Selling your home in this booming real estate market? Then you have to keep certain things in mind before doing it. One of them is that presentation is very important while you tag it under ‘homes for sale’ category. Your home must look good for then only it attracts the attention of the buyer easily. If a buyer comes to see your house after getting to know about it through flat fee MLS listing, then you must show him/her a home that is clean.
Some of the ways to dress up your home before selling it are as follows:
- Wash your house thoroughly.
- You can spray room freshener so that your home gives a good smell.
- All the rubbish should be removed from the rooms and tables.
- Repair all the electrical appliances, roofs, walls, septic, and plumbing.
- For additional beauty, you can also decorate your house with plants and flowers.
- Paint the walls if required in case it has faded.
Follow these few steps; you are sure to get the best result while selling your home. It simply doubles the chance of selling your home and that too much quickly. Try it to see it!
By Manager
|
Posted in Flat Fee MLS, Real Estate, flat fee, home for sale, real estate agent, sell a home
|
Tagged Flat Fee MLS, For Sale By Owner, home buyers rebate, home owner rebates, Homes For Sale, house for sale, Real Estate, sell your home
|
When you’re going to be selling a home, listing with a real estate agent is often the first thing that sellers consider. However, there can be some issues that sellers find when they are working with a real estate agent – issues that should lead you to hesitate a bit:
(source)One of the biggest problems that I have always had with Real Estate agents (outside of their high commission fees) is that they have a different mandate then the typical homeowner. A real estate agents mandate is to sell “a” home and get paid their commission. The homeowners mandate is to sell their home. How often do you think a prospective buyer calls in to set up a showing for a specific property (your property) and the agent says – “sure, we’ll set up an appointment – but while were out looking at that property let’s look at these “others” that I think you may be interested in.”
When you sell with a real estate agent, it’s hard to know whether or not he or she will be there focusing on selling your home – especially when there are other properties that they represent as well. Still, real estate agents will list your home in the multiple listing service – which gives selling with them an advantage over selling FSBO.
Of course, flat fee MLS let’s you list your home in the multiple listing service without selling with a real estate agent; flat fee MLS is the best of both worlds.
If you’re hesitating, unsure of whether or not to sell your home on your own or with a real estate agent – if you’re reluctant to pay a real estate agent’s commission – you owe it to yourself to look into flat fee MLS and all that it offers.
Do it your way is the American way
For decades, the real estate world turned in a predictable manner. The roles of buyers, sellers and real estate professionals were fairly well defined and transactions followed a predictable path of yard signs, newspaper ads, open houses and miles of paperwork.
Recently, online and empowered consumers have changed the game. Real estate professionals now face issues similar to the ones that have transformed the retail, personal finance and travel planning industries. As technology advances and new business models evolve, the real estate industry has begun to transform itself from providing traditional, carefully controlled agent-centric transactions to new consumer-centric practices.
One could, as many real estate agents do, lament the losses in the real estate industry. At IHS Realty, we celebrate them.
Our philosophy is that more choice and more control for consumers is a good thing. After all, it’s your life, you deserve to pursue happiness in your own fashion. You also deserve the right to life and liberty. That’s why we stand beside your right to own your own home, purchase the home of your dreams or sell your home yourself without the "assistance" of a realtor. You get the make the choices and do what is right for you. It’s the American way.
See Also
You need a broker to get listed, but it doesn’t have to be a full-time broker
FFMLS – This term refers to Flat Fee Multiple Listing Service. Many people that consider selling their home with an agent worry that they will not be able to list their property in the multiple listing service for the area. In the past, the “MLS” was a list controlled solely by agents and realtors. These days, there are ways to access it without using a real estate agent. You can pay a Flat Fee for your listing, thus the name.
This isn’t entirely true. You still need a broker to get your house listed on the MLS. Home owners can’t just walk up to a window and list on the multiple listing service. You’ve got to gain access. That access is a licensed broker.
However, thanks to flat fee services like IHS Realty, you can get listed on the MLS for much lower than it would cost you to use a full-service real estate broker. We will list your house for you and step out of the picture so that you can handle the rest of the show yourself. We will "stand by," of course, in case you need other services, but you need not contact us against for anything – unless you need or want something.
As a flat fee, or limited service, broker, we offer other services as well. You get to pick and choose what services you need and when you need them. Otherwise, we’re off of your back.
See Also
- Real Estate Store
Check out our selection of real estate services, which you can purchase a la carte as you need them.
Even if you link them from YouTube
Yesterday, we ran a short blog post regarding a woman who sold her house on YouTube. Well, actually, it wasn’t her house. It was her client’s house. She was a real estate agent.
Our suggestion was for you to list your house on IHS Realty and run your video on YouTube, linking it to your IHS profile. That’s a good strategy. You can even add a virtual tour onto your IHS Realty listing for just $149.
In today’s marketplace, you’ve got to stand out. So stand out in a big way. Really, stand out in a big, big way.
See Also
Some real estate agents and state real estate commissions don’t like companies like IHS Realty
There’s no doubt that new technology often changes the norms in an industry. The Internet has certainly challenged traditional thinking in real estate circles. In fact, some FSBO sellers and flat fee MLS advocates have been accused of wrongdoing just for trying to sell on their own, or providing the resources for others to do so. Don’t be intimidated by real estate agents and state real estate commission representatives who try to keep you in the dark. You have every right to sell your house in whatever way you please, but you will do yourself a favor by educating yourself on standards and norms within the real estate industry.
