Hello everyone.

I've been browsing for the last while and am currently selling my home via a flat fee MLS company. I have had it on the market for a couple of weeks now, and I don't really have much room to move the price (already at the break even point). So I figured instead of simply moving the price a couple thousand, I'd pick up activity by getting agents interested by offering a 4% buyers commission.

The question I have is: How can I get this in front of the agents at the local offices? I will be changing it on the MLS form, but I want to get it in front of everyone and get activity picking up. Any ideas and input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Taylor:

We don't know what city you're located in so it's hard to say exactly how the MLS in YOUR particular area handles agent notifications and or listing changes.

Many MLS systems notify of price changes, not commission changes. You may want to change the price by $100 or so. This will make the listing show up under price changes.

I know that on my MLS the front page has a daily summary with a link to details for each category. Examples:

New Listings 57
Under Contract 9
Sold 4
Price Changes 22
Expired 18
Withdrawn 0
Deleted 0

We can click on the links to view the properties & details. I personally look at them every day.

The Flat Fee service company that you paid, should be willing to help you figure this out. Out of curiosity, how much did you pay for their service & what service(s) do they offer for the flat fee?

Good luck to you!

Hello,

Thank you for the reply and advise.

I'm in Bellingham, WA. I went with MLS4owners.com. There are cheaper options out there, but I really liked their responsiveness and they've been helpful thus far. I will certainly talk with them about ideas as well.

Any cheap or cost effective ideas would be great. I'm of course going to notify all agents who have come to see the house, and I'm thinking of emailing offices/agents individually to let them know of the chance at the 4%

Thanks again!

Broadcast fax. Draw up a fax sheet, and gather fax numbers of the local offices, put ATTN: Buyer's Agents 4% Co-op! Put the Area or Development. You can probably do this in one easy broadcast fax once you gather the fax numbers of the office you want to send it to. Keep this list for the next time you want to do the same thing

Oh, you could also keep alot of copies of the above mentioned fax sheet and drop it all the mailboxes in the RE offices. When you are out and about, drop some off at each RE office you drive by. Good luck!

Thanks guys for your help.

I got the listing changed on the MLS and sent out an email to a large number of agents letting them know of the 4% opportunity. Hopefully this will pick things up!

If anyone else has any ideas on how to further get this in front of agents, I'm all ears and greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again!

Offering 4% is a decent sales decision; it may get a few agents to take a look.

But I'm going to be honest with you man, You are going to mostly just get Realtors calling to list you.

I am personally always willing to show a client a FSBO, but it's such a pain in the butt, if you think about it, it doubles my work from negotiations through to closing.
When I have a qualified buyer, I first look through my listings, then the office listings, then the MLS listings, Then the MLS limited service listings (your type), then regular old FSBO signs. From easiest transaction to hardest transaction. I try not to even look at brokerage fee as long as it's there.

And at least in my market, there are so many properties in the first 3 categories I can narrow down 5-10 homes that match my buyers criteria, and there is no need for me to go any further.

I hope it generates some traffic for you, all it takes is finding one good buyer!

Well the company is a local broker, so the listing is suppose to sit in the MLS just as if it was from another office, at least is my understanding and how it was told from the company I purchased it from. We wont be getting any calls about listing our house as it is stated that it is listed by another broker/company. From my understanding that's against the rules

"From my understanding that's against the rules "
You are correct!

OW! Australian real estate agencies only get 2.7%

Total? To be split 4 ways?

Taylor, is the 4% commission an increase from what you were offering before? If so, have you considered lowering the price by what you're willing to pay extra for in commission? If the break-even point is the same, the lower price may help your home sell faster.

why not have a professional list your house. you are offering a 4% co-op, why not have an agent list your home for a percent or 2 more and let them absorb the expense and time involved with selling a home? it just seems like a whole lot of work to try and sell the house yourself and offer a 4% co-op.


there is no set commission rate, so you can ask different agents what they charge. remember the agent who charges the least is not always the best agent out there, and neither is the agent who charges the most. it is in your best interest to interview a few agents and hire the one that best suits your needs and has a proven track record.

good luck, and send me a pm if you have any questions that you would like answered on the phone.

