How a Traditional Listing
Works
Normally, you interview a
few Realtors and decide which one you are going to hire to
list your home. Many of them will try to sell you on all of
the bells and whistles included in their program. This may
include newspaper ads, open houses, etc. Most agents feel they
need to tell you what they will do differently than the
competition in order to get your listing when in reality it is
the MLS that is the BIGGEST factor!!!
For the agent's marketing expertise(?) and hand-holding you
will pay a commission on average of 6% of the sales price of
your home. Let's put that in perspective: For a $300,000 house
at 6% commission you will pay $18,000 to sell your home.
Reality Time
- The listing brokerage places your listing in the Multiple
Listing Service (MLS). The MLS is a database of all of the
houses for sale in a certain geographic area. In the
Dallas/Fort Worth
metro area covering Dallas and Tarrant County, Realtors use
NTREIS (North Texas Real Estate Information Systems). This
database of homes for sale is ONLY accessible by licensed
Realtors.
So back to the facts
- Your listing broker places your listing on the MLS and waits
for another agent (working with a buyer) to find it. The
buyer's agent will set up a showing for their buyer. If this
particular buyer places an offer and the sellers accept the
offer, the total commission is split between the Listing Agent
and the Selling Agent (the agent representing the buyer).
Normally the commission split is 50/50.
What exactly did that listing
broker do for their half of the commission? Most likely
they took the time to place the listing in the MLS database,
put one of their company FOR SALE signs in your yard and
coordinated the showing appointments. Maybe they helped you
read through the offer (Purchase Contract), negotiate the
price to be paid; and maybe a couple other odds and ends. Are
these things you can do on your own? Certainly. This is true
with the exception of placing the home on the MLS database.
The only people who have capability of listing homes on the
MLS are licensed Realtors®.
Now, the Truth of the Matter
With our program, as the listing brokerage, we replace our
half of the sales commission with a
FLAT FEE payable up front.
You set the price you would like to offer for your home and
state the commission percentage you will offer to a Buyer's
Agent (normally 3% of the sales price). This commission is
payable ONLY if a licensed real estate agent brings the buyer
and you accept their offer. Why do we emphasize the word ONLY?
We stress this because with most traditional Realtors® you are
locked into a contract for a specified duration of time. If
the house is sold during the length of the contract, you will
pay the full commission. This holds true no matter how the
house is sold or to whom it is sold. For example: If a buyer
(not working with a Realtor® ) knocks on your door and says
they will buy your house, you will still pay the full
commission stated in your contract.
One of the reasons our customers love our plan so much is
because when you list through ListSmartTexas.com you always
retain your right to sell as a FSBO (For Sale By Owner) and
pay NO commission. That's right! You always have the option to
sell it yourself and pay zero commission.
Will you be sacrificing great customer service or receive a
below-par MLS Listing? NO! Our listings look just like the
competition's (sometimes better!) Your listings will be accurate and
up-to-date because you can make changes any time and as
often as you wish.
ListSmartTexas.com
currently offers FLAT FEE listing services in the following
counties: COLLIN, COOKE, DALLAS, DENTON, ELLIS, ERATH, FANNIN, GRAYSON,
HENDERSON, HILL, HOOD, HUNT, JOHNSON, KAUFMAN, MCLENNAN, NAVARRO,
PALO PINTO, PARKER, ROCKWALL, SMITH, SOMERVELL, TARRANT, VAN ZANDT,
WISE AND WOOD.
Have property to sell in
the state of Texas that is not in one of the areas listed?
Click
here to email us. |
