If you’ve sorted through your mail lately, you’ve probably received postcard ads for real estate companies selling the Multiple Listing System (MLS) only. They’re popping up in droves. Is this really all you need to sell your home? Or is this a way for someone to get a quick buck for doing almost nothing? Let’s explore it together.
Common sense tells you if the MLS is all a person needs to effectively sell their home, then the vast majority of MLS listed homes would be selling quickly and for top dollar. Yet, economists for The National Association of Realtors report that it is taking about 10.5 months to sell off the existing inventory of MLS listed homes. Just today, l looked at many MLS listed homes in Buffalo and Rochester that have numerous price reductions and have been re-listed several times. Locally, everyday there are homes expiring from long-term listings. Real Estate brokers are even promoting “sales events” for their MLS listed homes – as if they were selling used cars. Many of these MLS listed homes have been on the market for well in excess of one year. So, it is unreasonable to rely on an MLS only listing to market your home for sale.
It is clear that it takes much more to sell. Good real estate companies are well aware of this fact. It is well established that heavy (expensive) print and Internet advertising equates with a higher sale price in a shorter period of time. I recently read in the Democrat & Chronicle a large real estate broker stating that because of advertising their homes sell for more and faster. It is not the MLS, rather it is advertising that distinguishes effective brokers from the pack. The MLS can be used effectively in conjunction with a very strong and established advertising campaign. But the MLS alone…not in this environment.
In short, MLS-only real estate brokers are typically one-person operations using fear tactics to entice sellers into prematurely abandoning the proven path of heavy print and Internet advertising exposure. It costs these brokers next to nothing to input your listing into the MLS. It seems that it is the unsuccessful real estate brokers that “reinvent” themselves as MLS-only champions. They can be viewed as nothing more than boiler room telemarketers preying on the fears and misunderstandings of the home seller. Worse yet, this practice raises serious ethical concerns (which I’ll address here in a future post), leaving sellers to fend for themselves against the world of real estate agents.
I very much agree with the writer. I have always felt that the seller of a home needs as much exposure of their home as they can get. Print and Internet advertising and other forms of exposure for the home are simply necessary. You need to reach as many people as possible, not just the local community of Realtors. It is to some extent a numbers game – the more people you reach, the higher the chance of finding a buyer who both wants and can afford your home. I see it like this – The buyer of a particular home is out there from day one. The question is whether you are reaching them? I can attest that the MLS is an effective tool to help you sell your home, but is an MLS only listing reaching the entire pool of potential buyers. It is clear that it simply cannot. Exposing your home in as many ways as possible really makes the difference.
By: Michael on February 6, 2008
at 4:25 pm
I sold my own home all by myself without any realtor help and save over $5K. Attorney’s are all that you need to help you. Simple stuff that realtors make a big deal out of.
By: Lorraine on March 15, 2008
at 4:17 pm