Let Reeve Help You Weigh Your Options. One of the biggest surprises facing traditional home buyers and sellers when they reach the contract closing portion of their sale is the realization that they have to pay their agents hefty commission fees.
At least, that’s how it used to be. With the introduction of flat fee MLS listings, platforms like Reeve are changing the real estate landscape by providing a much more affordable alternative. But what is a flat fee MLS listing? What’s the difference between using a flat fee MLS listing service vs a traditional real estate agent? Before we discuss the pros and cons of flat fee MLS listings, let’s discuss.
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What is a Flat Fee MLS Listing?
The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is an extremely important online resource that real estate agents use to post new listings, as well as search for properties for their clients. Without a listing on MLS, a large portion of buyers and agents may not ever even see your home is up for sale.
A flat fee MLS listing does exactly that – it allows you to post your listings on your local Multiple Listing Service (MLS); something that requires an agent to access.
When you’re selling your home yourself as a ‘For Sale by Owner’ listing, you can’t make new listings on the MLS on your own. Only agents can utilize it. Because of this, you’ll need an MLS listing service like Reeve in order to access this important platform.
The Difference Between Using Flat Fee MLS Listings vs an Agent
The biggest difference between using a flat fee MLS listing service rather than a traditional real estate agent is the cost.
With a traditional agent’s representation, when the sale is closed and a final amount is agreed upon for the price, the agent receives a percentage of the final sale price as their commission. In many cases, this can be a huge additional cost.
For example, if an agent has a commission percentage of 6% on a home that closes for $500,000, they’ll be entitled to a commission of $30,000. That’s not a small cost. In fact, these commissions often make up a large portion of the closing costs.
Conversely with a flat fee MLS listing, there is a single cost charged for the listing services, but it doesn’t fluctuate based on the price that the home sells for. This flat fee is also almost always much cheaper than what a commission percentage would be.
Even with Reeve’s extensive premium services (where an agent manages your listing from beginning to closing), the flat fee is only $3,000. In the example we just used, that’s only 10% of the commission rate! Plus, Reeve’s prices won’t fluctuate; even if your home is worth a lot more than $500,000.
The Pros of Flat Fee MLS Listings
You Maintain Control
For home sellers that want to remain in control of their sale, flat fee MLS listings are a great way to take the wheel and captain the sale yourself. All inquiries on your listing will be sent directly to you, so you can see exactly who’s interested.
You can always ask for guidance from Reeve as needed. So, even while you’re steering the ship, you’ll never have to worry about missing important details along the way. We help make sure everything is done properly.
It’s Substantially Cheaper
Remember how we mentioned the cost savings? Well, we really need to talk about it again, because the difference in fees from a traditional agent to flat fee MLS listings are enormous.
Unless you really want to pay for an agent’s next 5-star vacation while you’re trying to sell your home, there are definitely better ways to use those savings for yourself.
The Cons of Flat Fee MLS Listings
Less Guidance
Certain flat fee MLS listing services will allow you to post your home on the MLS – but that’s where their assistance ends. For a seller that’s never been through a home sale before, this can become a daunting task to manage alone.
Thankfully, although you can manage your listing on your own with Reeve’s standard plan, you can access virtually all the benefits of a traditional agent through our premium services. We’ll talk you through the whole process – from start to finish.
Technological Barriers
This is an issue that becomes less relevant with each passing year, but it’s still important to note. There are some people (especially in the older generations) that may not be very comfortable using the technology necessary to set up and navigate flat fee MLS listings.
However, with Reeve’s premium package, these less than tech savvy individuals can still take advantage of all the savings of a flat fee MLS listing, without having to manage a lot of the technological elements themselves.
Are You Ready to List Fast, Sell Faster & Save Thousands?
In less than 5 minutes, you can create your own flat fee MLS listing on Reeve. This way, not only will your home be visible on the MLS, but it will be published on Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, Trulia, and more than 750 other major platforms.
Best of all, Reeve will route all inquiries about your listing directly to you. Then you show your home to interested buyers and manage offers with buyers and their agents. No agent means NO commission!
List your home now, and we guarantee you’ll save thousands.
