Flat Fee MLS Listing

Flat Fee MLS is a service provided by select real estate brokers that allows homeowners to list their property in the MLS (”Multiple Listing Service”) for a fixed fee. It is essentially a variation of discount real estate brokerage, where the service has been reduced to the bare minimum of entering a home into the MLS database.

The reason that this known as “Flat Fee” MLS is that Real Estate services in the United States are typically offered on a commission basis. Traditionally, the commission would be between 2-3% for a listing agent and 2-3% for a buyers agent*. However, under the Flate Fee MLS scenario, there would be a fee in the range of $199 - $499 paid to the “listing agent” who enters your home into the MLS, and then the same 2-3% would typically be offered to the buyer’s agent*.

The primary benefit of a Flat Fee MLS listing is that the homeowner can potentially save thousands of dollars. Of course, the risk is that the homeowner is now taking responsibility for representing themselves in both the legal and marketing portions of the transaction which a traditional agent would help with. Since some homeowners still want additional assistance, most of the brokers that offer Flat Fee MLS services also offer additional services for a separate fee.

* Local market conditions may vary substantially from these rates.