How to Get Enough Savings in Selling Your Home

Nearly every home sold today is found online . On the internet, through IDX feeds, everyone is able to view the same MLS listings that Realtors have access too. Most of the time now, it’s the buyers who tell their agents what homes they want to tour . Because the internet is so essential for home selling, the #1 thing to do to sell your home is have it show up on the MLS.

Until recently, the only way to list your house on the MLS was to hire a real estate brokerage to list your home. You have to pay the listing brokerage the selling fee regardless of  who actually finds the buyer . But now, you can get all the marketing available by selling your home as a MLS listing, for a lot less money.

A flat fee MLS service will allow you to sell by owner , if you can find a buyer yourself, and have the complete MLS exposure. Most of the people who will look at your home are already represented by a buyers agent. With flat fee MLS listings, you still need to offer a selling commission if a buyers agent represents the person buying your house. By not paying the listing side of the real estate commission, you will save about 3% of the gross sales price. A lot of the time buyers approach for sale by owner sellers first, even when they found your home on an IDX feed Realtor website. Most buyers don’t enjoy contacting Realtor’s either, until they absolutely need them. They often do drive by’s of the homes they see online, before they ever call a Realtor. When this happens, your total real estate savings will be closer to 6%, as you will have no real estate commission to pay.This is thousands of dollars in potential savings. This is a pretty hefty savings for most sellers.

While flat fee MLS listings can be a great way to save money when selling a house, they can also be more dangerous. Companies that sell flat free MLS listings generally don’t offer much service, advice, or help. Flat fee brokers are only recommend for use by people who understand the real estate transaction and contracts.