Belize Real Estate  Links  
Real Estate Information

Flat Fee MLS Listings - Is This The Future Of Real Estate


Realtors are all a buzz about this new form of listing houses on the MLS (multiple listing service). Some feel it creates more work for the buyers agent, while others see this as a way to tap into the For Sale By Owner market.

It use to be when you made the decision to sell your home, you essentially had two methods available to you. You could list your home with a traditional real estate company and pay 6-7% commission or you could try selling on your own "for sale buy owner".

Research shows that nearly 50% of all home sellers start out trying to sell their property on their own. Although some home owners are successful with FSBO, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) home seller survey, only sixteen percent of sellers actually sell their home without exposure on the MLS. And many of them end up giving away their commission savings to the buyer to close the deal.

Realtors tend avoid for sale by owner properties because they are working with buyers and have no written agreement to be compensated. If the seller has not agreed in writing to pay a commission to the agent, the buyer could cut the agent right out of the deal and negotiate directly with the seller. It happens....

With flat fee MLS service, the seller has agreed in writing to pay a commission, usually 3%, to the buyers agent. This motivates Realtors to bring the seller a buyer.

How it works:

Real estate commissions by law are negotiable. In a flat fee listing, the listing agent agrees to a flat fee instead of a percentage of the sale price. This can be anywhere from $300-$600 for the service of adding your house to the MLS. Then you choose how much to pay the buyers agent in commission for bringing you a buyer (typically 3%). So in the sale of a $200,000 house you would pay $6,000 plus the flat listing fee, saving a close to $5,700 in commissions. The plus side is in the listing agents contract, the right to continue advertising you house FSBO. So in the event you find a buyer without an agent you save on all commissions and only pay the flat listing fee.

  • What do you get with flat fee MLS listing:

  • Advertise your home on Realtor.com®

  • Market to buyers working with a Realtor® through the MLS

  • Market to Buyers working without a Realtor®

  • Retain your right to sell your property by owner

  • Avoid paying any real estate listing commission by paying a flat rate or fixed fee upfront

  • Only pay a commission if a buyer's agent sells your home

  • Why would a listing agent want to do this?

For real estate agents this can be an opportunity to increase revenue by listing more homes. There are many people who refuse to use realtors because of the 6-7% commissions, but are more than willing to pay 3%. With the increase of internet marketing, realtors can reach more people because all they are offering is to list the house on the MLS. Services are minimal and the listing agent really won't be trying to find a buyer for you, but rely on the buyers agents. This allows them to list properties in a larger area and in some cases in other states.

With the increase of house prices, is the 6% sales commission going to survive or will flat fee listings be the wave of the future. Only time will tell...

About The Author

Richard Massey is a note broker with United Financial Resources and a real estate investor. You can get more information at http://www.unitedfinancialresources.com or to read more articles go to http://unitedfinancialresources.com/news.html


MORE RESOURCES:

Aspen real estate outgained other state resort-area markets in 2011
Aspen Times
ASPEN — A flat year for the Pitkin County real estate market in 2011 is looking good compared with the performance in Eagle County and other resort areas in Colorado. A report by Land Title Guarantee Co. shows Aspen and Pitkin County had one of the ...

and more »


$16 house man: real estate genius or squatter?
New Zealand Herald
And while real estate experts and authorities say he's misusing the law, Robinson appears to have inspired dozens of imitators who moved into the Dallas-Fort Worth area homes - some of which were still occupied by their owners.

and more »


Montgomery County eyes hefty real estate tax jump
Roanoke Times
Demands and cuts in state funding suggest a 21-cent real estate tax rate hike. Supervisors balked. By Mike Gangloff Montgomery County supervisors braced themselves Monday for the possibility of a record increase in the county's real estate tax rate.

and more »


Real estate title agent to add 200
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The parent of United Lender Services, a national real estate title and settlement agent in Findlay, has acquired two large office buildings along the Parkway West, where ULS will relocate and triple its employment to more than 250.

and more »


Chicago Tribune

Real Estate: National foreclosure settlement delayed, Nevada AG concerned
Reno Gazette Journal
Ap File BY THE NUMBERS Foreclosure-related filings for 2011 for Washoe County, Nevada and the United States. Filings include notices of default, notices of sale or auction and bank-owned foreclosures. Washoe: 7981 (down 27.3 percent and 27.6 percent ...
Week ahead in real estate (Feb. 6-10)U-T San Diego
Banks Paying Homeowners a Bonus to Avoid Foreclosures: MortgagesBusinessWeek

all 502 news articles »


Real estate firm's game ad nothing to laugh at
Chicago Tribune
Five years into the housing crisis, a national real estate firm thinks there's still a national audience of potential homebuyers just waiting for the right opportunity. The combination of home affordability and mortgage interest rates are practically ...
Century 21 Maintains Leadership Position in Brand Awareness SurveyRisMedia.com (press release)

all 2 news articles »


New York Times

So Eager to Get Foot in Real Estate's Door, They Work Without Pay
New York Times
In past years, becoming a real estate agent was rarely a first-choice gig. For many people, it was a way to pay the bills while trying to break into another field. For some, it was a second career — or maybe a third or a fourth — tackled after the ...
Real estate is a team sportBoston.com (blog)

all 1 news articles »


Zephyr Real Estate Announces Top Producers for 2011
MarketWatch (press release)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Feb 06, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Zephyr Real Estate, San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm, is proud to announce the company's top producing real estate agents for 2011. The Company Top 10, in order by highest ...

and more »


TEXT-S&P says European real estate should weather downside credit risks
Reuters
"We think that our macroeconomic forecast of a mild recession for the first half of the year will have a moderate effect on the operating performance of our rated Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) portfolio," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst ...

and more »


Oregon Company Attempts to Bring Real Estate Into a Mobile World
LoanSafe
by Evan Bedard on February 6, 2012 in Real Estate (Source: By Sherri Buri McDonald, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.) - A Eugene start-up company, RealLead is trying to bring the speed and immediacy of mobile communications to real estate shopping.
Bringing real estate into a mobile worldThe Register-Guard

all 2 news articles »

Google News

home | site map | Colorado Log Homes | Homes for Sale in Denver Metro
© 2006