Do you remember when everyone read the classified ads? You could buy or sell anything (legal) by placing an ad in the newspaper or the item-specific ad weeklies; of course you still can, but an even better option for most consumers and marketers these days is the online seek/find route.

Someone out there is looking for a new home but dreads the process of driving to, walking through, and weighing options while a sales agent breathes down the back of their shirt. The buyer prefers to be their own “finder” but may retain a realtor as the transaction agent, the one who handles the paperwork after finding a new home. Wouldn’t we all like to omit the middleman (or woman) as often as possible, or rather omit their fee? A prospective buyer goes online and looks for a home for sale by owner. That buyer may be in your hometown or on the opposite side of Earth.

Used- car salesman. That’s a term that evokes unpleasant images of a coarse loudmouth in a gaudy plaid sports coat, hawking lemons of various vintage. Our apologies to those professional auto salespersons out there; we know that many of you suffer daily because of that stereotype. A lot of us, male and female, enjoy a review of the auto classifieds; I personally always home in on the ones that indicate a car for sale by owner. Hoards of would-be car buyers search the online ads daily and nightly.

In the piney woods of a northern state where summer is a delight and winter is an endurance test, someone is looking for a change. Butterflies make them smile and snowdrifts send them into depression. Just for such a person is an ad that states “Time Share for Sale by Owner.” Equally anxious to escape the heat of the Deep South is someone who would love to partner with them on a home away from home, a man or woman who yearns to hop onto a snowmobile or strap on skis and cool off. Talk about making everyone happy…

His riding lawnmower blew its engine; the last time he tried to clean out the rain gutters on the eaves, he fell off the ladder, and when he was up there he also noted several loose singles. The fifteen-year guarantee on the roof is about to expire. Arthritis is gaining on him, making home and yard maintenance a real pain—literally. But I want a nice home of my own, he thinks. I don’t want to waste money pouring it down a rented rat hole. He is in the market for a condo; catch his interest and perhaps make a sale by listing your condo for sale by owner. His son works for a large sporting goods store in an affluent section of the city. Just as Dad is ready to move into a new home, his son is ready to move on and rid himself of the unreasonable dictator who is his boss, whose managerial style is causing so much stress that the son’s health is negatively affected. He is ready to become the boss and run his own business. He goes online to search for a business for sale by owner.