We hope you’ll take the time to learn more about flat fee MLS services. IHS Realty wants you to be successful in selling your home, and we want to save you money while doing so.
See Also
Alternatives to the traditional real estate commissions
At a recent convention Steve Levitt, the author of "Freakonomics," shared some interesting facts and views about the real estate industry. He has been criticized by the National Association of Realtors and many agents for his prediction for the future of the real estate industry. His findings include:
- Due to low entry barriers for new real estate agents the median income has not increased over the last 10 years even though prices are up almost 70 percent in some places.
- Real estate agents tend to sell their own homes for about 3 percent more than the selling price of their clients’ homes.
- Real estate agents tend to leave their own homes on the market about 10 percent longer than their clients’.
He also shared a story criticizing the ethical motivations of real estate agents citing a personal experience. He contacted the listing agent of a home he was interested in order to determine a minimum offer that would be considered by the seller. The agent then explained the seller would be willing to accept offers significantly lower than the asking price so she could pocket an extra $20,000 to 30,000 in commissions costing her clients over $50,000. Sound fair? This problem certainly would not be encountered using a flat fee MLS service, where you – the seller – are in control of the transaction. Cost effective alternatives like flat fee MLS provide a viable option for home sellers and for sale by owners to market their homes. In fact Levitt explains he thinks flat fee MLS and limited service brokers will provide the knockout punch to the traditional model.
See Also
Agents withhold listings from public websites
Search engines are growing in popularity as the initial stage in the home research process producing the same search results for small upstart companies as large established ones. Given this fact, real estate agents are becoming more protective of where their listings appear, which begs the question who benefits from this action? Do the home sellers listed with these agents know their listing information is being withheld from public websites, robbing their home of its potential market exposure? Not wanting other agents or companies to profit from a listing is not a good enough reason to exclude listing information from websites other than your own. This fact has been masked behind the facade of concern for the customer and their privacy. It seems like common sense indicates the more people that know the home is for sale the better chance there is of it selling. So isn’t it a duty of an agent to provide the maximum marketing exposure possible for all listings in order to benefit the client in selling their home? Moreover, agents are also now trying to regulate the type of listings that can appear on public websites in an effort to limit the effect flat fee MLS companies and discounters have on market share. As flat fee MLS and discount brokerages grow in popularity it will be interesting to see the changes in the industry.
Real Estate Industry
In recent years, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has been under a lot of pressure from the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding competition in the real estate industry. The report entitled: "Structure, Conduct, and Performance of the Real Estate Industry" fires back that residential real estate "closely resembles a perfectly competitive industry structure."
The report states that there are 2.5 million licensed real estate agents in the U.S. actively competing with each other for a piece of the real estate pie. Most agents work as independent contractors. Accordingly, "any collusion to set commission rates at the agent level is impossible." Any attempt by one firm or agent to artificially set rates at a higher level would automatically be met by resistance in the marketplace as other agents would simply undercut the competition in the clash for more business.
The report fails to address why commission rates seem to be consistently uniform throughout the country. And, what seems to allude the NAR is the entrenched anti-competitive behavior that exists from traditional brokerages towards newer discount and flat rate business models. Traditional brokerages offering bundled services for commissions ranging in the 5-6% range, almost without exception, form the leadership of NAR, state level Realtor Associations and local real estate commissions that control the rules and regulations affecting the industry. More importantly, these forces most often control the Multiple Listing Services (MLS) that provide the backbone of the residential industry.
Several key issues have been brought to the public’s attention over recent years by the efforts of the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission as well as Congressional Representatives Michael Oxley and Barney Frank. One, that the MLS is the "de facto" market for real estate within any given community. Two, rules that have been established by NAR and/or local REALTOR associations form a pattern of discrimination against discount and limited service companies. Three, that left to their own devices, there is little incentive for NAR leadership to discourage anti-competitive behavior among traditional agents against their discount and limited service competitors.
While the most recent NAR report makes salient points regarding the overall competitiveness of the real estate industry, it fails to address the concerns of those who would offer innovative business approaches to an industry steeped in inefficiency. There seems to be no attempt by NAR to discover if, in fact, discrimination is taking place against newer business models and whether or not such discrimination is anti-competitive or anti-consumer. With "ostrich with its head in the sand’ aplomb, the party line is that no problems exist within the real estate industry and no outside (read DOJ) pressure is needed.
See Also
Real Estate Agents using the MLS assisted over 75% of home buyers nationwide
According to the newest study of home buyer habits by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), over 75% of home buyers now find their home through real estate agents using the Multiple Listing Service. The study entitled Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers also indicated that 78% were buying a home that was previously owned.
What exactly does this mean for the average home seller? The results of this study indicate that unless your home was listed in the MLS, you would have missed out on over three quarters of the market. One could only surmise that reducing demand for your home by 75% ultimately results in a lower sales price and a longer time on market.
Why do agents tend to primarily, if not exclusively, use the MLS listing service to search for homes for sale when preparing to show homes to their buyer clients? The number one reason is that they know they will be compensated for their efforts. Each home listed in the MLS has a field indicating the amount of compensation to be paid to a buyer’s agent who sells the property. For sale by owner’s (FSBO), by contrast, have no written promise to pay the agent for their work.
Secondly, it’s just easier. The MLS represents a database of homes currently for sale. Agents know that homes published as active in the MLS are for sale and available for showings. Most MLS listed properties are provided with a key lockbox which makes showing the home more convenient for an agent with several homes to show on a tight schedule.
The NAR data indicates that the MLS is, in fact, THE market for home sales nationwide.
See Also
