If you are selling your home, make your for sale by owner listing with a flat-fee Multiple Listing Service to cut commission costs and at the same time assure yourself of a sale at the right price.
You just pay a small one-time fee for your FSBO listing and the fixed-fee MLS company will market your property through the major MLS systems in the country, including the web portals of major real estate brokers.
Just make sure you are dealing with a fixed-fee MLS provider that has a wide network in the real estate industry and is affiliated with the major real estate brokerage firms in the country or in your state.
In many cities, there are web sites specializing in selling FSBO homes and offering flat-fee MLS in their own areas, so look for those focused in your area. In Madison, Wisconsin, for instance, the most well-known is FSBO Madison, largely because it pioneered the use of the Internet to sell FSBO homes without help from realtors and Multiple Listing Services.
In addition to FSBO web sites that focus on certain areas, there are also a lot of FSBO sites that operate nationwide. FSBO.com, which is widely mentioned in various news items, offers for sale by owner listing services to property owners at a flat fee of $299 for MLS listing in certain markets.
Since there are now a lot of providers of fixed-fee MLS, research first and then compare the services they offer. Typically, the basic flat fee covers MLS listing and listing in the provider’s web sites with videos and photos for six months. Additional services such as extra photos, showcase advertising, virtual tours and yard signs entail additional fees, but are still low-cost when compared to total commission fees in conventional real property sales.
There are also now providers of fixed-fee MLS services that have developed proprietary software so sellers of homes, like you, can easily use their services to market their homes. You no longer have to download PDF forms, fill them out and then send them through fax. Now, you can provide all needed details online so your property information can be added more quickly to the MLS data system.
Lastly, one advantage of using a fixed-fee MLS provider for your for sale by owner listing is the ability to make your price competitive so you can sell your house more quickly. Because your costly commission fees are eliminated, you can reduce your asking price and attract more purchase offers.