Sale By Owner Toolkit. If selling your own home seems overwhelming, check out this list of tools to help you through every stage of the process.
Methodology
We evaluated the value and quality of FFMLS and FSBO listing services based on five core criteria.
Quality of service
FFMLS companies should provide basic services, including:
- Listing to your local MLS
- Pushing listings to sites like Zillow and Trulia
- Maximum allowable photos
- Unlimited free listing changes
- Keeping a listing active until you cancel or close on your home
We noted add-on services that actually help you sell and manage your sale, like professional photography or an online dashboard. We didn’t give credit for fluffy offerings, such as video tours that are just photo montages or listings on Craigslist.
Marketing
We assessed how each company’s services actually makes your listing visible to buyers, compared with the MLS, which is the baseline. Additional marketing services (via social media, digital ads, etc.) count to higher visibility, as does the company’s website traffic.
Cost
We compared pricing tiers for services with baseline national averages and other brands.
Customer experience
Our evaluation…
- Aggregated customer reviews from across the web and created a weighted average rating
- Ran reviews through a sentiment analysis program to identify key themes
- Checked for complaints with the Better Business Bureau
User friendliness
We checked how easy the company app or portal was to use, and how easy it was to upload and manage the listing.
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