Q.
REALTOR® MLS is the primary
database used by Realtors® to market
and sell property. The Multiple Listing
Service (MLS) is an exclusive
database of all of the properties listed
for sale in the metropolitan or regional
area of coverage. This database is generally
owned and used exclusively by REALTORS® and
provides them with information about all
of the available homes for sale.
REALTORS® use this
system to cooperate on the sale of each other's listed
properties and share in the compensation for selling
the homes. Before now, most real estate brokerage firms
required home sellers to enter into lengthy exclusive
listing agreements with a hefty commission payable in
any event of sale or transfer in order for their home
to be placed in the MLS system.
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Q.
A.
The MLS is statistically, by far,
the best way to sell your home. The MLS accounts
for over 75%-85% of home sales nationwide and is the most effective form of adverising
available (about
10 times more effective than newspaper
advertising, open house, or any other method
of traditional marketing) . In
fact, a listing in the MLS will
probably sell your home even if you don't practice any other form of marketing! Click here for a chart of how buyers find homes.
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A. Realtor.com has now become the number one most visited real estate site in the world. A listing on Realtor.com virtually assures you the widest exposure possible for your property with access to millions of consumers all over the country.
Robert Bruss, nationally syndicated real estate columnist wrote: "According to a survey by the National Association of Realtors, more than 70
percent of prospective buyers begin their quest on the Internet, usually at
www.REALTOR.com. Unless your home is listed for sale with a member of the local
MLS (multiple listing service) with access to this site, you will be cutting
yourself off from 70 percent of prospective buyers."
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Q.
A.
It's not likely. Realtors® have lots
of homes to show their buyers that are
listed in the MLS. The advantage
of MLS listings for Realtors® is
that they are guaranteed to be paid if
they sell the home. With For Sale By Owner
(FSBO) homes, the buyer could decide to
negotiate directly with the seller and
cut the Realtor® out. With
Bloomkey, you are not regarded by Realtors® as
a For Sale By Owner, but simply as another
listing for them to sell. Of course, with Bloomkey you
may still sell your home without a Realtor® and
pay no commission.
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A. A recent Realty ViewPoint® survey of
hundreds homeowners across the country
showed that FSBOs make more money on their
home sales than sellers who use real estate
agents AND sell their homes three weeks
sooner! Nearly 50% of homeowners try to
sell their home on their own at one time
or another, however According to studies
by the National Association of Realtors
(NAR), only 14-16% of For Sale By Owners (FSBOs)
actually end up selling. The rest end up
listing with an agent or taking their home
off the market.
So what is stopping
everyone from selling on their own? (1) EXPOSURE and (2) "KNOW HOW" .
EXPOSURE: Without access
to the MLS, FSBO s are at a distinct disadvantage.
With just one home to sell, it's simply impossible to afford
to effectively advertise and expose your lone product to
enough of the public to create a sale for the highest possible
price. Realtors®, by contrast, have 1,000's of homes
to sell. The vast majority of buyers use REALTORs® to
help them find a home because they know Realtors® know
where all the homes for sale are and the buyers agent's
fee is generally paid by the seller. So if you want the
greatest exposure for your home to these homebuyers, advertising
through the Realtors® MLS is, by far, the best
place.
KNOW HOW: Most home sellers
think that the process is just too complicated and worry
that they'll make costly mistakes or omissions if they
try to sell without an agent. Now
there's Bloomkey. By providing home sellers
with an alternative to paying high commission rates, Bloomkey
provides an affordable way of giving you the professional
support you need to safely and successfully sell your home
on your own. With Bloomkey, you are in control of the entire
process. You select the plan you want and you get as much
or as little assistance from a licensed real estate professional
as you need, all for a low fixed fee.
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Q.
ALSO, with Bloomkey you also have the option to list only on the top websites without an MLS listings. Our FSBO-Realtor.com package places your property on the leading real estate websites and portals without your having to pay any commission when your property sells.
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CLICK HERE
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Q.
CLICK HERE .
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Q.
No. If there is no buyer agent or broker involved,
you don't pay any commissions with Bloomkey.
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Q.
Other real estate companies fall into one
of the following categories:
Traditional brokers usually charging
6% or more to sell your home in MLS.
You pay the same commission whether they sell
it or you sell
it your
self, whether it takes 1 day or 1 year to sell
the home, whether they spend $1.00 or $1,000
in marketing.
