Flat Fee MLS Saves You Thousands in Real Estate Commissions
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by: sarawilliams
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Until recently, real estate commission was calculated strictly as a percentage of the sale price of a home. A real estate agent earned commission at a typical rate of five to six percent of that sale price; some would argue that that is too much for too little work. It is not difficult to agree with that argument, especially in situations where the transaction goes smoothly from beginning to end and requires very little legwork on the part of the agent.
However, homeowners now have an alternative. You have the ability to eliminate real estate commission, at least from the sale side of the transaction, by using the Flat Fee Multiple Listing Service when selling your home. By paying a one time flat fee, you will have your home listed on hundreds of Multiple Listing Service websites around the country, gaining maximum exposure for your sale. What you may not realize is that many real estate agents will limit the number of website listings for their clients in order to increase their chances of earning the sale commission. When you use the Flat Fee Multiple Listing Service, you have access to the same marketing tools that real estate agents use without having to pay the real estate commission. You will have to pay real estate commission to a buyers broker if the purchasers use an agent to find your home, but that is still a fraction of the real estate commission for which you would have been responsible by hiring an agent of your own.
The Flat Fee Multiple Listing Service allows you to hang your own For Sale By Owner sign, which has the potential of attracting even more buyer traffic to your door, since prospective purchasers will be dealing directly with you and not through your broker. Attracting a buyer in this manner saves you even more in real estate commission in that there will be no buyers broker commission to pay, either. You can potentially save yourself thousands of dollars. Of course, you will also run the risk of alienating some brokers who may be reluctant to bring buyers to you for that very reason, but using the flat fee system to avoid real estate commission is well worth it.
Selling your home through the Flat Fee Multiple Listing Service does not mean that your transaction will be 100 percent broker free, however. Only a licensed broker who belongs to the Multiple Listing Service can list a home through the service. When using Flat Fee, a licensed broker is assigned to monitor your listing and act as your point of contact. That broker will be ultimately responsible for maintaining the accuracy of your listing and for keeping it current.
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