The One & Only Way To SELL Your Home Yourself & Avoid ExorbitantReal Estate Commissions doc

The
One & Only Way
To SELL Your
Home Yourself…
& Avoid Exorbitant
Real Estate Commissions
By Nishika N. Jones
Licensed Real Estate Broker
Urban Living Realty
Introduction
The Multiple Listing Service (MLS®®) is the best way
to sell your property.
There. We said it. For anyone planning to sell a home without the
assistance of a realtor, this may sound harsh. But the truth is, 90% of all
houses sell specifically because of listing in the MLS®. Unless you happen
to hit upon the right connection with a buyer by some stroke of luck, your
home likely will not sell if it is not listed in the MLS®. In today’s volatile
real estate market, the chances of selling your home based on luck alone
are, well slim.
For homeowners who want to sell without a realtor, this presents a
problem, since access to the MLS® is impossible without assistance from a
realtor.
The question then becomes how you can sell your home on your own
terms, get great exposure to thousands of realtors and potential buyers,
and still access professional help if you need it?
There is a way. And it’s a method that goes far beyond the inflexible
method known as FSBO (For Sale By Owner.)
That way is the flat fee listing, also called a flat fee MLS® listing. In this
special report, we are going to learn how the flat fee MLS listing is
bridging the gap between FSBO sales and traditional realtor-assisted sales
to literally revolutionize the real estate world, making it possible for

homeowners to sell their homes, even in a roller-coaster market, for the
price they want and pocket greater profits at the same time.
Of course, any discussion of this new trend must begin with an
understanding of the MLS®.
What is the ‘MLS®’?
The MLS® (Multiple Listing Service) is a database that lists every type of
real estate property, from single homes and commercial properties to
townhomes, condos, acreage and rentals. Your property’s listing in the
MLS® ensures that all realtors can find your home and show your home to
clients who may be seeking exactly what you have to offer. Of course,
realtors are not the only ones with access to the MLS®. Buyers, too, can
search for properties that meet their criteria, and statistics prove that
properties listed in the MLS® sell faster and sell for more money than
traditional FSBO-listed properties.
Obviously then, the MLS® is a powerful database. About 85% of all
homebuyers using a realtor (who in turn uses the MLS®) will find the
perfect property.
Interestingly, people often think the MLS® is one big national property
database. Actually more than one thousand individual MLS® databases
exist across the country, including one for each of the fifty United States.
This means a realtor in Kansas cannot see listings in the MLS® for New
York City. Obviously, ensuring a listing in the correct geographical MLS®
is crucial to the exposure and sale of your property.
Additionally, numerous national websites aggregate listings from these
many MLS® databases, displaying some information, such as agent
commissions and owner contact information, for the benefit of other
agents. One of those websites is www.Realtor.com.
Your listing in the MLS® will also spark additional listings on other
websites, including but not limited to:
• Trulia

• Google
• MSN
• Yahoo
• AOL
• Craigslist
• Zillow
• Hot Pads
• Redfin
How Your Property Gets Listed in the MLS®
Only a licensed real estate broker who is a dues-paying MLS® member can
list a property in the database. There are no exceptions to this rule. This
is a good thing, because a lot of responsibility goes with listing a home.
The broker must ensure the accuracy of the listing and keep it current
whenever there is a change in price or any other factor. For example, a
home listed as ‘active’ in the MLS®, but actually sold or under contract,
can cause the broker to lose his MLS® membership or even pay high fines.
To have your property listed in the MLS®, you must sign a contract with a
realtor and agreed to pay the sales commission of about 6%. How do we
know? Because no realtor is going to list your property in the MLS® unless
a commission is involved. Don’t want to pay a commission? You are out of
luck. MLS® rules state a commission must be listed at the outset for every
property entered into the MLS®, so other agents will know approximately
what their payday will be if their client becomes the buyer, since buyer
agents are typically paid 2.5%-3% of the final sale price of the home.
Currently, no MLS® System exists solely for FSBO properties. Since the
best way to get the greatest exposure for your property is via MLS®, and
since only a licensed realtor can place your property listing in the MLS®,
it stands to reason that, one way or another, you will have to use the
services of a realtor and the Multiple Listing Service to sell your home.
So here is the million dollar question:

