How do you plan toget listed on MLS?

FWIW, I would generally feel that in a slow market you need all the help you can get to sell and a good agent could be helpful. In a hot market then I would think it wouldn't really be necessary.

We recently switched to a full service Realtor after being listed with a limited-service MLS Realtor. Considering the time of year, your market, and the fact that you NEED to sell your home, I'd say go with a full-service Realtor.

True, most Realtors do search the MLS, but you may be limited do to the limited service route. Why? Many Realtors believe that, since the Realtor isn't a professional, they'll end up doing a lot of the work themselves. I'm guessing there's a lot of homes for sale in your area, so they may just pass yours up.

Understand that many people DO have success with the limited service route, however, market conditions have changed a great deal. Four years ago you wouldn't have had a problem. Now it's a little different.

kris

My old neighbor in Denver used a limited service listing service to sell her home. She had it listed on the MLS and showed the home about a dozen times in 10 days and was able to successfully sell it herself. Pricing was key however, she priced it 3% below what other like homes in her area were selling for. She was able to list it so low, because she didn't pay a commission. The worst she would have to do is pay 3% to the buyer's agent, but she sold it herself and didn't have to do even that. She found that 8 out of the 12 or so showings found her home on realtor.com and weren't even working with an agent. I'm not sure if this is because realtors don't want to show homes listed this way or not.

Kat's meow -- it's through MLS Direct -- for a flat fee of $595 for Basic Service, you get:
6 Month listing on your local MLS - Buyers and Realtors can easily find you
Initial meeting with one of our local REALTORS - A great partnership is what sells your home. In our initial meeting you will get to know your Realtor® and they will get to know your needs and preferences in selling.
Prepare a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) - Selling your home can be a tricky process. By knowing market rates for homes similar to yours in your market, you will more accurately determine how much you can sell it for.
All required disclosure forms - Our REALTORS offer you the security of knowing you don't need to research what documents need to be prepared in order to sell your home.
Professional photography - Our skilled photographers will photograph your home highlighting key advantages and providing a polished presentation. Presentation bespeaks of value.
Virtual tour of your home available 24/7 - Reach more buyers when it is convenient for them. This feature also includes a tool which allows you to email your preferred home to friends and family for their input.
Schedule all showing requests - We know you have other things to do, so we remove the burden of wondering if you will be there to show your home and instead work on your behalf to ensure people can see your home at the times you have set aside without you worrying about the details.
Your home featured on all Broker Reciprocity websites - Your home will receive maximum exposure by being listed on multiple Broker sites.
Listed on REALTOR.com - This group has over 1million members (Realtors®) who are helping clients find homes, your home will be one of the homes they will have access to on their site.
Reserve the right to sell direct with NO commissions
Member Better Business Bureau - You can be assured of who you are working with and our commitment to serving our clients.
On-going support - When you become our client, you become a relationship and we offer support through the process of the finding your "dream home".

Then there are also different levels for which you pay more, and obviously, get more...

I guess kpfeif, you're probably right.... I just have to find a good realtor. A friend of mine just recently had her house on the market for 3 months and only one family looked at the house over that period of time. They didn't hold the broker Open House for over 2 months, however, and I largely blame the laziness of the realtor for their failure...

Also, an important point you made was selling the house for the right price. I wonder if houses aren't selling partially due to the seller's greed -- wanting too much for their homes... I intend to list for just below market value to hopefully help us have a positive outcome.

If we plan to list around March, when do you think I should start shopping for a Broker? How do I find the "agressive" one? I used to be a sec'y in an office years ago, and there were those who just basically knew everyone and had the networking down, and there were also those who worked their butts off, but just didn't know the right people to get anything done.

Thanks everyone, for your responses!

* Lisa

I don't know if this is common or not, but we always attended Open Houses before we listed our home. we used it not only to scope out the competition, but also as an interviewing process for a listing agent. The passive agents just let us wander the open house and did nothing more than have us sign in. The aggressive agents wanted to know what our needs were, pointed out features of the house we were in etc. it also helped us to gauge their personalities to see if there would be a fit. We found most of our listing agents this way when we were selling our homes. Some of the agents we used however were the same agent we used when we purchased the home we were selling.

cordovamom, that's a fantastic idea, thank you!!

* Lisa

IMO, For a FSBO, the MLS should be a backup plan not the primary means of exposure.
It's a lot of work and time to sell FSBO, you'll have to take off days at a time to put forward with marketing your home. You have to look at it as a business venture and not be emotional. On the other hand realtors don't typically do much to market homes. The one thing they got that you ain't got is the willingness to show each other's homes in the MLS but not your FSBO. Many good books on selling FSBO, pick some up and decide if it's the way to go.

Can you sell? I find most owners give way too much info to me when I go through their open houses, can really put themselves into a tough spot (need to move, probs with washer, etc). Also do you want the hassle of showing it and negotiating and being objective? If you need to sell and can afford the %, I would go with a realtor. To get other realtors to show it even if you do the MLS, you have to offer them some type of commission (2.5%) anyway, so you aren't saving a whole lot by doing it yourself in the long run.

I can definitely sell -- and I work out of my home so I'm here anyway. hmmm.

The only downside I see that comes with listing with a flat fee MLS service is that some agents are a bit prejudiced against dealing with a by-owner seller. I'm listed with a flat fee place that put us on the MLS, and we have had some activity with agents, but maybe not as much as if we had listed with a full service agency. Just make sure you offer about as much as a buyer's agent would earn if you listed full service (about 2.5 percent in our area). As far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty satisfied with the amount of people we've had go through our home with the combined by owner-MLS listing. We've had one lowball offer, but I'm convinced it will sell after the holidays. I think the only difference you have with a full service agent is that he/she might advertise at their expense in your local newspaper. You can do that on your own.

I went FSBO in a slow market from March 1 to April 3, then got on the MLS through a discount broker. I got ZERO showings by realtors, even though we had a good MLS listing that said we were paying 3% to a buyer's realtor. August 1 a full service broker took over and we had all of two showings in the first three months - but this was in the slower months of late summer and fall. Recently, we have had three showings by realtors. I truly believe that we were blackballed before signing with the full service realtor. The discount broker was well-known as the owner of a local title company who had to fight to get the state to give him his broker's license back after he let it lapse for several years. The realtors knew that he is a radical type who thinks that the public can sell their own homes and pay less to do so. He teaches FSBO seminars once a month at his title company. Since his name was the broker my property was listed under, I think we were boycotted by the local realtors. Whether the boycotting was because of him, or because we were essentially a FSBO (my number was the contact number in the listing), I will never know.

But if you want to sell fast, get a full service realtor. (Now is that a backhanded recommendation, or what?)

We aren't all that bad.I don't avoid taking clients to fsbo or those listed by discount brokers. The reasons it can seem like you are being ignored, is that I will search the mls first for homes. If there is nothing available they like there, then I go to the newspaper and fsbo websites. It makes me work harder to find your home. I make it a habit to not look at the commission. I figure if my clients find the house they like, it can always be worked out. There are way too many fsbo sites.....I spend hours searching and then find a few. The few that I find are almost all sold already and have never been taken off!