Why are so many For Sale by Owner (FSBO) Homeowners choosing to also list in the MLS while still obtaining the option to sell on their own?
Why are so many For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Homeowners listing their properties with International Luxury? You will enjoy greater control over the sale of your property and more money in your pocket. In fact, profit is the number one reason most people in Florida choose the flat fee MLS listing. In today’s volatile real estate market, avoiding that 6% realtor’s commission represents literally thousands of dollars you can use to fund your child’s education, take a much-needed vacation, pay bills or put towards a new home.
But how can you be sure you are choosing the right company to assist you? This is a key decision, since you will be selling your home without the assistance of a realtor. It is important for the homeowner who has experience in selling their properties to retain control of the sale with a flat fee MLS listing, enjoy greater profits and get professional help when you need it.
Here are the features obtained with a quality flat fee listing:
No long term commitment
Homeowner may cancel at any time without paying a cancellation fee
Homeowner can re-list with any other realtor or company at anytime after canceling. Other flat fee companies will release the owner from the contract, but will block attempts to list the property in the MLS through another realtor, placing the property withdrawal status and forcing the owner to pay additional fees to relist with the original company
The homeowner controls the listing, the negotiation, the commission, and the option to purchase additional professional services a la carte as necessary
Not all flat fee listings or brokerages the same. Many of these companies have a main goal in mind to convert the flat fee listing to a full service commission. How do they accomplish this? In their listing contracts they do not clearly state that a homeowner can cancel a listing but when they decide to re-list with another company there may be a penalty. For example, when a real estate broker enters the status in the MLS as "W" for withdrawn another office cannot enter a new active listing till that initial broker changes the Withdrawn Status to Cancelled status. That is when the homeowner finds out there is a penalty to do so.
It is imperative for all homeowners to do their research and read the contracts carefully. There are a few real estate flat fee companies that specialize only in flat fee listings that are not seeking traditional or full service clients. That's the key!
Thinking about selling your home by yourself? Many today are successfully selling their homes via traditional realtor arrangements, or using the alternative, the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) method. Did you know there is a third option? The flat fee listing helps you control the sale and pocket substantial profits (sell BY OWNER and also be listed in the Multiple Listing Service - MLS).
A realtor’s job begins when he or she obtains the listing for your home. Listings equal future commissions, and commissions are the way realtors are paid for their services. Once the realtor has gained the listing, that listing is entered into the MLS, a computerized database of homes for sale, under contract and currently sold. The MLS then syndicates to outside websites allowing major exposure to potential buyers. Your home is instantly exposed to millions of potential buyers and realtors seeking properties similar to yours, instantly.
If you have chosen to sell on your own using the FOR SALE BY OWNER (FSBO) method, your home will not appear in the MLS. You are completely on your own, and may spend thousands of your own dollars trying to get advertising exposure for your home elsewhere.
Flat fee listing, on the other hand, exposes your home to millions of buyers via the MLS and the internet, and millions of agents who have qualified buyers seeking homes such as yours. According to the National Association of Realtors® 80% of all homebuyers used the Internet as an information source, and this percentage continuously grows. This is good, since the greater exposure, the sooner your home will sell at the price you are trying to obtain. If your home sells because a buyer contacts you directly and you sell the home to the buyer, there is no realtor commission involved. If the home sells because of an agent’s efforts, you pay a reduced commission of 3%-4%.
Flat fee listing, unlike the FSBO, offers the best of all worlds- control over the sale and the profits, assistance of the Multiple Listing Service and other advertising venues wherein either you or an agent may sell your home, and a great list of “a la carte” professional services to ensure a smooth transaction at closing.
But beware! Not all flat fee brokers are the same. Service charges vary, contracts vary and have more restrictions, so do your homework to choose the company that best serves your needs.
Enhance your message in advertising by easily creating videos about your services. With the power of the internet your target market
is researching their prospective services and products via the internet. This has transformed the old ways of transacting business from the one-on-one meetings
to hiring someone based on the quality of their "internet presence." So what better blending of the two business models than to introduce yourself and your
company directly through their prospect's computer screen.