If you have decided to sell your home yourself and you want the
greatest amount of exposure possible, how exactly are you going to
get your home listed in the MLS®?
Before we answer this question, let’s learn a little more about flat fee
MLS listings.
What is a Flat Fee MLS Listing?
The flat fee listing, or flat fee MLS® listing, refers to the real estate
practice of advertising a property in the MLS® for a set fee, as opposed to
paying the traditional 6% commission based on the selling price of the
property.
When arranging a flat fee MLS listing, the real estate broker and property
owner work together—the broker lists the property in the MLS® and the
seller pays the broker a flat fee of $500-$700.
Why would a property owner agree to a flat fee MLS listing? Properties
listed in the MLS® under the flat fee MLS listing arrangement require the
seller to offer a commission, known as the "Buyer's Agent Commission".
Generally, this commission equals 2.5% to 3% of the property’s selling
price as paid at closing. If the home is sold because of the efforts of the
homeowner, no buyer’s agent commission is paid. If the home is sold
because of the efforts of a realtor, i.e., the realtor shows your home to a
client and the client buys the home, then the Buyer’s Agent commission
must be paid at closing. Still, when you consider that the savings can be
as much as 3% of the selling price, this is a significant plus for the
homeowner’s bottom line, potentially putting thousands of dollars in his
or her pocket.
A Buyer’s Agent is a real estate agent who represents the buyer, not the
seller. Typically, when you contract with a real estate agent to sell your
home, the agent works on your behalf. This agent is the ‘Seller’s Agent’.
Of course, other agents may bring potential buyers to your home. If you
are paying a 6% commission to your broker and the home is eventually

sold by a second agent, the two agents split the commission so that they
both make money from the transaction. The Buyer’s Agent, however,
works with buyers only is and not obligated to the seller in any way.
Why would a broker agree to this type of arrangement? To increase their
volume of business and gain exposure for their real estate firm. After all,
a listing is a listing, and the real estate market is highly competitive. The
broker can list your property in the MLS®, then sit back and wait for a
buyer’s agent to sell the home and pocket a 6% commission. Not bad for a
few hours’ work. But why would a homeowner want to pay that full
service commission when the same services are available with a flat fee
MLS listing for only a few hundred dollars?
With flat fee MLS listing, the MLS® becomes a property-selling device, a
marketing tool for homeowners, without the downside of purchasing an
expensive full service package from a realtor, which typically includes
other forms of advertising, open houses, marketing to other agents, and
other advertising strategies commonly used by realtors.
Now that we have a better understanding of the MLS® and flat fee MLS
listings, let’s find out more about how flat fee MLS listings can help you
get your home sold.
Can a Flat Fee MLS Listing Really Get Your Home Sold?
Let’s face it these are tough times in the world of real estate. Home
prices have plummeted, and interest in buying and selling in many areas
has bottomed out as people become more fearful of the future. With such
a bleak economy, many have determined to simply wait it out until the
market turns around.
But not everyone.
Believe it or not, people are still selling their homes. And people are still
buying. Some people must do so because of a job transfer, or perhaps
family issues or financial reasons. Some people simply want to and are in
a good position to move forward. Of course, in a buyer’s market, sellers

may take a hit in profits upfront, but will likely recoup some of their
losses on the purchase of a new home, because buying prices are
somewhat deflated.
It makes sense then that the more money you can save on the sale of your
home, the more money you will have in your pocket for a new home
purchase or for other needs, such as financing your child’s education,
buying new furniture, taking a much needed vacation and so forth.
Wait! What was that? More money in your pocket?
That’s right. More money in your pocket is the number one reason for the
recent popularity of the flat fee MLS listing. But some fear a flat fee MLS
listing will prevent realtors from showing their home, because the
commission structure is different. Some homeowners have even been
threatened by realtors and scared into believing their home will never
sell without the assistance of a realtor.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Why Realtors Will Jump Over Themselves to Sell Your Flat-Fee MLS
Listed Home
Realtors rely on the MLS® listing as a powerful vehicle to search for and
sell homes. A realtor would prefer to list your property in the MLS®, sit
back and let the buyer’s agent find the right buyer for the property.
This is precisely why a flat fee MLS listing is superior to a FSBO (For Sale
By Owner) listing. Individuals choosing the FSBO listing method have no
access to the MLS®. This means realtors will not see the home and will
not promote the home to their buyers. Buyers looking on their own will
not see the home either. For the most part, the only way to see the home
is to drive past it accidentally. There is no commission available to
realtors for showing a FSBO, because there is no contract stating the
commission payable to the broker/realtor in the event of a sale.
Naturally then, if you choose the FSBO method, do not expect realtors to
come knocking at your door. They won’t, unless they’re knocking to see if

