The Benefits of Flat Rate MLS Listings

Home sellers today have multiple options for listing their homes, and in today’s economy, many choose to go the ‘For Sale By Owner’ route, more commonly coined ‘FSBO’. While employing the FSBO sales method can be profitable, there are also limitations that one does not face when hiring a real estate broker.

One such limitation for FSBO sellers is the inability to use the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) directly. The MLS replaces an earlier system where each real estate company had its own “in-house inventory.” With the MLS, real estate agencies publish their inventories in a central database for the geographic area, which is open to the public for viewing. Sellers employed “selling agents” to list their property on the MLS for a commission on the sales price, often between four and seven percent, paid to the listing agent at closing.

Increasingly, more brokers are offering flat fee MLS listings to FSBOs and anyone else interested in the service. With a flat fee MLS listing, a broker provides the service of placing property information on the MLS system for a low one-time fee.

This service has a positive effect for all parties, buyers, sellers and real estate agents. From a buyer’s point of view, the MLS provides an easier way to view a variety of properties. Buyers also know that since FSBO sellers operate without an agent, there will be one less cut from the sale price. From the sellers side, it is important to use the MLS in the sale of your real estate and the MLS flat rate listing service is the most affordable method of selling real estate. For the broker, while the MLS flat fee listing service reduces the revenue stream under the sales agent method of yesteryear, the broker is paid immediately at the time of service. It is a win-win method.

The idea of ​​flat rate MLS listings is also part of a larger movement in which access to information on the Web is reshaping conventional business methods. Traditional systems that operated with a more closed information pattern are giving way to more flexible purchasing strategies for large investments such as cars and homes.

Flat rate MLS listings are one of the most affordable and efficient methods for sellers to obtain information about their real estate on the market and in public view. They are a low fixed cost alternative to high buying and selling agent commission fees.