Benefits of presenting your services/products through videos:
Your prospective client can make an immediate connection and you can project your professionalism, credibility and talents. Remember
that human nature creates many first impressions by sight.
Alleviate the prospect's skepticism of not knowing who they are really dealing with on-line
Capture both the savvy client's that do their research via the internet and at the same time offer those that are seeking
your product or service locally to have a preview through your video presentation.
Alleviate unnecessary appointments with prospects by offering them a "pre-appointment" that outlines your services to inform
the prospect of your specialty or niche (why meet with a prospective buyer that wants to preview waterfront homes on the East Side
if you do not cover that area?)
Impress prospective clients with a video presentation and you will see your volume of productivity increase.
Time management systems are enhanced allowing you the capability of "meeting" with a larger amount of prospects in one time period.
Cost effectiveness is enhanced - no need to pay administrative or other realtors in your team to take part in your transactions when you have the ability
require the necessary tools enhance your success in the industry.
The key for us in real estate.........
Ensure you have set the proper procedures, processes and regulations in place so all members of the company or your team can focus on their prouction via established automated processes and procedures.
As an owner of a Real Estate Corporation and previously, Manager for large rental developments I have experienced many start-up projects. I know how imperative it is to have your policies and procedures mandated BEFORE business gets too busy. I have been through the challenge of starting a real estate rental company without first setting up my office policies, procedures and processes. As a businessperson we all are motivated to immediately market and produce income. That immediate success is a step towards your business plan's goals but it can quickly "bite you."
How can CLOSING DEALS and MAKING MONEY be a challenge?
Not having a written company policy handbook
Not having a written procedures manual
Not having a written "How To's" for my Rental Associates
Not having the proper forms created
Your phones are ringing off the hook, prospective clients are walking into the office wanting to see properties, prospective owners are emailing properties to submit for listings, realtors are calling for showing instructions, prospective associates are calling for employment opportunities, and on, and on and on........
What forms do you need to create to track your lead phone calls?
What forms do you need to create to track and work with your prospective leads?
What forms do you need to create to track the sources of your leads so you know how to budget your advertising expenses?
What forms do you use for new hires of employees, real estate associates and licensed assistants?
How do you determine what applicants are the best choices without creating a revolving door of hiring the wrong candidates?
What steps are required to set up a listing file?
You know all of this but is it written and established as proper procedures in a manual format?
If the answer is no the repercussions could be:
•· Unnecessary lawsuits
•· Exceeding your budget on advertising, training and mistakes due to poor selections of employees
•· Exceeding your budget on advertising for leads due to the inability to track prospects' source.
•· Loss of valuable clients due to lack of processes and organization.
What steps can you take to insure these situations do not occur:
A - First you can procrastinate or put together an incomplete manual
B - second you can purchase a manual,
C - third you can use the applied knowledge of some of the included policies to operate efficiently.
Lastly, you'll see improvements in the quality of your personal life by being organized and proactive.
Other benefits you will receive instituting proper manuals, new tools and training:
Create a new specialty to increase production
Carve a Niche in Your Area's Market & CAPTURE Potential Buyers
Recruit Agents Looking for an Innovative Brokerage
Spend Time Doing What You Do Best
Analyze, Update & Automate-Benefits of a Virtual Assistant
Continually Stay Ahead of Your Competition & Goals
Don't Get Left Behind-----Learn New Techniques
Maximize the Value of Your Databases
Using new tools and techniques will
increase Cash Flow to Cover Current Operating Expenses
As a consultant and trainer I work with real estate companies, real estate professionals, developers, investors and private owners to increase their income,
whether it be from their properties (retail) or their commissions (industry professionals).
If you are in the real estate industry or an owner of property, you have goals to accomplish and overhead to cover.
There is no reason that anyone's income should be a product of the cycle of the real estate market. In order to be successful it is important to incorporate a plan
to stabilize your income no matter what phase the real estate market is in. How can you accomplish this and at the same time maintain or increase your
income?
