MLS Listing
The cost of flat fee MLS listings in many urban markets has dropped to a few hundred dollars, and now you may even be able to get an mls listing for free! One of the leading discount brokers for real estate buyers, BuysideRealty, has changed its name and begun offering mls listings in 20 states today with 17 more coming soon.
The question that I would ask, is can a service, effectively compete with a paid service that is perceived to be free, especially when it involves the incredible risk of being the one of the largest financial transactions of your life?
May 31st, 2007 at 10:17 pm
The question I would ask is what the broker’s angle is. There must be an unstated benefit to them. Are they taking the buyer calls? Are they looking for mortgages? Flat fee brokers either generate revenue in volume off the fees. A “free” service must come with some string attached or they wouldn’t do it.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:12 pm
That’s a great point. My guess would be that they plan to make money by generating buyer leads for their ‘Buyside’ agents and try do a greater volume of deals with their 75% commission rebate offer.
July 4th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
I am a broker participating in the flat fee mls market. I am interested in joining your network if possible. I do offer free MLS access for a limited time – I just started it as an experiment. The way I do it is give sellers free mls for one month and if they don’t get a minimum of 4 calls from buyers, they pay no more. If they get 4 calls or more, they agree to extend thier listing for $275 –until sold. That’s still a pretty low rate and includes the enhanced realtor.com ad, sign, forms and more. I also offer a 3 month $175 option. I also offer to beat any competitors flat fee mls price by 15%. http://www.standardres.com. Is there any way we can do business?