Author Topic: Need help on how to pick a flat fee MLS listing service  (Read 2822 times)

tmoneyearlyretiree

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Need help on how to pick a flat fee MLS listing service
« on: July 11, 2016, 11:12:36 AM »
I'm helping my mom and grandmother sell her home by owner. My dad's a retired real estate agent but doesn't understand how to use the internet. I did a little research and spoke to some friends in the industry, who suggested we use a flat fee MLS service and pay a 2.5% commission to the buyer's agent if they happen to have one. My mom's happy since we'd at least save on the listing agent fee.

The problem is when you put a home on Zillow, you literally get swamped with all these different flat fee MLS listing agent companies calling you. I've had at least four try and sign me up and I just try to ignore them. Obviously you would want to choose based on the reviews online and not what some phone rep tells you.

We're in Florida, I've heard that getmoreoffers.com is a decent one. They are a little more pricy than others at $199 for 30 days and $299 for 6 months, but they have a good BBB rating and don't have any trap language in the contract. Other places want to charge you a $750 early termination fee if you don't use one of their full service agents if you change your mind on the listing. I like that we could cancel with them without any problem.

So question is, who out there has used a flat fee MLS service, and how would you pick one? Did you bypass it completely and just list it on Craigslist and Zillow? Have you found value in using MLS to get buyers agents to show the home? Would love some mustachian feedback on how to deal with the frustratingly inefficient dinosaur industry of real estate.

Mother Fussbudget

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Re: Need help on how to pick a flat fee MLS listing service
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2016, 11:53:04 AM »
It doesn't matter which service you pick IF you're planning to do most of the work yourself - setting up Open Houses, evaluating offers, etc. 
It's important you GET THAT LISTING IN THE MLS - don't rely on CraigsList for a home sale, too many people search via the MLS. 
AND it's VITAL you have a Listing STRATEGY.

In the Seattle area, the number of homes for sale is low, and demand is high, so setting up your listing for a potential bidding war is the main strategy sellers use.  Example:  With initial listing, post a fixed number of open houses - a weekday 'agents' open on whatever day the agents use in your area (Thurs?), and 1 or 2 open houses on the following weekend.  In your listing, and at the open, specify you won't review ANY offers until 5pm Tuesday AFTER the weekend open-house.  Meet over coffee on Tuesday, and look at the offers.

And stage it yourself - very sparsely.  Remove all except key furniture.  Have 1-or-2 outfits on hangers in the closets.  Toast some bread - amazing what a difference having the smell of cooked toast makes.  Or bake cookies, and put them on plates for buyers to munch.

tmoneyearlyretiree

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Re: Need help on how to pick a flat fee MLS listing service
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2016, 03:11:22 PM »
Those are great suggestions. Thank you so much for the feedback can definitely bake some cookies. How long does it take to announce an open house online and get people to actually show up?

JoJo

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Re: Need help on how to pick a flat fee MLS listing service
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2016, 03:43:01 PM »
another open house tip - you might want to get someone to be the host instead of you.  A couple friends sold their house and they got their super cute, friendly daughter to host it.  That plus a fair price and it sold in a week.