I’m often asked if there is really any difference between flat fee companies and whether there’s anything to compare, other than price, when selecting a flat fee MLS provider. The answer, of course, depends on the owner/seller’s motivation. If you just want to list or advertise your property for sale in the MLS, then cost really is your only concern. However, if you want to actually sell your home, then here are some other factors to consider:
- How long has the company been in business?
The market does a pretty good of weeding out bad eggs. If a flat-fee MLS broker has been in business for a number of years, there’s at least some reason to believe that other sellers have found them to be trustworthy and capable of doing what they say they’ll do. Especially if they’ve survived a couple of down markets and the recent real estate recession, the company has established a business that’s robust enough to succeed regardless of market conditions. Since the real estate market downturn, lots of agents have taken to flat-fee MLS listing just to be able to stay in the business. So new flat-fee MLS listing companies are poping up everyday. However, if the company just started last month and they can’t give you the names or addresses of lots of other properties they’ve actually SOLD, they probably won’t be able to provide the level of service and support you need. Their track record for successfully assisting by owner sellers hasn’t really been established. - What kind of support do they provide?
A good flat-fee company should provide several methods of support. While most online companies want to communicate through email, this may not be the method that works best for you. Top online flat-fee MLS listing providers, like Bloomkey.com, offer telephone support, an Online Help Desk, Online Chat and dynamic FAQ’s so that you can get the support you need when you need it. - What other websites will your property appear on and what strategic partnerships have they established? A good flat-fee company should be able to have your home or property listed on ALL of the leading real estate websites. Since over 80% of buyers now start their search for a home online, it pays to be listed everywhere buyers might be looking. While all flat-fee brokers list properties on Realtor.com and the Broker IDX by virtue of the MLS feed distribution, few have taken the time to establish relationships and proprietary RSS/XML feeds to the larger real estate portals like Trulia.com, Zillow.com, Yahoo Real Estate and GoogleBase, to name a few. Bloomkey has even created an automated posting system on Craigslist to provide your property with an HTML formatted advertisement on the world’s largest classified website.
- What other tools does the broker provide to help make sure that your property not only gets listed, but has a better than average chance of selling?
Any agent who has been in the business for any length of time (or owner who has sold a number of properties) will tell you that it takes more than a sign in the yard and an ad in the MLS to sell a home. If you take the average online flat-fee MLS company today, you’ll find that most of them offer little more than the opportunity to take your money online and stick your property’s data and photos into the MLS – never to be heard from again. They’re really more like online business cards with a cash register. Very few have gone to the expense and trouble of creating feature-filled back end web applications that give sellers access to online real estate selling tools and services to assist with the home selling process.
These are just a few of the questions owners should be asking when determining with whom to list their properties. Remember, anyone can list your home for sale, but that’s probably not where you want it to stop. A successful sale requires more than minimal effort – especially in today’s buyer’s market.
For more information on what top flat-fee MLS listing companies can provide in terms of service and benefits, visit Bloomkey.com
About the Author
Lawrence Bunnell is a partner at Bloomkey. In 1997, Mr. Bunnell co-founded the first national online real estate brokerage (and the first real estate company to ever become licensed in all 50 states). He has been responsible for creating several online flat fee real estate companies and is largely responsible for the advent of the Internet based flat-fee MLS listing segment of the real estate industry. Mr. Bunnell started his career in real estate in 1984. Prior to creating the online flat-fee MLS listing industry, Mr. Bunnell was one of the nation’s top selling real estate brokers at the RE/MAX, ERA, and Coldwell-Banker real estate franchises.
