Posted by Manager on January 31st, 2008
As soon as you start looking into flat fee MLS as a way to sell your home, you’ll realize that it’s different in the approach that it provides for selling your home.
What are the key selling points of flat fee MLS? Let’s start with these:
- With flat fee MLS, you can be sure that your home will be listed alongside those that are being sold by real estate agents - and that means getting the exposure that your home needs to sell.
- With flat fee MLS, you get to take advantage of the primary benefit of selling with an agent (the MLS) without having to pay a commission to an agent for listing the property.
- Flat fee MLS and the brokers that provide the service gives you access to information that can help you to sell your home without having to figure it out on your own.
- With flat fee MLS, you’re able to choose the products and services that help you to sell your home - you can use just what you need.
- Flat fee MLS gives you control over the selling process.
There’s a reason why so many people will tell you that flat fee MLS is revolutionizing the real estate business: it gives you the best of the options that used to be available.
Posted by Manager on January 29th, 2008
Flat fee MLS is, in and of itself, a great way of marketing your home. After all, it’s the only way to get your home listed in the multiple listing service directory if you do not wish to have listing agent marketing your home.
In other words, when you use flat fee MLS to sell your home on your own, you’ll find that you have access to the most effective tool for marketing your home. But, you’ll be able to determine other great ways of marketing your home as well.
Take for example the web, where more than 70% of homebuyers now start their search. Real estate listings appear on MLS sites like Realtor.com, as well as in home listings with major search engines like Google. Let’s say someone is looking for a home in Baltimore and types “homes for sale in Baltimore” into the Google search box - wouldn’t you want them to see your listing?
In addition to web marketing, flat fee MLS gives you a chance to be sure that you’re using print ads to market your home. You’ll be able to print out marketing flyers, create newspaper ads and do what you can to ensure that those folks near your home also know that it’s on the market.
In other words, when you sell your home with flat fee MLS, you’ll find that you’re able to get the word out about your home - so that anyone who may be interested in buying it will be able to track the listing down.
Posted by Manager on January 27th, 2008
It seems that flat fee MLS is becoming even more popular. Given talk of a real estate slow down, it seems that it’s even becoming an option that agents are offering:
(source)The Flat Fee MLS is a merger of ideas, taking the ability to list on a property on the MLS with the FSBO method of an individual property owner selling their house without a Real Estate Agent. MLS listings have in recent years always been the bastion of the agents. The increase in internet use has meant that to get good exposure for a property then an MLS listing was almost essential.
Now we are seeing the emergence of brokers ’selling their birthright’ for a flat fee, allowing the individual the access to the MLS through their brokerage but not offering any other service.
Now, this - at first - seems like a logical move, but here’s a question: if you sell with flat fee MLS, shouldn’t you get more than just an MLS listing?
When you use a flat fee broker for your listing, you’ll be better able to find the tips and tools and support that you need to sell your home. On the other hand, using a real estate agent who offers a flat fee service probably won’t give you all that you’re looking for - you’re only going to get what you pay for.
Working with a service that only provides flat fee MLS is the only way that you can be sure you get more than what you pay for, the only way you can be sure you get everything you need.
Posted by Manager on January 25th, 2008
Those who have started thinking about selling with flat fee MLS - with all of the concerns that there are about the real estate market - are probably at a point where they are asking themselves, “Is now a good time to sell?”
The answer is a little bit mixed, honestly. Prices are dropping and many homes are staying on the market longer than they had been in the past few years, however, thanks to interest rate cuts and better mortgage rates, the odds of selling are a lot better than they may seem.
Particularly when you sell with flat fee MLS and are able to save rather than paying a high commission to the listing agent while still taking advantage of the exposure the multiple listing service gives, if you pay attention to the details, you will be able to sell.
So, make sure that you’re pricing your home correctly. Make sure that you understand home staging and can put staging suggestions to work in your home. Be sure that you’re comfortable hosting open houses.
With the right flat fee broker, you’ll find that selling - in any market - is easier than you had thought it could be.
Posted by Manager on January 23rd, 2008
Everyone who is going to be selling a home - whether they use flat fee MLS, FSBO or sell with a real estate agent - is going to be looking for the home selling tips that will help them to get their homes ready and not just on the market, but also off of it quickly.
Home selling tips are going to include discussion of what’s working for others who are going through the process, and will focus on other elements as well. You’ll be able to learn more about home warranties. You’ll find tips for projects that will help you to boost your property value. You’ll also get tips for keeping in touch with prospective buyers who have stopped by at an open house and for getting the word out within your own neightborhood.
If you’re still thinking about selling a home and haven’t moved forward, you’ll find other great information too. Talk with others about whether or not it’s a good plan to put your home on the market or if you could better reach your goals by renovating your home and adding on a bedroom or family room. Get perspective - learn what’s working and what doesn’t.
Home selling tips are - obviously - designed to help you to find yourself in the right position to sell, but there’s more value than just that. Sometimes just knowing that there are others who are going through the same process you are is enough to let you take a step back, take a deep breath and move forward without the panic.
Posted by Manager on January 21st, 2008
A lot of people, when they start to think about flat fee MLS as a way of selling a home wonder if there’s a catch: after all, a flat fee MLS listing is available at considerable savings to listing with a real estate agent.
One of those questions falls into the category of “what does a flat fee MLS listing look like”: it’s a questions that addresses a concern that, if they list with a flat fee broker, their listing will somehow look different to those who are trying to find properties to buy.
When you list your home in the multiple listing service using flat fee MLS, you can rest-assured that your listing will look just like those that are entered by a listing agent. That’s part of what makes flat fee MLS so valuable: it gives you access to the same tools at a far lower cost.
Just like any other listing in the MLS, your flat fee listing will feature details about the property, a photo or more, details about your heating or cooling system - everything that you would expect. When you list with flat fee MLS, you’ll find that there are only two things missing: a real estate agent telling you what to do and the high cost of an agent commission.
Posted by Manager on January 19th, 2008
When you’re going to be selling a home, listing with a real estate agent is often the first thing that sellers consider. However, there can be some issues that sellers find when they are working with a real estate agent - issues that should lead you to hesitate a bit:
(source)One of the biggest problems that I have always had with Real Estate agents (outside of their high commission fees) is that they have a different mandate then the typical homeowner. A real estate agents mandate is to sell “a” home and get paid their commission. The homeowners mandate is to sell their home. How often do you think a prospective buyer calls in to set up a showing for a specific property (your property) and the agent says - “sure, we’ll set up an appointment - but while were out looking at that property let’s look at these “others” that I think you may be interested in.”
When you sell with a real estate agent, it’s hard to know whether or not he or she will be there focusing on selling your home - especially when there are other properties that they represent as well. Still, real estate agents will list your home in the multiple listing service - which gives selling with them an advantage over selling FSBO.
Of course, flat fee MLS let’s you list your home in the multiple listing service without selling with a real estate agent; flat fee MLS is the best of both worlds.
If you’re hesitating, unsure of whether or not to sell your home on your own or with a real estate agent - if you’re reluctant to pay a real estate agent’s commission - you owe it to yourself to look into flat fee MLS and all that it offers.
