Over the years, my Miami, Florida sellers have asked how they can get a flat fee MLS listing that will rival the "full service" listings placed through The Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches MLS. The feedback I've received from my sellers all over Florida would suggest that they are concerned that certain Realtors have actually "shunned" their flat fee listing. Though the Department of Justice considers this type of discrimination illegal, many of my clients attest that Realtors have admitted to the practice. When we've asked our fellow agents off the record, they have justified the discrimination with these explanations: 1) they believe they will end up doing twice the work for ½ of the commission and consider this unfair and not worth the effort; 2) they don't like dealing with a non-professional when doing contract negotiations, again finding it to be more difficult; 3) they feel it's bad for the industry and their healthy 6-7% commissions and discriminate on principle.
Because flat fee MLS listings go into the SE Florida MLS as "Exclusive Agency-Limited Service," Realtors can identify them and avoid them if desired. Another dead give-away is the "contact seller directly" language in the MLS.
My flat fee MLS clients also say that they lose potential showings when representing themselves for other reasons such as: many buyers, if unrepresented, prefer working with a professional Realtor® as added protection; the sellers have hurt deals themselves because they really weren't experienced in contract negotiations; busy sellers lost showing opportunities because they didn't consistently answer their phone calls.
I felt the solution was to create a flat fee MLS product that would totally blend in with all of the other "full service" MLS listings. Thus, the flat fee MLS program "ADDvantage Plus" was created. ADDvantage Plus accomplishes this by having an Exclusive Right of Sale listing agreement, offering 100% contract to close representation and directing all calls to our office. This eliminates the somewhat legitimate complaint by the Realtors regarding their opposition to dealing with a seller as opposed to a professional. Finally my flat fee sellers would have an affordable program that would actually do something for them! And it really is the best of both worlds since the seller avoids the typical 3% listing commission, can still sell to an unrepresented buyer and avoid paying any commission, but gets my 24 years of brokerage experience behind the transaction..
Having overcome the obstacles of a traditional "flat fee MLS" listing, I believe this new concept could not only rival full service listings but quite possibly surpass them.
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