For Sale By Owner

For many years the gold standard of real estate listing was the MLS, the Multiple Listing Service. It was expensive, but was the only game in town to produce real results. Times are changing and so must we. Wiser sellers refuse to go along with the old MLS methods of selling properties, seeking instead real ways to hang on to more of their equity and their hard earned money. No longer is a property seller satisfied with pledging 7 to 10 percent of the selling price to an agency for their commission. Truth to be told, the agent who lists the property is rarely the one to sell it. Somewhere in the offices of the thousands of real estate agents that have access to the MLS, is a person who connects buyer with seller, after reviewing the many properties on the MLS. Quite likely the buyer may be from another geographic area entirely, as is the case with employment related moves.

Another option is now available to the seller. No, it is not ‘For Sale by Owner’ it is the Flat Fee MLS listing. Here is how it works. The seller contacts a licensed real estate agency and pays a flat fee in advance for the privilege of having the property advertised in the MLS listing directory. So far nothing has changed, but here is the big difference. The Flat Fee MLS listing will cost less than $300.00 and the seller will contract to pay a pre-determined percentage of the sales price to the agent who actually sells the property. Here is the big difference. The old way split the commission 50/50 between the listing agency and the selling agent. The new way gives the listing agency the flat fee only. Whoever actually brings the buyer to the property still receives 2 to 3 percent (pre-determined) of the sales price as commission. The seller keeps the other 2 to 3 percent for themselves rather than paying it to the agency that listed the property originally.

The seller has the option to keep even more of the commission if he manages to sell the property on his own. Other expenses may be incurred then, such as legal fees to be certain the contract is binding, etc. With today’s savvy sellers, it is quite possible to successfully handle the entire transaction themselves. Nationwide advertising is expensive. Using the MLS makes good economic sense.