HOW DO I LIST MY HOUSE IN MLS WITHOUT HIRING A REALTOR.

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June 03 2009 - Gainesville
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Answers (37)

Profile picture for Harry Callahan
The best way in So Cal is [website removed by Zillow moderator]
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March 15
Profile picture for forsalebyownernj
Bijan,

You may list on MLS and Realtor.com for a flat fee of $395 and retain the right to sell by owner. You may cancel anytime. It is the best of both worlds. [promotion and hotlink removed by Zillow moderator]I hope was able to answer your question.


Yris Arpino

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March 14
Profile picture for ChristinaKang
I don't know of any state in which you can post your home for sale in the MLS without a real estate agent. There are, however, limited service brokers you can contact who will take the listing for a reduced fee and then put the home in MLS for you. Some people think this is a form of selling "for sale by owner", however it is actually a limited services brokerage arrangement. Generally they charge a flat fee for the listing to go into MLS, and then you would need to tell them what percentage you are willing to pay the buyer's agent for showing your home to potential buyers.
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February 15
Profile picture for Mike James22
[website removed by Zillow moderator] They will get you listed on the MLS.
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February 15
As far as I can tell, you have to be a member of a Board of Realtors, to place listings in an MLS and members allowed to post listings are Realtors that work for real estate firms.
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January 20
Profile picture for BessyEnea

I dont know what state you are in, buy in New Jersey, you have to have a realtor in order for your home to go into the MLS

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January 20
Profile picture for Tug of War
Since it is the DOJ making the claims...providing the info I suggest you take it up with them.

I just posted links to THEIR Info
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January 20
Rebates Make Buying a Home Less Expensive  
@ Tug of War,

Only on the surface. In reality in the long run any rebates - to buyers or sellers - increase home prices.

As a matter of fact, ten states have enacted laws that forbid brokers from offering refunds, denying consumers the benefits of the PRICE COMPETITION and driving prices HIGHER than they would be in a more competitive market. 

Those states are: 
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/rebates-details.html 
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January 20
Profile picture for Tug of War
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January 20
Profile picture for Roy Kohn
I see this is an old post (2009) but it's still a good question in 2012. 
I completely understand someone who wants to get more money out of their home. When I've sold personally owned homes in the past, I've felt the same way.
There are businesses that will charge a flat fee to enter your home as a listing in the MLS. One would of course, be wasting their time by not offering a commission to the buyer agent who brings the buyer. I would look to see what other listed homes in my neighborhood were offering to a buyer agent and add maybe 1/4% or 1/2% to that amount since you'll be expecting that real estate agent to not only do one side of the transaction and represent their client but also to do a good portion of your side. If you choose not to offer a buyer agent a commission, you would simply not put your home in the MLS. You would instead, stick with Craigslist and similar websites for promotion. I'm also in the Northern Virginia area and the failure rate for FSBO's (for sale by owners) is in the high 90%'s (I think). You'll increase your chances if you have neighboring homes for sale with regular buyers going through them, hoping that their agreements with their agents expire and then they'll call you. It's ironic but I think you'll find that if a buyer doesn't have a buyer's agent (which is very rare) the only reason they're shopping FSBO's is to knock off of the price, that same portion you're hoping to keep for yourself. Both views are completely understandable, everyone wants to win a lottery.
If you choose to pay a flat fee to put your home in the MLS and you offer a buyer's agent a fair fee for bringing you a qualified buyer, just make sure you are pricing your home correctly. The MLS is a permanent record. From the day you list it everyone will know how many days you've been trying to sell and when or if you've dropped your price.
The home will only sell if it's:
Correctly priced for the homes condition and location and...
Your listing agent (or you) are aggressively marketing the home every day in dozens of places in addition to the MLS so that people know it exists.
Going back to my third sentence, the last time I sold a personally owned home early in 2010, I offered buyer agents 3% plus a bonus that increased incrementally every week. I listed it at the beginning of a huge snow storm and sold it in 5 weeks. The fee I paid to the buyer agent was the best money I ever spent. Of course, I had the best listing agent in the business!
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January 20
Profile picture for Cesar Falcon
There are several ways to list your home on the MLS without using a Realtor, however, loads of the websites out there that give you an idea of the value of your home are not up-to-date 80% of the time, you may be cheating yourself out potential gains.  Another issue to consider is the fact that showing your home could be not only a waste of you time in some cases, and in others it could be dangerous.  As a Realtor, I make sure that the person viewing your house its not only thoroughly checked out, but I also make sure that they are able to purchase your house.  The value of your house it is researched in real time and not from a few months ago, also, whe financing is involved, I communicate continuously with lenders and buyers agent to make sure that the process goes through as painlessly as possible, I understand terminology in the contracts that may tie up your home for months by a buyers that are just speculating, I keep records of every person that will view your property, we hold all files for 5 years in the event that they may be needed in any legal dispute, etc...  Sellers should hire a licensed professional help them with the sell of a house, just read the news and you'll be able to tell how many fraudulent deals are at our court houses today, it is a huge transaction and you should use an entety that has the means to protect you legally and with tax consecuences, it would be like jumping into a pool without checking if there is any water in it first.  Really, what is a 6% commision if you can increase your gains by 10% and be legally protected, not have to screen potential buyers, record keeping, etc..
I hope that this was helpful, respectfully yours, Cesar Falcon, Realtor, Miami, FL 
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January 20
Profile picture for Couch one
I [website removed] sold my house. You dont need a "area specialist" unless you have a ranch in montana. Exposure and price is what sells. Today once you get in the MLS, hundreds of website like Zillow, Realtor.com etc. Take all that infomation and puts it on there site.