That was my thought exactly. There are plenty of agents that will accept a 5% listing.

Best to your sale.

I was'nt going to post until I saw agentpeter & estatereal and

I totally agree with both of them.

I'm in the mind set that a Local Top Producer sells more homes for a reason. Probably because they sell homes for more money, in less time & with less hassle than the average agent.

Especially one that needs to cut their fees in order to get a listing.

Taylor - MLS does not sell a home. A bonus or increased commission doesn't eithier. Most realtors look out for the best interest of their client. Trying to shove a property down the throat of a buyer will quickly lose a sale for an agent. Experienced agents know that. Hire a real agent explain your situation. I have taken at note (loan) for part of my commission before if the client is strapped for cash.

I agree. I don't think the 4 percent to the buyers agent helps that much. I would say having a flat fee agent could hurt you. They rarely return phone calls. And personally if I have a client in town for a day or two if the agent isnt answering my questions Im not going to go to the trouble of showing the house.

Is the list price of the house priced accordingly to similiar properties in the neighborhood? If it is overpriced it is not going to sell regardless of what buyers agent commission you offer. I will let you in on a secret just because you have your house priced at your break even point does not make it worth that amount.
If you are currently offering 3% lower your asking price instead of increasing the agent commission. MLS will not sell you home if it is over priced for the area and current market conditions.

Flat fee companies that take an upfront fee tell you what they want to hear to get the money,once they have the money alot of them do nothing.You could take the flyers around yourself and hand them out to the offices about your 4% which may or may not help.

The bigger downside is even with the 4 percent offered to the buyers agent you have a big drawback.The flat fee company is the listing agent.In my experience getting ahold of these people is slim to none(I am not saying there aren't good ones out there but in general this is what happens).

What usually occurs is the flat fee company is too busy trying to get more listings to make there flat fee upfront and then selling buyers off of calls they got originally off of YOUR HOUSE.The buyers agent knows if they can't get the listing agent to put in an offer they will have to do paperwork for there buyer as well as the seller and most agents would move on to the next property(they don't won't the hassle of it plus it forces the buyers agent into a possible dual agency which isn't right)


I disagree with the fact that the higher co-op doesn't matter and most agents/brokers will show what is best for there clients.

In my neck of the woods here are the stats.We have one of the highest churn rates for new agents in almost any industry.Out of all the new liscensees liscensed every year about 86 percent are gone by the end of the year.Most of the experieinced agents are listers,there are a few full time buyers agents but most of the long timers are listers.When agents first get there liscense getting listings is really hard because the homeowners don't like that they don't have experience or a proven track record.


That leaves a ton of new agents every year working with BUYERS.Most are starving for a paycheck and will do anything to make a buck.If there are 10 houses to show in a subdivision and they can only show 4,don't tell me they don't look at the higher co-op in advertising or the mls because that is baloney.

Most agents make about according to Nar about 16k to 21k a year right above the poverty level.We can pull stats that says the average realtor makes 40k blah,blah,blah but that is when the average the people making hundreds of thousands a year.Take those out and you have a real number that's not skewed.


I tend to stay away from offering bonuses in my listings.Brokers/agents like guarantees instead of conditions that come with bonuses,this is why I like the higher co-op because they know if they work hard and bring the buyers they will make more money guaranteed.

The home must be price according to the market first, then offer a higher commision to the agents.

Chances are your current Realtor just listed your home, took your money and really does care whether it sells or not. In my area, flat fee MLS listings expire all the time. Sellers waste so much time and money thinking they are saving thousands of dollars when in reality they losing tens of thousands. Penny wise, pound foolish - if you ask me.

Yea I think so