Compared
to these traditional brokers, with Bloomkey you'll save about
$2,500 to $4,000 for every one hundred thousand
dollars
of your homes sale price. Now that's a plan that makes sense! Local Discount brokers who
simply charge a little less than the traditional
companies fees, but still a large chunk of your home
equity when
you consider that you wil end up paying at least
4.5% to 6.5% of your home's value. (These are typically
the
lower producing agents who "have to" discount
their fee in order to obtain business and who,
invariably, give you a lesser degree of service).
Some of these
lower producing agents may even offer you flat
fee MLS listing
- but because this isn't their main business,
they don't offer the support, tools or Internet
exposure and presence
you get
with Bloomkey.National Franchise Discount Brokers Because they have to pay a cadre of agents and fixed overhead for offices, transaction and other
franchise fees themselves to their franchise owner,
they are unable to offer the same costs savings you
realize
with Bloomkey. These firms
entice you to list with fixed fees for certain
tools such as MLS listing and, in some cases, charge almost as much as
traditional firms for broker support. Some even charge high
fixed fees for real estate broker assistance without
giving you the marketing exposure of an MLS or REALTOR.com listing! Internet based referral website operators are
NOT licensed to sell real estate in your state.
Most of these "fly by night" websites are
operating "under the radar" of law enforcement by offering
to sell real estate in states in which they are not
licensed. For a fee similar to that charged by Bloomkey
and other legally operating flat
fee brokers, they'll "refer" you
to an real estate agent in your area to list
your property
in the MLS. These are basically online "referral
fee" generation machines. Be aware that
they are not the actual real estate brokerage
firm who will be
listing your home and you have no recourse against
these companies since they aren't
the ones who will actually do the work you are
paying them for and they aren't licensed or regulated
by
your state's real estate commission to do business
in your
state. If the referral company goes under, or
fails to pay the local broker for your MLS listing,
you could loose your listing and your money!Other Flat Fee MLS Listing Companies Bloomkey was created by the founders of the first national online flat fee listing company in the country. Unlike other companies or brokers who may offer to list homes for a flat fee on a part time basis or as an addition to their other real estate sales duties, this is all we do. Other flat fee MLS listing brokers just don't have the experience nor do they offer the full-time commitment to ensuring that each of clients has a successful sale that Bloomkey provides. And because we provide flat fee MLS listing services as our primary business focus, we are able to provide a level of service that is second to none.
CLICK HERE for Testimonials
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Additionally, fixed fee for service real
estate has become a recognized alternative in the industry
and is preferred to "For Sale By Owners" (FSBOs)
where there's no guarantee of compensation for the Realtor®.
More importantly, it is against the REALTOR® Code of
Ethics and Federal Anti-Trust laws for real estate brokers
to conspire to avoid a particular firms listings based
on the fee charged. In fact, with the advent of "buyer
agency", agents would be in violation of Agency Laws
and risk of loosing their license to sell real estate to
not show their buyers all of the available properties that
meet their criteria, regardless of which firm lists the
properties in the MLS.
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Q.
Realtor.com or
your local MLSs corresponding
website to view a condensed version
of your MLS listing. Unless
you are a licensed Realtor® and
a member of the MLS you cannot
access the MLS to see your
listing. This is an exclusive proprietary
system reserved for the use of member
Realtors® only.
Upon request, we can fax or mail
you one copy of your home's listing
as it appears in the MLS in Adobe PDF format.
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Q.
MLS has a separate agreement with Realtor.com. The time it takes for information and/or photos to reach Realtor.com may vary between localities. Although it usually takes 2-3 days, please allow at least 7 days after receipt of your MLS listing confirmation for your listing to appear on Realtor.com and other national websites.
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Q.
No. It is not necessary to use a lockbox.
However, Realtors® may be reluctant
to show properties without lockboxes. Most
of the time, when showing property, Realtors® are
on a short time schedule. A lockbox makes
access to your home convenient for both
you and the Realtor®. We strongly urge
you to consider using a lockbox to make
showings easier for everyone and to increase
the number of showings of your home.
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Q.
