Listing in MLS for flat fee - Posted by IB (NJ)

Posted by IB (NJ) on February 05, 2001 at 12:51:22:

No we only use selling agents on rare occassions. In this case, a buyer’s agent would be used. That is, if the buyer comes with an agent. Some of our buyers do not.

Listing in MLS for flat fee - Posted by IB (NJ)

Posted by IB (NJ) on January 31, 2001 at 17:55:35:

Econobroker allows you to do this for $495 flat. But they are incredibly unprofessional. I’ve spent the last 3 days emailing, phoning, and faxing them trying to get a response to a couple of questions I have. All I’ve gotten is a reply email asking where is my investment property located. And that’s it.

My question. Any other companies out that there offer the same service?

Let’s make a deal … - Posted by Redline

Posted by Redline on February 01, 2001 at 23:16:48:

For $350 I’ll list your property in NJ.

I’ll give you a sign.
I wont return your calls and otherwise just igore
you.

You save $145.

You also get what you pay for.

RL

PS - Who’s going to SHOW this property once it’s in the MLS? Me the listing agent? Not for $350! Truth is, realtors don’t work for free and they SURE as heck don’t show properties with a “$0” in the commission field.

Re: Listing in MLS for flat fee - Posted by dewCO

Posted by dewCO on February 01, 2001 at 20:58:32:

You might not need to find another company. Just check with agents to see if they will list it for you on the MLS as a nonexclusive listing.

Get what you pay for… - Posted by Carmen_FL

Posted by Carmen_FL on February 01, 2001 at 16:36:55:

As a broker, I am thinking of heading towards offering this service in my area. I don’t know how others do it, but it seems to me that you get what you pay for.

For the flat fee listing, there will be no agent promoting your property, putting ads out, holding open houses, etc. But you do get exposure to the other agents out there. So it’s a trade off. Also, you still have to pay the Selling agent’s commission (so it ends up, in my area, being 3.5% + $495). I also thought of just offering “1/2 price listings” - and keeping 1%. Sounds better, and is more truthful, but that’s just my opinion.

I can pay an assistant $200 per case at the closing table to take care of all the paperwork for me. Contrary to popular opinion, there is a LOT of work that both listing and selling agents do between listing a house and closing - many deals would fall through completely if not for the handholding and babysitting that takes place on BOTH sides (and the calls and calls and calls to the mortgage broker, title companies, insurance agents, inspectors, etc. that the buyer never seems to do on time or correctly). That’s why I pay someone to do that part of the work for me - way too time consuming, and $200 is peanuts, IMHO. Granted, the buyer’s agent gets to do the brunt of that anyway.

Re: Listing in MLS for flat fee - Posted by Bob in Atlanta

Posted by Bob in Atlanta on February 01, 2001 at 10:10:38:

I’m using Homebytes.com for my listing - $499 for 6 mos. They are great to work with but I have not gotten one call in over 2 months of using them. I probably won’t use a discount broker again. Great idea but bad results (for me at least).

Re: Listing in MLS for flat fee - Posted by Rob FL

Posted by Rob FL on February 01, 2001 at 07:44:26:

I’m sure there are plenty of people that have caught on to this idea. I’ve been doing this in Orlando ever since they allowed us to legally have a “no brokerage relationship” with consumers.

Pay Attention to your activity - Posted by Ron (MD)

Posted by Ron (MD) on January 31, 2001 at 19:36:50:

I have listed a few properties with one of these flat rate brokers and, although their service has been fine, the traffic has been low. To be honest, I can’t be sure if the problem was the broker or my property’s location.

I can say, however, that many agents will steer buyers away from properties listed through flat rate brokers. They have two reasons (the first valid, the second, not).

They don’t like being undercut by a broker willing to list for less. (I don’t blame them for resenting it.)

Also, they claim that when they have to deal with the seller directly (which is how the flat rate brokers work here), the selling agent “has to do all the work of the selling agent and the listing agent.” Well, this doesn’t hold much water because once the seller accepts a contract, the listing agent has almost nothing to do (besides check up on the selling agent).

I think it’s worthwhile to give the flat fee broker a chance, but make sure you can terminate your listing without much notice in case your house isn’t getting the traffic you think it should.

Ron Guy

Re: I’ve had good results - Posted by Stacy (AZ)

Posted by Stacy (AZ) on January 31, 2001 at 18:27:28:

Econobroker has always been top-notch with me. I sent an email complaint, once, and within an hour one of the higher-ups called me and fixed the problem. Sorry you’re not having a good experience. Maybe call them and ask to speak to a supervisor, or email a complaint.

Also, there are local Realtors that do about the same thing. Maybe you could check your area.

Stacy

Re: Listing in MLS for flat fee - Posted by NAte

Posted by NAte on January 31, 2001 at 18:06:31:

well, where is your property located? I am in the Washington DC area and there are three or four companies here that do this. But I infer from your name that you are somewhere in NJ, so that information does not help you much.

Most larger cities seem to have a couple of these “MLS but nothing else” shops these days. I don’t know where you are in NJ so I don’t know what else to tell you…

Re: Let’s make a deal … - Posted by IB (NJ)

Posted by IB (NJ) on February 02, 2001 at 09:36:23:

RL:

I wouldn’t expect an agent to do any ‘work’ under this agreement. We already show our own properties. But thanks for offering your service.

Re: Get what you pay for… - Posted by MindyM

Posted by MindyM on February 01, 2001 at 22:14:27:

Do you mean that the flat fee covers only the
listing part?

And then you have to pay another 3% to the
selling/buying agent?

This is just a marketing tool for agents.

Re: Let’s make a deal … - Posted by Redline

Posted by Redline on February 02, 2001 at 16:29:06:

Ahh, so you just do this to get into the MLS and then offer a % to the selling agent I presume?

RL

Re: Get what you pay for… - Posted by Nate

Posted by Nate on February 02, 2001 at 09:51:17:

Absolutely. The reason to get your listing in the MLS at all is to make other agents aware of it. However, if you are not willing to pay other agents anything if they find you a buyer, they will not show your house, and there is no point to having it in the MLS anyway! No one likes to work for free. If you really do not want to pay any sales commissions at all, you will have to do a FSBO, without any selling broker cooperation, and do all the work yourself. That’s the tradeoff…

NT