Flat Fee MLS Listings
Only pay the selling agent not the listing agent? Right--save money--that's the concept behind the newest trend in the real estate sales business. For many a flat-fee listing service can bridge the gap between the desire to save money and the fear of costly mistakes.
In general the up side is that the seller saves half of the very substantial fee which has been associated with home sales. In simpler times a person with reasonable intelligence could handle all aspects of a real estate sale. But as real estate became more valuable the potential for financial ruin if things weren't done correctly increased. So, a large industry emerged which offered very good service but at a commission of between 5% and 7%. This then was split between the listing real estate agent and the sales agent. The fee was further split between the agents and their respective brokers. This system worked without a hitch for many years and in fact is still preferred by many if not most homeowners who believe that a major sell of a person's largest asset is not the time to get cheap. "That's the best way to sell my house," thinks the average Joe.
But conversely the fact that this is a person's largest asset in many cases is the very reason to consider putting up a For Sale by Owner sign! On a $300,000 home sale there can be as much as $21,000 in commissions. That's money that could buy a new car; be put toward a down payment; or pay for that new furniture that would make the future home really shine. This substantial savings is a very compelling reason to go the FSBO route. Still will a FSBO scare away drive by traffic as potential buyers fear that a botched purchase in the hands of an amateur could be a costly mistake? Sure that's one of the biggest pit falls. That's not the only problem though. Real estate is a very complex business involving aspects of law that don't normally occur to most people until either buying or selling a home.
Lots of things can go wrong. Sellers who don't have good deeds and don't even realize the fact can top the list of potential pitfalls. Without a proper title search and title insurance issued by a reputable company the whole concept of saving money goes up in smoke. Legal fees will be the tip of the costly iceberg when this occurs. That's why flat fee MLS listings and discount real estate brokers are a great compromise to all of these conflicting issues.
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) catalogues are ubiquitous in the modern real estate industry. Even with internet exposure most people still want to look at these bound copies of home and land descriptions. Services that offer to help with the listing process by providing easy to understand guidance and include a listing in these MLS catalogues can offer a flat fee listing which is substantially cheaper yet really quite adequate. With this approach a licensed real estate brokerage does become involved in most cases. They still can make their commission from the sale and hopefully that will catch any errors that the home owner made in the listing process if any exists.
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