they can convert you to a full service customer at a 6% commission.
Once your home is listed in the MLS® however, realtors who regularly
scan the listings will pick up on your home, and will begin promoting your
home to their buyers who are looking for the features and benefits
offered by your property. Buyers who are sitting at home or at work
looking for the right houses on the Internet to see on the weekend, or
looking for Open Houses or Virtual Tours, will also see your home.
Bam! Instant exposure.
So doesn’t it make sense to save the 3% listing agent’s fee and pay a flat
fee for multiple listing services with full exposure to the same buyers?
Now here’s the really good news:
Your listing in the MLS® will look no different than any other listing,
despite the fact that you are only paying the listing broker a flat fee of
about $500-$700.
AN IMPORTANT WARNING
Before we go on, this caution is important to emphasize:
Do not listen to realtors who try to scare you into believing that some
real estate agents will not agree to sell your home once they learn you
have chosen a flat fee MLS listing. This is completely untrue.
The Buyer’s Agent does not care about the flat fee paid to the broker.
The only commission they care about is the one they receive for bringing
a qualified buyer to your door, and that commission is generally 2.5% to
3% of the final selling price. Some reports have surfaced stating
traditional real estate brokers have unjustly punished nontraditional real
estate brokers by avoiding the showing of flat fee MLS listed homes
because they mistakenly believe the flat fee homeowner may be difficult
to negotiate or contract with. These incidences occur less and less as the
consumer demand for alternatives quickly grows, and as unethical real
estate professionals get the message that strong-arming sellers can land
them in a heap of trouble.

Here’s the point:
Your home will end up being listed in the same MLS® whether you
contract with a realtor or a flat fee MLS listing broker. All you have to
do now is decide whether you want to pay multiple thousands of
dollars for the privilege, or no more than $700 just one time ?
How To Take Your Home From ‘Cold’ to ‘SOLD!’
It is clear that homeowner demand for real estate options has increased
dramatically. According to a report published by the Consumer
Federation of America in December 2006, “There is considerable
evidence that, over the last decade, nontraditional brokers have grown in
number and in market share of sales. According to Wall Street Journal
articles, from 2002 to 2005, the proportion of home sellers using
traditional brokers declined from 74 percent to 70 percent. According to
the consulting group RealTrends, during the same period the share of
sales involving nontraditional brokers rose from two percent to 11
percent. This growth parallels the expansion of nontraditional brokers
and their associations.”
The report goes on to say, “CFA examined the Yellow Pages listings of
real estate agents in ten cities and found that, over the past decade,
there has been a
large increase in advertising by nontraditional brokers. Between 1995 and
2005, discount, flat fee MLS, and For Sale by Owner business directory
listings increased by 152 percent in these ten cities. In the same period,
exclusive buyer agent (EBA) listings rose by 20 percent. Also during this
decade, nontraditional brokers were increasingly willing to pay for
prominent placement within the business pages of Yellow Pages listings.
Between 1995 and 2005, the prominent and pricey display advertising for
all nontraditional real estate business (exclusive buyer agents as
well as discount, flat-fee, and FSBO) increased by 31 percent while the
use of boxed listings increased by 73 percent.”

Think about it. If more homeowners were not demanding alternative
services such as the flat fee MLS listing, why would these changes be
taking place? It is clear that there has never been a better time to choose
flat fee MLS listing as a proven way to sell your home yourself with all
the advantages of realtor-assisted selling, and none of the exorbitantly
high costs.
Urban Living Realty- One Step Closer to Perfection
To meet this exploding demand, Baltimore, Maryland’s Urban Living
Realty has taken the idea of flat fee MLS listing and enhanced the
strategy further to ensure homeowners have even greater control over
the sale of their property, while also accessing one or more crucial
professional services right when those services are most needed. For
homeowners who want to take charge of the sale, access professional
services as needed, and end the transaction with cash on hand – and who
doesn’t? – Urban Living Realty offers the most revolutionary solution.
Urban Living Realty is a premier real estate network with the
experience and know-how to get your home sold or rented quickly, at
a huge savings. They assist in maximizing your property’s exposure at
a fraction of the cost of listing with a traditional real estate
company, offering Flat Fee MLS® Services that include these five
important benefits:
1. Exposure to Buyer’s Agents, who can scan MLS® listings
geographically to find homes that suit their clients
2. Maintain control of the contract negotiation process by
alleviating the ‘middleman’
3. Gain access to millions of qualified buyers and renters via
listings on realtor websites, maximizing your property’s
potential
4. Create greater demand for your property through exposure to a
larger pool of buyers and renters

