Maximize your marketing efforts without sacrificing thousands in commissions

A recent article published by CNNMoney.com provided tips for home seller and home flippers, but to my disappointment was very outdated and stale. As a proponent of choice and alternative to the traditional real estate model, I had to completely disagree with the advice to hire a full service agent. One thing I do think she was right about is homeowners "hate the idea of parting with 6 percent of [their] home’s value." Especially when there is growing awareness of discount realtors and flat fee MLS companies that serve as a much better avenue for home sellers to capitalize on marketing exposure in a "tougher environment" while maximizing their equity. When a home owner has to fork over 6 percent of the sales price of their home at closing you better believe that is being reflected in the asking price, which as the article stated is the most important aspect to getting the home sold. Because flat fee MLS charges a low, one-time fee to list the home in the MLS, homeowners are saving 3 percent at a minimum during the sales transaction freeing them to price their home far more competitively than anyone listed with a full service broker.

 
While a full service agent may run classified ads or send postcards to neighbors, flat fee brokers provide an MLS listing whereby the home will get the same marketing exposure through public websites like realtor.com for the low fee freeing up additional pocket change for the seller to run ads themselves where they have the opportunity to attract unrepresented buyers and save on the full 6 percent of broker commissions. As the industry continues to see lower sales prices, sellers should be encouraged to seek alternative models that provide similar exposure without sacrificing thousands in commissions.

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