Location, Condition, Price. The thought that a Super agent is going to get you more money than your house would appraise for is a nice Thought.

Can change the Location, Maybe the condition, but you can change the price and that is what sells.
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January 20
A local response, for future sellers.

You can't, not exactly.

You can hire a limited service company who's agents place listings in the MLS for a flat fee. Homes listed in our MLS have to be placed there by licensed agents.

You tend to "get what you pay for" with these types of services. If you're savvy they can be all you need. If you're not, well...

When you change your mind, can't sell, or decide to work with a different firm, just remember that the MLS will keep a permanent record of each time a home is listed in the MLS which includes data about your price, the firm, photos, descriptions, and other information. This hurts your negotating position on a 2nd or 3rd attempt.
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January 20
Profile picture for Brad Kilger
I can't believe the amount of people who brought this thread back from the dead. Jun '09 -> July '10 -> Nov '10 -> Sept '11 -> Today.

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October 29 2011
Profile picture for ElistonMLS
You can go Pure FSBO at [website deleted by Zillow moderator]

If you want to ofer commissions to Buyers Agents go to:

[website deleted by Zillow moderator.  Please see our Good Neighbor Policy for posting guidelines]


1 out of 3 Sellers today are selling their home By Owner!
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October 29 2011
Profile picture for sunnyview
Pay a flat fee MLS company. They will charge you a fee to list it on the MLS and then offer you a piece meal menu of services from open houses to contract services if you want them. Or you can handle everything outside the MLS yourself as a FSBO if you want. It's up to you.
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September 24 2011
You will need to find a brokerage that allows a flat fee listing or do an open listing....
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September 24 2011
Profile picture for Harry Callahan
Yes, If you live in Southern California there is a great company called
[website removed by Zillow moderator] I sold my House there. I saved thousands.

Regards,

Harry
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September 17 2011
Profile picture for Yager Realty
We offer a Flat Fee MLS Listing and also are PRO FSBO! We distribute our Sellers property on over hundreds sites and have a very strong reputation of getting our sellers property sold fast!  So not all, Flat Fee Listings list and forget! We believe in marketing your home with 22 points of marketing just through our [website deleted by Zillow moderator] and if a seller wants to list for $500 on the MLS good until sold we will gladly assist them in doing so. There are two target markets and they are traditional Home Buyers and Home Buyers of the 21st century. 90% of buyers start on their search on the Internet. Marketing is huge and there are more ways than one to market your home.
Just make sure if you do list with a Flat Fee that you research the company and talk with them directly.
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December 03 2010
Profile picture for Flat Fee MLS
In a buyers market, the way buyers find a home doesn't change-it is overwhelmingly through the MLS.  Even in a slow market, Flat Fee MLS Listings are a viable option, but make sure you get an established, reputable flat fee broker who assists you in attracting showings. There aren't many buyers out there who are going to buy a home just because their agent pushes them towards it.

When choosing a flat fee listing service, make sure you:
1. Call them--Calling the broker is an excellent way to see how responsive and helpful they are.  If you always go to voicemail, that speaks loudly to their responsiveness,
2. Check their background-the Better Business Bureau website is an excellent place to check (put the company name in at http:// bbb.org/), and
3. Make sure they guarantee in writing that you will be listed in the Realtors Multiple Listing Service, Inc. used by all the agents in your area, make them name the MLS, and google it to make sure it is connected to Realtor Associations in your area.
4. Check online review websites for negative reviews or compliments from satisfied customers. Put the company name into http://www.google.com/local  Any established flat fee company that has satisfied customers should have at least a handful of positive reviews.
5. Ask the company to confirm, in writing, that they will not take your order and then bid out your listing to a different company.  There are some well known companies that send your business to the lowest bidding broker and keep the difference in what you paid them and a much smaller fee they pay the broker.  You get an unknown broker who is being paid an unusually low fee—not a good situation to expect high quality service or a broker looking to charge you more fees to break even on the listing cost.

