Flat fee MLS offers for sale by owner home sellers the best of both worlds. A relatively recent entry to the real estate brokerage industry, a flat fee MLS listing allows home sellers to place their property in the Realtor MLS and on Realtor.com for an upfront fee (usually in the $500 range) instead of paying a whopping 6% commission at closing. A flat fee MLS listing allows a home seller to lower their price and still, maximize their net return. Studies show that a MLS listing increases the odds of selling a home by providing the highest marketing exposure possible. Higher exposure means a greater demand and consequently a higher price.

Here’s how it works: Instead of listing with a traditional broker, find a flat fee broker offering MLS entry only listing of homes for sale. (for a nationwide listing of flat rate brokers visit www.Bloomkey.com). A flat fee broker will enter your property into the Multiple Listing Service in your area where it can be viewed by all of the real estate agents as well as their buyers. If a buyer’s agent brings you a buyer, you pay them 1/2 of the normal commission amount, generally around 3%. For every $100,000 of your sales price, you save approximately $2,500. That means on an average $200,000 home, you can lower the sales price by about $5,000 and still net the same amount of money from the sale as if you had used a traditional real estate agent. Of course, all other factors being equal, a house selling for $195,000 sells before one selling for $200,000 in any market.

Some states have already consolidated their MLSs into one large regional or statewide MLS. MRIS serves participants in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Connecticut MLS is a statewide MLS. There are already several separate data-sharing and other collaborative MLS efforts going on in California now in Northern California and Southern California and also in the Bakersfield-Fresno region. So, obviously the technology is certainly available for a national effort.

Then, what’s stopping the creation of a National MLS you might ask? Political infighting among the numerous city and regional MLSs is the main culprit. A nationwide MLS, while representing a tremendous benefit to it’s member’s and consumers, is being prevented by the individual MLS executives who face loss of control or even job loss that would be brought about with the consolidation. According to Scott Kucirek, head of the California initiative to start a statewide MLS, …”it’s a little about power and politics, and unfortunately in those conversations what gets left out is what’s right for the members. Everyone says they really are trying to do what’s really right for the members, (but) when you really look at it in many cases that’s not the intent. The politics is the issue.”