NEWS - Residential Real Estate

SBJ Staff Report

June 28, 2010 - A revolutionary way to market and sell your real estate property has just come to Savannah, called SWAP to SeLL Marketplace.

“SWAPtoSeLL.com” is a unique way to move stagnant listings that have been on the market for months by connecting with others willing to swap their home or property for yours, according to the company’s co-founder Carolyn Ezelle and Lavinia Strong.

Ezelle, a resident of Ardsley Park, and a real estate agent with Celia Dunn Sotheby’s International Realty for more than five years, said they have launched in the Savannah market first, but have plans to expand their unique marketing opportunity to cities throughout the southeast, with a goal of going to Beaufort and Charleston as soon as possible.

Strong, also an agent with Celia Dunn Sotheby’s International Realty, is a short-sell and foreclosure specialist who moved to Savannah in 2000 to marry her husband, a native of Savannah.

Lavinia and Ezelle, started their careers together as a team for Celia Dunn Sotheby's International Realty in 2005 specializing in residential sales and job-sharing to raise their small children. They have closed over $26 million in real estate transactions in all areas of Savannah.
There are 11 Savannah homes currently listed on the site, available to be swapped, ranging in price from $1.7 million to just $ 79,000 in list price.

“SWAP to SELL.com is a meeting place on the web where potential local buyers can search the listings of local sellers who will consider negotiating a trade of their property. “It’s basically, I will buy your property for your price, if you agree to buy mine at my price,” said co-founder Carolyn Ezelle. "Our hope is to help fellow real estate agents and home owners sell their properties faster, while retaining a higher price for their property."

Ezelle, along with co-founder Lavinia Strong, who has successfully completed her own home swap transaction, are creative local realtors bringing their formula for home swapping success to others to help energize the local real estate market.

The concept is in play in other parts of the U.S. as well as internationally. “Over the past year, we received numerous phone calls from other real estate agents asking if some of our listings would consider a home swap. Several agents we spoke with spent entire days calling agents of every listing in an area to see if their clients would consider swapping/ So we realized the need for one central website where sellers could advertise their willingness to swap their home."Now you can go to one website to find this information saving everyone a great deal of time.”

In today’s real estate market, there is a good chance that someone would like to buy your property; however, they are experiencing the same frustration and need to sell their home first. SWAP to SELL.com was created to help preserve property values, offer real estate marketplace assistance, eliminate double mortgages and cease the reduction of the listing price, they explain.

Once a property is posted, viewers will be able to see the listing by choosing the neighborhood of choice, viewing photos, and selecting a price range. Buyers and sellers connect in this unique marketplace through email communication, where they can make their own arrangements for viewing each other’s property.

Homes do NOT have to be of the same value in a swap transaction and negotiations take place as they do in any traditional real estate transaction. However, the closings do need to take place on the same day with the same attorney. Swapping properties provides an added incentive for both parties.

The benefits of swapping property through SWAP to SELL.com include avoiding foreclosure, moving without having two mortgages, not becoming a landlord, and obtaining financing with your existing home under contract makes transactions move quickly. SWAP to SELL.com makes it easy to trade your single family home, condo, lot, farm, duplex or commercial property.