If you are selling your home, you know there are many different ways to list your property on the market. One option is to go with a flat fee MLS listing. But what exactly is a flat fee MLS listing? And how does it differ from a full-service listing? Here's a closer look at what you need to know about flat fee MLS listings and the benefits they can provide.
What Is the MLS?
To understand what a flat fee MLS listing is, you must first understand how houses sell in the United States. When a house is listed for sale, the agent posts it to the MLS, or multi-listing service, a database of available homes that only licensed agents can access. Real estate agents use the MLS to send lists of homes in a certain price range to their potential buyers and use its stored data on sold homes to analyze pricing before making an offer. If a home is not listed on the MLS, agents and, in turn, their clients never see it.
What Is a Flat Fee MLS Listing?
A flat fee MLS listing refers to a discount real estate broker or agent who agrees to list your home on the MLS for a fixed fee instead of charging a commission on the sale. Typically, this means that you, as the homeowner, will pay an initial set-up fee to list your home on the MLS and then pay an additional fee if and when your property sells. However, the rate is much less expensive than going with a full-service broker who will likely charge an average of five to six percent of the sales price as their fee.
What Is the Difference Between a Flat Fee MLS Listing and a Full Service Listing?
A full-service listing typically involves you as the homeowner working with a real estate agent or broker to help you sell your home, including taking you through the process of listing and marketing your home, providing you with information on how to make your house more appealing, managing the paperwork, and negotiating with buyers. A flat fee MLS listing, on the other hand, requires you to do most of the legwork yourself to get your home sold.
Flat fee MLS listings offer homeowners an alternative way to get their properties listed without having to pay large commissions upon sale or high upfront fees. If cost savings are important to you as a home seller, consider a flat fee MLS listing when you're ready to sell.
For more info, contact a local company like Crawford Realty Inc.
