Listing a home on the MLS by Owner saves Florida homeowners money…
Listing a home on the MLS by Owner saves Florida homeowners money and allows more control over the selling and marketing process.
Floridians lead the nation in this new cost savings FSBO approach to selling. In Florida, the concept of not paying a listing commission (traditional real estate) and paying just the buyer's agent (Flat Fee) is gaining in popularity each year.
ADDvantage, the most trusted and hardest working flat fee MLS listing service in Florida, takes flat rate MLS listings to a new level by offering more service. We are the only Florida real estate firm that considers live phone support so important that we answer our phones 7 days, 9 hours a day from 9:00am-6:00pm. This level of service results in more Realtor showings.
There are many flat fee MLS websites offering different versions of For Sale By Owner MLS listings. Some flat rate MLS websites are not licensed in Florida but refer sellers to a local Florida flat fee company such as ADDvantage. Other MLS websites don't offer guaranteed live phone support or buyer lead forwarding. When listing flat fee in Florida, make sure you deal with a genuine Florida flat fee listing company.
There are 5 components that qualify a Florida FSBO website as being a genuine MLS flat fee MLS website:
First, the website must show you their MLS listing agreement before you pay. If not, they are either not licensed in Florida or would prefer that a seller pay first and read second. ADDvantage offers Florida FSBO sellers the most comprehensive flat fee MLS listing agreement of any such service.
Secondly, to be a genuine flat fee MLS listing service in Florida, the listing agreement must state that all buyer leads (no Realtor representing them) belong to the For Sale By Owner flat fee seller and not the listing broker. This is a very important point because some flat rate brokers advertise flat fee websites for the sole purpose of attracting buyers so they can, in turn, represent these buyers and earn a commission. This is not what flat fee is. At ADDvantage, our FSBO sellers are successful selling their own homes 26% of the time selling By Owner and avoid paying any commission at all. This would not be possible without buyer leads.
Third, contrary to popular beliefs, about 50% of all incoming calls about a seller's property from Realtors or interested buyers go to the flat fee listing broker. While it does state in the Multiple Listing Service under Realtor Remarks to call seller directly, many Realtors just don't read this and call the listing broker. Some Realtors do read this and ignore it as tradition has always been to call the listing broker, not the For Sale By Owner flat fee seller. ADDvantage has fielded calls from Realtors and Buyers the past 12 months. Every call answered live and our flat fee seller client received an email about each calls. We guarantee live lead forwarding from Mon-Thu 9AM-7PM, Fri 9AM-5:30PM, Sat 9AM-5PM, Sun 9AM-4PM. ADDvantage also states this fact in our Florida flat fee listing agreement.
The fourth reason to list your FSBO Florida with a genuine flat fee MLS broker is for proactive flat fee listing plans. Most flat fee websites just offer one marketing plan. ADDvantage offers 3 proactive flat fee plans. For example, Street Smart ADDvantage® flat fee listing plan is designed around an email campaign that sends all Realtors within 35 miles of a FSBO property an email informing them of the “higher-than-average” buyer's agent commission. The Street Smart ADDvantage® Realtor® E-Blast is Florida's most respected and well-read Realtor-to-Realtor email. Another example of proactive flat fee marketing plans is Professional ADDvantage™. This is our top For Sale By Owner program because it looks and acts just like a full-service listing except the cost is 0.75% at close ($1,500 min). Professional ADDvantage™ includes Street Smart ADDvantage® High Commission Properties marketing, 100% contract-to close representation; we take all calls and schedule all showings. Professional ADDvantage™ is not a “limited-service” flat fee listing but rather it is an Exclusive Right of Sale Listing. This improves a seller's status among the traditional MLS listings.
Lastly, because FSBO sellers are paying upfront for a MLS listing service, there needs to be a clear and articulate listing agreement. The ADDvantage flat fee listing agreement includes details such as buyer lead forwarding to our 9:00am-6:00pm 7 days a week live phone support.
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