5. Optimize your price negotiations using commission savings to
close the deal Spend less on advertising- One low price for the
highest exposure can make all the difference in selling your
home quickly
The Modern Way to Sell Your Own Home
Contrary to what is portrayed daily in the media, properties are actually
selling and renting. According to www.Realtor.org, 5,652,000 home were
sold in 2007, the fifth highest year on record.
Urban Living Realty recognizes what homeowners really need. How do
they know? Years of experience. Urban Living Realty is a highly innovative
real estate company, often on the cutting edge of providing most-wanted
services even before they become mainstream.
Several years ago, the partners of Urban Living Realty saw the need to
improve the way flat fee MLS listing transactions are conducted, and set
in motion plans to ‘makeover’ the flat fee industry with a more ‘modern’
feel. They knew homeowners wanted more control over the sales process,
but also wished for options in choosing professional services for the help
they needed at specific times during the selling process. While most sell-
it-yourself homeowners were left out to dry by flat fee MLS brokers who
were more interested in converting the homeowner to a full service
client, Urban Living Realty was busy doing something brilliant: giving
homeowners exactly what they wanted.
The flat fee MLS listing solution created by Urban Living Realty has been
astoundingly helpful to homeowners. More and more sellers are choosing
flat fee MLS listing to sell their home, and Urban Living Realty believes it
is safe to say things will never be the same. Traditional realtors may
scoff at the services Urban Living Realty offers, and no doubt they will
make a few enemies of realtors who resent the potential to lose precious
commissions, but Urban Living Realty is committed to helping
homeowners, and that is their main goal.

Let’s face it. The goal of any real estate transaction is to maximize
exposure and lower costs. Urban Living Realty’s Simply List Flat Fee MLS®
Services does exactly that. MLS® exposure immediately connects your
property with buyers, renters, buyer’s agents and rental agents currently
working with clients who are looking for your property right now. Today’s
property owners are far more savvy about selling and renting, and more
educated about what it takes to market a property for the greatest
advantage. Statistics clearly show marketing and advertising strategies
that reach the largest target audience close transactions faster. When
you choose flat fee MLS listing with Urban Living Realty, you will sell or
rent your property more quickly, and save thousands of dollars to use any
way you like to save for your child’s education, take a much-needed
vacation, buy a new car, or buy a new home.
For homeowners who are knowledgeable about their market and anxious
to access the power of the Internet to sell or rent their home, these
statistics may be surprising:
♣ 57% say advertising via the Internet reduced the number of
places they looked at.
♣ 54% say they took an Internet video tour of the house,
apartment, or neighborhood in which were interested
♣ 29% say online information helped them save money on the house
they bought or apartment they rented.
Source: John B. Horrigan, Associate Director, Pew Internet & American Life Project, May 18,
2008
According to the National Association of Realtors® 80% of all
homebuyers used the Internet as an information source, and this
percentage continuously grows.
The dynamic combination of our flat fee MLS service, your home’s
display on the MLS®, related real estate website listings, and the
power of the Internet driving the exposure and sale of your home

offers you a far superior opportunity to close your real estate
transaction faster and with more money in your pocket.
For a flat fee of only $500-$700,
you will instantly increase your property’s exposure
to potential buyers, renters and buyer’s/rental agents.
You will receive these important benefits as well:
♣ Immediate advertising in the MLS® database accessible by more
than one million brokers and agents (Source: National Association of
Realtors)
♣ Advertising on www.Realtor.com and major search engines, such
as Yahoo, Google, AskJeeves, AltaVista and others
♣ Advertising on 24 hour marketing powerhouse www.Urban Living
Realty.com, syndicating to numerous websites including:
 Point2homes
 Base.google
 Livedeal
 Realestate.yahoo
 Cyberhomes
 Frontdoor
 Trulia
 Zillow
 Oodle – and many sites powered by Oodle
 Homescape
 Vast
 Hotpads
 Houselocator
 Videohomes
 Thirdchair
 Beatyouthere
 Lycos

 Homes
 Housefront
 Local
 Ehouseads
 Efind
 Dothomes
 Realtyfeedsearch
 Realtyfeeds
 USAMLS®
 Propsmart
♣ Full color E-flyer/brochure advertising your property
♣ A La Carte list of professional services including top features
such as Video marketing, custom designed full color e-brochures
or flyers, 800 line access for scheduling showings, and social
media marketing, all packaged in affordable combinations to suit
your budget.
There is no doubt that flat fee MLS listings are poised to become
more and more popular in this the real estate market as more and
more homeowners become aware of the power they possess to save
money on their real estate transactions, control advertising and
marketing costs, and command the Internet to get their home SOLD!

So what are you waiting for? Click here to SELL your house and start
saving today!