Doing a web search will reveal many rock bottom flat fee websites that promise to list, but not in an agent friendly way that will enable you to sell.  Avoid the lowest price flat fee brokers, there are some very questionable flat fee websites out there, and if you research them you will find out why.  My website has links to reputable brokers in 48 states as well. Good luck with your home sale.
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December 03 2010
Profile picture for efenter
Bijan1, I have tried this and it sounds great on paper.  In a sellers market it proabably works beautifully.  From a seller to a seller, may I please recomend finding an agent.  I thought getting my house on the MLS would be the magic bullet I needed to get my house sold.  It only got me one more showing than I got when I was selling by owner.  In this market, you'll save lots of time, energy, and money by biting the bullet and getting an agent.  I spent tons of money on marketing, printing, and other fees that were completely useless.  I also tried using one of those discount brokers who'd sell my house for free if I used him as my buying agent. 

I am an extremely motivated seller and tried it all myself for months.  Please, feel free to get a flat fee listing, but I HIGHLY recomend just hiring an agent that will market your home like crazy.  Especially this time of year.

Good luck and please update us on your sucess!
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December 03 2010
It depends what state you are in...but 1st you need to call the MLS that is in your state and area to ask them if they offer an open system they will then give you fees...good luck
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November 28 2010
Profile picture for bgioffre
I would use a [link removed by moderator]
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November 26 2010
Profile picture for L Strasberg
There are some agencies that offer a flat fee to list but they're designed to get the buyers from your listing and have them purchase a home that pays a fee to sell it.
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July 08 2010
Find a broker that participates and pay them.

Saurabh
[link removed by moderator]
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July 08 2010
PMSoldier wrote: "Vivianne stance, if I understand what she posted, is that only a local REA could post a house on the MLS which is not true.  A flat rate MLS company located somewhere that has access to your state's MLS can put a house on it."

PMSoldier,

I did NOT state anywhere in my posts that flat rate MLS companies cannot enter a listing in MLS - please, re-read my posts.

Limited service, flat fee companies are real estate brokerages.
As long as they have an active license and pay the quarterly dues, they are a member of the MLS and can post listings there.


 
 

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July 07 2010
Profile picture for agioffre
I would try looking for a [link removed by moderator]

You can find these realtors by looking for them in your state.  You can try google or craigslist.  All of these realtors are able to help you sell your home by owner.
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July 07 2010
Profile picture for CubsfaninWA
jkonstant,

A REA that does not try and push everyone to use him and is honest!  You better be careful next thing you know and they will take away  your "Vulture" status and people will start to think that REA's can be trusted!  I like you the way you put that.  Good Luck to you! 
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June 04 2009
Profile picture for jkonstant
Let me set the record straight. Full service brokerages hire many, many incompetent realtors who then make many, many mistakes when entering information into their respective MLS. A limited service brokerage or flat fee brokerage is no more likely to make an error than anybody else, just as they are just as likely to correct an error when it is discovered. If you are going to sell your house it is your responsibility to ensure the information is correct. Don't blame somebody else when 2 months later you discover a mistake. Review your listing immediately and take corrective action.

A good MLS presence with proper pricing is really the most important thing any realtor can do to get people inside the house. Yes, there are other thngs too, but they lag far behind.

Disclaimer: I am not a flat fee/limited service realtor, nor do these services threaten or intimidate me. In fact, for many sellers, they are an excellent alternative to the traditional brokerage model.
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June 04 2009
Profile picture for CubsfaninWA
Rockin,

Did not know that, thank you for the education!

Vivianne stance, if I understand what she posted, is that only a local REA could post a house on the MLS which is not true.  A flat rate MLS company located somewhere that has access to your state's MLS can put a house on it.

It was my impression from what Bijan1 posted is that he did not want to deal with a REA and the commision that goes along with the services that a REA provides.  He just wants to be able to post his house on the MLS.  A flat-rate MLS company would do that, and now I know that a REA is more than likely connected to the MLS company. 
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June 04 2009

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Profile picture for Harry Callahan
QuestionHOW DO I LIST MY HOUSE IN MLS WITHOUT HIRING A REALTOR.
  • Latest answer by Harry Callahan
  • March 15
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