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Real estate insiders tap flat-fee MLS
Updated: September 21, 2012 1:41PM
Spring has sprung, and the real estate market is picking up. That’s why I thought it’d be a good time to let you know about a smart and affordable option for people wanting to sell their home on their own. It’s called a Flat Fee MLS Listing Service.
Realtor cousins Scott and Mike Berg, of Berg Properties in Oak Park, explained how it works.
For $359, you get a whole bunch of services, including being listed on the Realtor database base — also known as the MLS.
You pay no listing side commission, just the $359, (although the Bergs strongly suggest that you offer a 2.5 percent buyer’s agent commission to entice agents into helping you find a buyer) and you get the same marketing exposure that you would through a full service agent.
You also get exposure on major real estate Web sites such as Realtor.com (with 25 pictures), Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Trulia, Zillow, and many others.
Additionally, you get a free sign, negotiation help, all the forms/contracts you’ll need, and free open house posting and pricing help.
“Quite a lot of value for the money,” said Berg.
The Bergs started offering the service because they felt there was an unmet market need for it, and that they could do better than any of the companies offering the same thing. The benefit of going that route as opposed to hiring a realtor is saving 2.5 to 5 percent commission (thousands of dollars), and the ability to retain control over the selling process, Berg said.
There are really not too many drawbacks to the deal, except that the seller is responsible for all showings and coordination of showings.
Clients take on more
responsibility as far as monitoring the competition, making appropriate pricing decisions and tracking the process once a contract has been agreed to.
“We are not holding our clients’ hands throughout the process,” said Berg.
However, they do use technology and the information available so that you benefit with the latest techniques and strategies needed to sell your home, said Berg.
“We support our clients via the phone, email, fax and internet and give great value,” he said.
Anyone with a home to sell can participate in the flat rate deal.
“Our target market is ‘for sale by owners’ and industry insiders like builders, developers, flippers, attorneys, appraisers, former real estate brokers, and commercial real estate brokers,” Berg said.
