Flat fee MLS versus a traditional agent
When listing your home with a flat fee MLS broker you are essentially acting as your own listing agent assuming responsibilities normally handled by an agent. You will handle all showing requests, handle the marketing of the home – classifieds, etc, and negotiate the purchase offer. And once you sell your home you will immediately question why any agent would ever get 5-7 percent to sell a home. I think you will find it considerably easier than you thought.
The increase in home prices and recent market conditions have lead consumers to try a new method that provides the best of both worlds – it provides invaluable marketing exposure through the MLS while homeowners maintain all right of a for sale by owner. With the savings sellers experience in realtor commissions they would not otherwise realize, they have an opportunity to run their own marketing campaigns. Nowadays, most flat fee MLS providers provide many of the same marketing tools a full-service agent would provide like a yard signs, directionals, comparative market analysis (CMA) for pricing help, home warranties, virtual tours, realtor.com showcases, home flyers, home web pages, closing checklists, contract negotiations, and many other tools.
So what is the first question you ask a Realtor when conducting the listing interview? More than likely it is, "how are you going to market my home and where is my listing going to be visible to the public?" With flat fee MLS you control all aspects of the transaction; you are in the driver seat! Because sellers normally only pay between $400-$600 to a flat fee listing broker, it is almost foolish not commit some of that savings to an aggressive marketing campaign that will maximize your homes potential. Even if you spend a few hundred in classified ads, postcards, etc. you are still savings thousands more than listing with a traditional full-service agent. Spending a few more dollars to a flat fee MLS company that provides a Realtor.com Showcase listings may be advantageous as homes with additional photos and virtual tours are viewed 300 percent more often by the searching public.
