Posted by admin on September 30th, 2006
Home buyers can benefit from flat fee services too
Are you a home buyer? Looking for a home to buy this year? The question below is from IHS Realty’s Home Buying FAQs.
Q. What is the IHS Flat Fee Home Buying Program ?
A. Flat fee home buying is a way to compensate you for the time you spend and work you do in finding a home. Traditionally, real estate agents got paid to provide you with information about homes for sale and for taxiing you around to look at homes. Now with all of the homes for sale on the Internet, you can do much of the work yourself. And if you are willing to drive yourself to Open Houses, then you’re now entitled to a rebate of the selling agent’s commission.
As you probably know, Selling Agents (otherwise known as "Buyer’s Agents) are paid by the seller out the commission negotiated by the Listing Agent (the agent who has listed the property in the MLS). This commission is usually split 50/50 between the Listing Firm and the Selling Firm. So, if the total commission is 6%, 3% would go to the Listing Agent and 3% would go to the Buyer’s Agent.
IHS Realty has developed a program to let you, the home buyer, take part of the Buyer’s Agents commission.
If you want to know more about IHS Realty’s flat fee home buying services, check out our Home Buying FAQs.
Posted by admin on September 28th, 2006
One reader wanted to know if there is a sacrifice of services when selling through flat fee MLS
Question: What services do I sacrifice by using flat fee MLS instead of a full service agent? Can I still get similar features on public websites, video tours, etc. that an agent would give?
Answer: As an IHS customer you have access to all the same tools any other agent would use to entice other agents and home buyers. You can offer home warranties, display multiple photos in the MLS, include a Virtual Tour, provide a lockbox, enhance your listing to a Realtor.com Showcase, conduct open houses, and purchase a market analysis among other options. One additional tool that most agents cannot provide is the ability to list the home in more than one Multiple Listing Service. So, if your market slows down be sure you are taking advantage of all the tools available to incentivize a quick home sale.
On the IHS Forum you can post a question and get an honest answer, as above. It’s a great way to communicate your fears and inhibitions, or just ask for more information. Visit the IHS Forum today. Ask a question. Or just read.
See Also
- Forum post
IHS Forum host tells reader what benefits there are to flat fee MLS
Posted by admin on September 27th, 2006
Real estate agents have an unfair advantage when home sellers are shut out of the MLS
From Inman News:
The New Jersey Multiple Listing Service, a regional MLS in Northern New Jersey that is owned and operated by two local Realtor organizations, has withdrawn a policy that prevented some property listings from reaching Realtor.com and several other home-search Web sites.
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National Association of Realtors general counsel Laurie Janik announced earlier this year that 14 separate government investigations had been launched over MLS policies that prevent some property listings information from being publicly displayed on some public Web sites. The Realtors Association of Northeast Wisconsin MLS changed its restrictions relating to the public display of some property listings in late August after an FTC investigation.
The Northern New England Real Estate Network and Austin Board of Realtors in Texas also lifted similar restrictions, and both of these groups announced agreements with the FTC in response to investigations.
In March 2005, the New Jersey MLS announced in a newsletter that "exclusive agency" property listings would no longer be sent to public home-search Web sites, including NJMLS.com and Realtor.com, as of April 1, 2005.
In exclusive agency listing agreements, home sellers are not obligated to pay their agent if they locate a buyer on their own, and sellers can actively market their own properties. The MLS did not place similar restrictions on the more common "exclusive right to sell" property-listing agreement, which provides that a seller must pay the agent or broker who listed the property even if the seller personally located the buyer for the property.
What’s going on with the MLS? Some realtors don’t like exclusive agency listing agreements so there is a natural prejudice in certain circles against fair trade. IHS Realty believes you have a right to enter into any type of agreement you feel comfortable with - with a real estate agent or anyone else. If you have an exclusive agency listing agreement and you want to list your house for sale through a flat fee MLS service, we’ll be glad to help. We just want you to sell your house and increase your gains.
See Also
Posted by admin on September 27th, 2006
List your house on IHS Realy’s MLS listings and you get listed locally and nationally
If you reside in North Carolina, there are three MLS options for you to sell your house through.
Charlotte has an MLS which provides access to real estate agents in seven counties. Sinc 75% of home sales take place through the MLS, you have plenty of reasons to list your home there.
Greensboro, too, has its own MLS service. Triad Multiple Listing Service covers Greensboro, High Point and the Winston-Salem metropolitan areas. Triad is accessible to more than 15 counties in the Greensboro area and exposes your property to thousands of agents, increasing your selling options.
Triangle MLS serves the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area and serves 22 counties and 7,100 real estate agents through REALTOR.com.
With IHS Realty’s flat fee MLS service, you pay much less than the 6% commissions real estate agents charge. You also increase the exposure of your home in your area. You’ll be listed on your local MLS, the National Association of Realtors, and www.listingbook.com.
Learn more about flat fee MLS today.
Posted by admin on September 26th, 2006
Virginia’s flat fee MLS services reach as far as Pennsylvania
If you live in Virginia, you have four chances to get listed with the MLS.
The Tidewater-Hampton Roads MLS has proven itself to be an effective vehicle for home sellers. More than 75% of homes sold take place through the service. If you’re not listed, you’re missing out.
The Metropolitan Regional Information System in Northern Virginia is one of the largest MLS systems in the country. It also covers D.C. and southern Maryland. More than 50,000 real estate professionals rely on the information in MRIS every day.
Home sellers in Richmond can list their home with the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service. When you list with IHS Realty, you get on the MLS for 6 months, get a unique property web page, appear on REALTOR.com, Richmond.com, and CentralVirginiaHomeSearch.com. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
If the home selling market gets too cold for you, take it to the beach, Virginia Beach MLS. A part of the Tidewater-Hampton Roads network, you get all the benefits of listing on any other Virginia MLS. You’ll even be picked up by such powerhouse Internet icons as Yahoo, AOL, and MSN. Flat fee MLS has never been better.
Take the easy road and list on the MLS today.
Posted by admin on September 25th, 2006
If you are in the market to buy a home you can buy from the MLS and get a rebate
IHS Realty has MLS listings in 22 states. You can select your criteria. Search our listings by state and your stated price range or look for a particular listing. There’s bound to be something here for everyone, and if you bu