For Real Estate Professionals:
Add an additional specialty of working with investors. If you sell properties, in many cases your potential buyers are purchasing investment properties in addition
to buyers seeking their primary residence. These investment properties can act as an anchor to assist you in increasing your target market of potential buyers, as
well as offer you additional income over and above your sales commissions.
Service your investment buyers by retaining them as clients once the sale transaction is closed. List their property for rental. The lead calls on your rental signs
are great sources of quick and easy transactions for immediate commission. You will find that most of your rental lead calls on signs may not be interested in
that specific property you have listed but easily can be retained as a prospective client that rents, and most likely a future buyer.
In the many years in the rental business I found that my advertising costs were reduced as my listings and signs in front of properties increased.
Other inexpensive lead sources:
Rental Magazines (For Rent Magazine), Rental Websites (rent.com, vacationhomes.com, etc), Craigslist, Robb Report, Wall Street Journal, Door Hangers for rental listings, etc. Your ads for high end rental properties will stand out above the crowd of sales listings and you will be amazed at the quality client base you will acquire.
For Owners of Properties:
The "By Owner" Listings are a challenge in any real estate market, but almost impossible in our current real estate market. Although values have decreased and
you need to retain as much equity in your net profit it is important for you to open all avenues to get your property the utmost in exposure in order to get it sold.
It is important to find a sales professional that specializes in your type of property and in your area. That professional will have the tools to insure the most
exposure to the most qualified buyer.
If your budget will not allow for a full service real estate professional your second option would be to choose a flat fee real estate company. This type
of listing enables you to list your property in the Multiple Listing Service for a flat fee and the only other cost would be the percentage that you would
pay a co-broker that may bring a buyer to purchase your property. It saves you the listing broker's commission percentage. If you sell your home on
your home you will not have to pay the co-brokerage commission. It offers the best of both worlds, selling by owner and also the exposure of the Multiple Listing
Service. Also, you may find it necessary to add on different levels of service from the flat fee brokerage, which you will find is an option in many cases.
Flat fee listings are not for everyone. They are specifically formulated for owners that are familiar with the entire sales transaction and do not need assistance in
We all know the “power of the internet,” but do we realize to what extent this can actually be defined?
In the modern world we now have capabilities to experience life virtually.Who would have thought it would be feasible to hire a Virtual Assistant working from Finland when your office is in Chicago.Or the task of advertising, interviewing and hiring a new employee from the comforts of your living room without even “dressing” to go to your office.Or acquiring a client relocating to your area who purchases a new condo “virtually,” sight unseen, via emails and telephone calls.What about finding your spouse virtually “on-line?”The networking abilities afforded by websites such as Myspace, Facebook, and ActiveRain, have enabled us socially and professionally to make contacts never imagined.There are volumes of benefits that have been reaped through our our new “e-world.”But have we realized the damage that can also be incurred.In a split second misinformation can travel the world like a ray of light.This faulty information can wreak havoc, if not destroy a major corporation.
An example of this damage occurred yesterday when an analyst “googled” United Airlines and found an ARCHIVED article describing that they were to be filing bankruptcy.Without confirming this was a current event, in minutes this information was posted on a website that hit the trading floors and brought down United’s Stock from $12 to $3 in less than one (1) hour, before halting trading, at a loss of over $1 billion dollars in value.
So even for those that are not professional news reporters or writers, realize your power and accept your responsibility in writing or forwarding verified information.How many times have you seen forwarded emails that were falsified and passed on prior to anyone confirming their truth?Remember how your chats, your comments on sites, your blogs, your personal MySpace or social networking pages are all going to “cyber space” and expect they may be seen across the ocean in another country in minutes or by your client, your child or your boss.
Earn immediate income in Real Estate - no matter what phase the market is in. You already have the necessary inventory needed to obtain commission of 25% - 30% and at the same time elicit a pipeline of qualified buyers that will purchase properties. For more information visit www.InternationalLuxuryRentals.com and click on "Training & Consulting" link.
We are in an age of cable and satellite television and radio.Reality TV has taken center stage.So many love sitcoms.But others watch hours and hours of the cable television news networks such as CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.
