14 Things Every Seller Should Know About How Flat Fee MLS Works Before Listing a Home
All flat fee companies will differ on how they handle the specifics, but in general, your contact info should be listed in the actual MLS listing.
What many sellers don't know is that no real estate agent or broker is allowed to publish the seller's contact info
in the public property description of the MLS for buyers to see. And sites like Realtor.com won't allow the agent to
show seller contact info either. This is because the whole system is meant to protect the value of real estate
agents. The MLS is supposed to be a closed system benefiting only Realtors. So flat fee listing agents are
essentially circumventing this system--and are therefore subject to some limitations.
The bottom line is that buyer leads and buyers' agents will inevitably end up calling and emailing the listing company. So how that company handles the prospects is really the important thing.
There are definitely MLS listing best practices when it comes to making sure the company you list with will provide instant home buyer leads.
You want to make sure the company you place your flat fee listing with will ensure that all email leads will be sent to you within 24 hours and that all buyers or agents that end up calling the broker directly will be handled live and directed to call you. Otherwise you could miss out on an opportunity to sell your home!
All real estate agencies--whether flat fee or full service--will require a listing agreement. An ethical flat rate listing company will allow you to cancel the contract at any time with no penalties.
The Savings Can Be Great!
If you were to sell your home for $200,000, using a 6% Realtor® you would have to pay $12,000 in commission ($6,000 to the Realtor® you listed your property with plus $6,000 to the agent who found a buyer for you.) If you used a flat fee listing service, your commission owed would be only $6,399 ($399 for the flat fee-using our GOLD Advanced MLS Listing program, for example, plus $6,000 to the agent who found a buyer for you.) By using a flat fee MLS service instead of a full service agent, you would save $5,601!
Find a Buyer Yourself, Pay ONLY the Flat Fee and No Other Commission!
Occasionally the buyer for a property is not working with a buyer's agent. With our flat fee listing brokers, if the buyer who purchases your property does not have an agent, you will pay no other commission besides the up front flat fee you paid during signup. Many full service Realtors® would keep the entire 6% commission for themselves, even if the buyer came to the deal with no agent.
We hope this has been informative and invite your follow up questions!
We've covered a lot of ground and hope you feel more knowledgeable about what options exist, how flat fee listing works and what to look for when interviewing discount MLS companies.
We believe home sellers deserve better options for transacting real estate and it is our mission to provide coaching and education to sellers so that they can be more prepared when they choose to sell by owner. Should you find yourself in need of further support or have other questions, feel free to reach out to us - we are here 7 days a week.
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*For same day listing entry Mon-Fri: listing must be complete** by 2PM EST. (If holiday, listing entered following business day.)
Saturday & Sunday: Completed listings will be entered on the next business day (Monday unless holiday).
The MLS Only program may take up to 48 hours.
** "Complete" means: payment received, one (1) exterior front photo uploaded, listing agreement complete, and start date set to current (non future) date.