Flat Fee MLS Listing Service is a service product that real estate brokers and your local realtors provide to home sellers that are looking to sell their homes but not looking to shed out too much of their home equity simply to sell their home. In order to utilize the service as a homeowner, you must be willing to remove the responsibilities of selling your home in the hands of the listing agent and place it upon yourself while utilizing the tools that a listing agent would use in order to sell your home.
Marketing Your Listing
The tools that you would be provided when utilizing a flat fee mls listing service is the ability to list your home in the Realtor network that listing agents would begin with to list your home. When you list your home on the MLS a.k.a. Multiple Listing Service, you are allowing your home listing to be found by all the top agents who have homebuyers who looking and ready to buy a home in your area in which your home is located and being able to attract the attention you would need to sell your home FAST!
Proerty Listing Showing Tours & Appointments
Simply listing your home on the market and getting the attention needed to sell your home isn’t the only process in the home selling process. Listing agents would coordinate showings between their buyers and between other buyer agents who are also looking to find the perfect buyer for your home. Usually in a service like the flat fee mls listing service, the listing agent hired to list your home would be able to delegate this responsibilty to you, the home seller, by forwarding all requests to be managed by the home seller utilizing this service.
Contract Negotiations
The next thing that you’d also be removing from the listing agent’s hands would be contract negotiation. As in all markets, the real estate market changes during all economic times. Being able to list your home at an accurate price tends to allow you to sell your home much quicker. Hiring a listing agent can aid and inform you with up to date information on what’s been happening in the real estate market and how the real estate market trends are currently performing. These individuals work day-in and day-out the market so if you’d ever need expert advice, a professional real estate opinion, you’d bet that your licensed real estate broker or realtor would be able to inform you to accurately list your home at the right price.
Hiring a professional real estate agent also entails negotiations on seller’s behalf while you are under contract with a buyer. During the Escrow process, buyers are usually provided with time to inspect the home and as an agent on the buyer’s side, a buyer’s agent will negotiate on behalf of their client and try to push a seller to get the most favorable terms on their clients’ behalf. Not having a listing agent represent you on this accord can be a daunting task to know what should be brought attention to and what’s not needed to save thousands on your transaction. If you can handle the negotiation aspects of a real estate transaction, listing your home for a flat fee would be a more favorable option to you in this regard.
Coordinating Title and Escrow
The last stage in the real estate transaction is being able to coordinate with the title company, escrow company and deposits, attorneys involved, settlement agents and more while being under contract. Your real estate listing agent would be able to hold your hands in this process. The title company’s responsibilities is to ensure that all parties involved in the transaction process sign valid closing documents. Once they transaction is closed, the title agent usually is the one who would record all documents and present them to county’s recorder’s office. Along with that, the title agent or settlement agent, will also coordinate with the mortgage broker and/or mortgage lender to prepare docs for closing along with the homeowner’s association for your home, if your home entails. Any communication between these professionals would be handled by your listing agent.
All in all, the flat fee MLS service can save you thousands of dollars by avoid paying a commission to a listing agent but cost you quite some time throughout the real estate transaction to handle the tasks and responsibilities that a listing agent would provide. While not having to fork up a commission to a listing agent when utilizing a flat fee MLS product, you will however, be responsible to pay a commission to a buyers agent which in a greater perspective, lowers your commission dues in half when utilziing this service.