Since 2005, we have invested 750 hours annually maintaining a database of virtually all Chico Area property owners who FAILED TO SELL, and +/- 430 buyers who stated they will exchange property INSIDE and OUTSIDE of Chico for Chico Area property. For example, we research daily these Chico Area property owners: a) Expired MLS listings and b) For-Sale-By-Owners.

Sellers willing to exchange are also BUYERS.  Some of these sellers have sold or refinanced their property and are ready to buy Chico Area property LIKE YOURS.  

I often see sellers we included in my database 2 or more years ago still trying to sell. During the last year +/- 1,000 FAILED to sell their Chico Area property! Approximately 50% of them are also BUYERS because they will exchange for at least the following two reasons. They are selling to BUY other property and, therefore, will also directly exchange for other property. Others are selling to solve a problem (divorce, relocation, foreclosure, etc.) and are not thinking about exchanging BUT WILL AFTER receiving our postcards and emails because it makes them realize that the exchange solves their problem. +/- 1,000 (+/- 50%) of the latest 2,000 sellers in my database are also BUYERS because they will exchange. 

Leslie Appleton-Young, Chief Economist for the California Association of Realtors presented a graph at the California Realtor Expo on October 7, 2009 showing that 39.4% of 2009 home sellers planned to repurchase another home. It was over 70% in 2004 (Click here to see this graph). My +/- 50% estimate is justified because some sellers are not planning to repurchase (exchange), but will exchange after receiving our postcards and emails because the exchange solves their problem. The fact we exclude REO’s (bank owned) and short-sales (loans greater than value) from our database also helps justify my +/- 50% estimate. Banks do not exchange or buy and short-sellers have no equity to exchange. My +/- 50% estimate may be too low.

We discovered the following additional +/- 430 buyers ALL wanting to exchange their property for Chico Area property by: a) Marketing nearly all of our listings “For Sale or Exchange” (all exchanges considered); b) Asking sellers if they will exchange and for what; and c) Using our many other real estate exchange tools and trade secrets.

• +/- 205 who all stated they will exchange their Chico Area property.
  
  
• +/- 225 who all stated they will exchange their property outside Chico (i.e. Truckee, Tahoe, Auburn, Grass Valley, Nevada City, Granite Bay, Roseville, Folsom, Sacramento, Bay Area, Napa, Santa Cruz, N. Calif. Coast, S. Calif., Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Idaho, Arizona, Chicago, N.Y., Redding, Tehama County, Lake Almanor, Mendocino, Paradise, Oroville, ETC.) for Chico Area property.

For years we have been preparing (maintaining our database) to target market your Chico Area property to sell or exchange it for property inside or outside Chico. My database of virtually all Chico Area property owners who failed to sell is also enormously valuable in exchanging property located anywhere in the U.S.A. for Chico Area property.

If anyone tells you they have the same 1,000 + buyers, be cautious and I want to know about it. Since 2005, we have invested several hours daily, virtually every day capturing and maintaining my 1,000 + buyers. It would require a book to explain why my 1,000 + buyer-list cannot be duplicated even if someone devoted the entire next two months to it.