There are a couple points of common confusion here. What "the" Multiple Listing Service is can vary from place to place. In some areas it's owned by the National Association of Realtors and in others it's a private company, and in some places more than one Service is in popular use. These are strictly subscription-only to access, and you need to pay a fee and have a real estate license to get that subscription. (So if you want to access the MLS for different states, you need to pay more than one subscription fee and hold a license in more than one state.) This is not what people are talking about on this forum when they say they've browsed the MLS. Some advertising websites call themselves a "multiple listing service" because they show the properties for sale from "the" Multiple Listing Service, but they are not "the" Multiple Listing Service. "The" MLS is more of a database that also contains non-public information like special showing instructions, if a house is vacant, the type of contract the listing agent has with the sellers, what compensation is being offered to a buyer's agent, etc. It is to your benefit to get on "the" MLS, used by buyers' agents, if you want to attract larger numbers of buyers. Otherwise you are just on another real estate website that individual buyers may or may not see. That said, the flat-fee services are in fact Realtors offering you reduced services for a flat fee instead of all their services for a commission. Some of them just enter you on MLS, but others handle scheduling of showings, some amount of legal paperwork, or provide the use of lock boxes for you. What exactly they offer will differ with every such service and may differ from contract to contract. You *are* essentially still FSBO, doing most of the marketing on your own, but your contract with that realtor prevents you from signing up for the services of another realtor should you decide you've had enough of trying it on your own. "The" MLS's require an exclusive contract so that no two realtors will be listing the same property. I think kpfeif was just trying to make the point that you can't change over to using a realtor when you are in one of these flat-fee contracts. Beyond the extent that the flat-fee realtor is helping you, you are on your own. I hope that helps!

kats: that's a good point. I imagine that a number of realtors will contact me when they see the FSBO to try and get the listing. I can lay out my desire for a reduced-services contract and see if anyone bites. In my email-culling efforts, I found one agency that has a deal where if you buy with them you can sell your house for free (no commission). I'll be buying in a different area, so can't do that, but perhaps that means they're open to a flat-fee MLS type of deal. I'll give them a call too. NC: No offense taken (and none intended with my following remarks). I understand the MLS is a private association, and don't consider myself entitled to a discount (or any) listing. But our local MLS has decided to put rules in place that make it difficult/impossible for members to discount and/or offer more competitive and appealing to customers. I think the real estate industry for the most part has its head stuck in the sand about the need to change, and they're trying their darnedest to preserve their 6% model in the day and age where buyers and sellers could be brought together much less expensively. I wish they'd change. And I'm frustrated that those in the industry that are trying to change to satisfy customers better, are locked out of doing so. It MAY be legal. But Visa & Mastercard had a similar argument (we're a private organization with contracts with merchants, we can decide on whatever merchant fees we want and they can opt out) but the justice department eventually had something to say about that, because they're monopolies. In other news, we went to a couple open houses over the weekend, and one agent mentioned the low inventory right now as a problem (that bodes well for us). Of course, that could be like the car dealers that send you postcards saying "we really need your used car" when they mean "we want to sell you a new one."

We actually closed yesterday (finally) asking price: $129,000, sold for $121,000 plus we paid some of the closing costs and added a home warranty. Days on market was right at 6 months. We had 2 offers, first one we took at $126,500 but their mortgage app fell apart. Put back on market and accepted second offer a few weeks later at $121,000+ other addins. 3 bed 2.5 bath in Knoxville tn. About 12-15 years old. Just put in a new 8ft privacy fence and other upgrades just to get more attention for it and help it sell (yes we took a loss, but at least its gone) We had approx 15 showings in total over the 6 months before we got it sold. I asked my realtor about feedback many times (by the way my realtor really sucked, she worked for the buyers it seemed more then she worked for me, and the buyers had their own agent!) Anyways, we did get feedback about painting one of the rooms that we had and another buyer had mentioned a loose railing at the top of the stairs. Nothing that we weren't able to fix for a few dollars and a couple hours on a weekend. We did take a large loss on the home, only in it 2 and a half years and put in tons of upgrades but sadly the company I work for shutdown and we had to move to a new job I found. I was told without the upgrades it would still be on the market.

So she spent an hour getting her job done - so what? It is what it is Wrong, She spent an hour of her time, maybe more getting YOUR AGENTS JOB DONE. You make it sound as if its no big deal. This is a business, I dont expect people to waste my time. If you don't buy the house, you also dont turn into a client, so yes, you are wasting her time. I show MY CLIENTS homes (my listings) for two reasons, one because there is a slim chance the caller will actually buy it,(check statistics on how many times a caller actually buys the house they call on, its very low) but more importantly, that person usually becomes a client. In my area, I can show homes that are an hour away from me, I dont want to waste one of my saturdays showing someone a home whose agent is sitting on their a$$ waiting for someone else to do his job while he collects his 1%. Also, since the listing agent shows you the home and you're getting all your information from her, who is liable should something not be what you expected? The agent who showed and gave you the info is not the one that wrote the offer and represented you. I am assuming you are an agent, since you see the rebate deal as a bad thing. Of course, you don't have to pay the outrageous listing fees when you sell, I am an agent and I also do pay commissions. I believe in the system and when I sell one of my homes, I list them the same way I list a clients home. In one particular case, where I was selling a home outside my service area, I offered a 2% higher commission than the customary rate to get the job done. (customary at the time was 5, i listed for 7) Check previous posts before you "ASSume" anything. I wonder, do you do tell your clients upfront you will not show their house to a possible buyer unless you get a kickback? I suspect not Well two things are wrong here, 1. KICKBACKS ARE ILLEGAL in my state, so I wouldnt do it for fear of loosing my license. 2. I will show any of my clients homes to MY Customers, not someone elses. I have the feeling most sellers would think your agent was lazy for doing what he's doing. THis is the type of agent that gives real estate agents a bad name. Its sleezy! One more thing, you said you simply call and ask to be shown the house. In my area, one of the first questions agents ask is "are you working with an agent"? If you lie and say no, then you obviously realize how unethical this is. If you say 'yes', few agents out there will show you the home, because it is also unethical to meet with a buyer after they have told you they are working with someone else. Your post definitely makes me change the way I do business. Agents in my area area starting to collect fees upfront which are returned when they close on a home. Why? Because there are too many people out there wasting our time and gas doing stuff like this.