Maybe. Many MLSs prohibit the use of a For Sale By Owner sign when a property is listed in MLS . Additionally, Realtors® may be confused or reluctant
to show properties with For Sale By Owner
signs. Since the purpose of listing in
the MLS is to encourage Realtors® to
show your home, using a professional
Realtor® yard sign will let Realtors® know
that your home is still listed. Otherwise
they may think that the listing has expired
and now they may not be compensated.
They will avoid showing your home in
those circumstances.
Many buyers are intimidated by For Sale By Owners and having to deal directly in negotiations. A Realtor® yard
sign will attract buyers who will
know that the house for sale has a definite
list price and that the owners are marketing the home professionally.
In most MLS areas, you may use "Call Owner At: 555-xxx-xxxx" (ie. your phone number) rider on the Bloomkey sign so that buyers may contact you directly. Also, with Bloomkey's Toll-Free Property Hotline, buyers can find out about your property and even transfer to your number directly simply by using your MLS number, Bloomkey Property ID or Street Name.
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Q.
*Subject to MLS area restrictions. Various MLSs have limited the metropolitan areas for which they will take photos and others have stopped taking photos altogether. In these area you will be required to provide a digital photo of your home for use on the MLS and Realtor.com
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Yes. Bloomkey offers 24 hour/7 day a week Toll-Free Property Hotline where buyers can hear recorded information about your property, obtain financing information and even transfer directly to your phone numberallows home buyers to find your property simply by entering or speaking your property's Street Name, Bloomkey Property ID# or MLS Number.
Or, if you need Professional Showing Scheduling Service , with live operators to set up your showings 7 days a week, visit our Online Real Estate Store .
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Q.
Yes. While you remain in charge of the
entire process, there are Bloomkey services offering professional assistance
and contract negotiation by our licensed
Realtors®. And with the Contract Assistance Program , we're available by phone, fax
or email as licensed real estate brokers
if you have any questions at any point
during the real estate process. Click Here to upgrade your RealtyThrift or Bloomkey Gold plan at any time to include Broker assistance with contracts. Professional
assistance at a price that makes sense.
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Q.
To upgrade your plan CLICK HERE to submit a Help Desk ticket - a representative will contact you regarding your upgrade options.
And, with Bloomkey's MONEY BACK GUARANTEE TRIAL , you
can always choose to use a traditional
broker at a later date and receive a partial refund of your Bloomkey Flat Fee at settlement
if you use an Bloomkey's referred full service brokers or allow us to refer
you to the broker of your choice. See our Money Back Guarantee
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Q.
Money Back Guarantee for details.
Why pay more if you don't have to? Give yourself the opportunity to experience the savings only FLAT FEE MLS listing with Bloomkey can provide. Thousands of home sellers already have and are glad they did!
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Click here to search for prices and packages in your area.
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click here .
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NOTE: Georgia property listings in the following counties (Barrow, Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Dawson, Dekalb, Douglas, Forsyth, Fulton, Gordon, Gwinnett, Hall, Lumpkin, Paulding, Pickens, Walton ) are subject to an FMLS (First Multiple Listing Service) sales fee of .12% (.0012 times the sales price) of the Property which is due at settlement and goes to First MLS of Georgia.. FMLS also charges a $25.00 cancellation fee for early termination of a MLS listing in Georgia.
North Carolina property owners are required by state law to have an accurate measurement of the square footage of their property in order to list with a real estate broker. An appraisal performed within the past two years will suffice for this requirement. Otherwise, sellers will be required to have a professional broker or appraiser measure the property prior to listing. Fees for this service vary by vendor. Please call 1-800-974-6657 for details.
Other restrictions may apply in your area, click here for details.
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Q.
Member's Only area of our site. There you may download the included forms as often as you
need. In areas outside of Bloomkey's coverage area, you may obtain forms from your assigned local affiliate broker.
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Bloomkey Home Selling Plan of your choice
2) Make Secure Online Payment and 3) Complete
and sign the MLS Listing Agreement
and Property Information Worksheet.
Once we receive your payment and information
along with the signed MLS listing agreement for
your state, your home's listing information will go into
the REALTOR® MLS system within 2 business days
(or later date of your choice). You will be contacted by
a representative with Bloomkey to assist you in getting
started. Your Bloomkey HomeSeller Plan kit with complete
instructions on how to get started will arrive within 3-7
business days.
*These FAQ's are offered for illustration purposes only. For details call Bloomkey at 1-800-974-6657 or visit our Online Help Desk .
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