I am one of those that find myself in many conversations about someone’s favorite show, which I have never watched.When the others in the group ask me what I do watch on television I embarrassingly respond that I switch back and forth between Fox News and CNN.I find that most people that watch these news shows watch one versus the other and NOT BOTH.
What I find to be challenging is that so many of us are so one sided in their specialization of work, their tastes in style of dress, décor, favorite music, and their political affiliations.Of course I have favorites as well.But I find myself to be more of an “eclectic” in all of the above.I like different types of clothing, all depending on my mood and the occasion.Home décor ranges from slight contemporary to Mediterranean to deco to classic.I love blues music but also enjoy jazz, classical and Motown.
Now when we get to politics that is a question that I say publicly that is very personal and not something appropriately discussed at family gatherings.There are too many instances where you think you know someone very well but are shocked on their stances on so many political issues.I truly do not feel that it is necessary to always say you belong to one and only one party affiliation forever.My question is when the time comes that you do not agree with the candidate running in your political party and find the other competitor to be the better person for the job is it okay to vote “the other side?”
My point is that I believe in specializing in niches, have favorites things, tastes and opinions too.But I am open minded and have flexibility to not always stay with one taste or type when the other selection fits me better.What about you?
South Florida was preparing for Fay to visit us this week and we were lucky this time!
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml
As a 3rd generation Floridian I know we have been quite lucky for many, many years dodging so many storms. Because of so many years of luck we found many residents unprepared and ignored the watches and warnings for the 1992 Hurricane Andrew. That left many areas of Dade County devastated. From 1992 until 2004 we went through another lucky period and people fell back into the attitude of "I'll wait until the last minute" to prepare. 2004 and 2005 were two rough summers and we finally saw that preparation should always be made no matter what our gut tells us. As a native I learned for the first time that it is not so much having your supplies and being prepared FOR and DURING the actual Hurricane but the AFTERMATH. For the first time I understood the meaning of devastation like we had been to war. People had not been prepared and were desperate for the basics like water, ice, gas for preparing food, etc. Those waiting in lines were tired, hungry, scared and those emotions lead to many confrontations and arguments between those that were all trying to survive the same thing. The main roads at night were pitch black and dark. No electric, no water and people running out of gas were major problems. Some people were without power for weeks.
So when we have warnings and they say make your preparations and plans now please heed their advice. Once you experience it without those preparations you realize that you have no choice. Just remember the Gulf Coast / New Orleans and Katrina and see that they still have not returned to normalcy.
Please stay tuned and updated to local and state authorities and these sites:
I was at a recent business trip to St Petersburg, Florida.I attended a dinner meeting with a group of clients.I am a very observant person and noticed a group of three at a nearby table that peaked my interest.They were dressed in suits, which you don’t see often in South Florida.The interesting part was that on a Saturday evening at about 7:30pm they were not ordering a meal, but drinking water and having the bread that was initially brought to the table.Their behavior during my entire meal was looking across from where I was sitting, which was blocked by a privacy wall.Our group of 8 guests enjoyed the meal and everyone was conversing about their nationality and customs.One of the other guests was also Greek and when it was time to toast offered their best wishes in different languages such as “Yasou” (spelling), etc.Moments later an attractive gentleman with perfectly coiffed white hair, a deep tan, large smile and business suit stopped at our table to say hello.He was joined by a lady was also friendly and vibrant.I was the only one of my group that recognized him.He was attracted to our table because he himself was Greek and heard the toasting.As we all conversed with this charismatic gentleman the one client at my table whose back was to the man said “Wow, you look just like the Governor.”And the gentleman answered with a big grin “that’s because I am the Governor” and we all chuckled. They stayed and chatted with us for a few moments.
Congratulations to Governor Crist and his future bride, as they were recently engaged and due to marry before the end of the year.
The “moral” of the story is that you never know where you will be andwith whom you will run into.So always be professional, cordial and have your business cards.Whether it be at the Drycleaners, the pharmacy, the grocery store, the hair salon, the doctor’s office, etc.In our line of work we obtain customers in the least expected places.Even the Governor needs a good realtor!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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