Are all Flat Fee MLS Websites in Florida a Genuine MLS Service?
No they are not. Just because a website hangs a shingle that says, “Florida Flat Fee MLS” doesn’t mean they are licensed in Florida to offer such real estate services or that they truly offering what’s being advertised.
The mere fact that we are in “Florida” is reason enough to question and research the company carefully before listing.
There are at least 10 different versions of flat fee MLS in Florida. Make sure the version you buy is a genuine MLS flat fee provider…such as ADDvantage.
If your are currently selling For Sale By Owner, or are listed with a full service agent and your listing is soon to expire, or just want to sell your Florida home using flat fee MLS, then apply my 5 steps to determine whether you are looking at a genuine flat fee MLS website:
Genuine Flat Fee MLS Test Question Number 1…is the flat fee “website” licensed in Florida? If not, they cannot show you a listing agreement or list your property in the MLS…all they can do is take your money and refer you to a Florida flat fee broker. Once you are referred, you will sign a listing agreement with that unknown broker. They are not a genuine Florida flat fee MLS service.
Genuine Flat Rate MLS Test Questions Number 2…does the Florida flat fee MLS website publish their listing agreement on-line? If not, it is a BIG red flag that they are not a genuine flat fee service.
Genuine Florida Flat Fee MLS Test Questions Number 3….does their listing agreement clearly say “all buyer leads from Realtor.com belong to the seller?” If not, they are definitely not a genuine flat fee MLS service.
Genuine Flat Fee Test Questions Number 4…if the listing agreement doesn’t detail exactly what hours the broker answers the phone, then it’s not a genuine MLS flat fee service. Contrary to popular belief, only 50% of the calls from Realtors and Buyers go to the you, the seller. The other 50% go to the flat fee broker. Your listing broker holds the keys to your successful sale. You need a flat fee broker that answers the phone 12 hours a day 7 days a week…such as ADDvantage. Who started that myth anyway that all calls go to the seller? The “NOT” genuine flat fee websites did because they are the ones that have published the same old retheric that “all calls go to you” so no one worries about phone support. The ADDvantage flat fee website has never made that statement because it is not true. The reason this myth lives on is because the language in the MLS for flat fee listed properties states, ”call seller directly for all showings and offers at 305-262-0803″ under the Realtor remarks section. While this is true, ADDvantage can also attest that 2,900 Realtors and buyers have called ADDvantage over the past 12 months looking for showing instructions and over 1,000 of those calls came to ADDvantage after-hours. Why don’t Realtors read the “Realtor Remarks” section of the MLS? The reason is because Realtors over the past 70 years have been calling the “listing broker” for showing instructions, not the seller. Many Realtors don’t even understand what “flat fee” or “limited service” is. If the hours of operation are not important enough for the flat fee service to publish in their listing agreement then they are not a genuine flat fee MLS service.
Genuine Flat Fee Test Number 5…if the flat fee MLS service doesn’t say the words “unconditionally withdraw”of listing from MLS upon written request from you, the seller, then that website is not a genuine flat fee MLS listing service. No other words mean the same thing. Not “cancel”, not “withdraw”, not “conditionally withdraw”, not “remove”, not “take out”, not “stop.” The reason why the word “unconditional” must be in the listing agreement is because it removes any possibilty or oppotunity for the unscrupulous not-genuine flat fee broker to leave your listing stuck in a suspended state where no other broker can re-list your home until the original listing term expires. The reason they do this is to force you to pay a fee for early cancellation (they think flat fee listings are like a bank CD…early withdrawal penalty) or force you to list with their full-service company or receive a referral commission for your listing.
When listing flat fee in Florida, list with a genuine flat fee service…ADDvantage.
Call us anytime, we work 8:00am-8:00pm…7 days a week. 1-877-232-9695.
If you have the time, please read what ADDvantage flat fee clients have to say.
Sell your home in the first 30 days!
Sell your home in the first 30 days…
By signing up with ADDvantage® MLS Express ($69 – 30 day MLS Flat Fee Listing Service) , we can help you achieve a rapid and guaranteed sale of your home, if you must sell ASAP.
1) Finish Those Odd Jobs
It’s common for homeowners who are selling their house to not bother with finishing off all those little (or sometimes large!) odd jobs around the house. Buyers may look at these as jobs they would need to complete and may send you a much lower offer or worse yet, no offer! Furthermore, if your buyer requests a Home Inspectors Report all these things will be noted and you may be asked to reduce your price accordingly or even hire a high cost professional to make the repairs for you.
2) NO Clutter
No one wants to look at your pile of videos, tools, laundry, kid’s toys, dog bowls… No one expects your property to look like a show home but they will expect you to have made an effort to show it to its full potential.
3) De-Personalize
A buyer needs to imagine themselves in your property and they cannot do this with your personal things around. It’s especially important to pack your things away if you have ‘collections’ or hobbies. This will also help you to ‘mentally prepare’ for the move. It also makes rooms show as being larger.
4) Clean
This cannot be stressed enough. Women will make the decision on purchasing a property most of the time. Even the single guy will get his mom or his girlfriend to take a look! Most women can spot dirt from a mile away. They do not want to buy your dirt.
5) Curb Appeal
a. Most people will see your property for the first time ‘driving by’ and will not waste their time viewing if it’s not what they want from the outside. If your property doesn’t get them to the door you’re wasting your time. Many times people make the decision whether they want to buy your house or not from the curb, if they are excited when they pull up chances are they will stay excited throughout the showing.
6) Kitchens And Bathrooms
These places accumulate the most dirt and the most clutter. Make sure these areas stay clean and un-cluttered. A new shower curtain and fresh towels will go a long way as well as getting rid of the curled up toothpaste tube and the sliver of soap!
7) Keep It Neutral
If you do decide you can’t get away with not decorating before selling, opt for warm neutral colors; creams, peaches and beiges all work well for carpets and walls.
If you need to spruce up, add some subtle co-ordination with accessories that you can take with you, rather than big bold splashes of color.
8) What’s That Room?
Make sure each room appears to be used as intended. If people are paying for a three bedroom house they expect to see three bedrooms, not two bedrooms and a storage room! If you use a bedroom as a study/laundry room/storage room then put in a sofa bed you gain a comfortable place to sit and still give the appearance of a bedroom.
9) Don’t Market An Empty Property
Just as you need to de-personalize so buyers can see themselves living in your property you also need to ensure that you don’t go the other way by leaving it empty. You don’t want them to have to work too hard at using their imagination. If your property is empty, they may not be able to imagine how it could look furnished. Rent or borrow some furniture so that the property looks more homely.
10) Price It To Sell NOW!
ADDvantage® Saves You (The Buyer) the Most Money!
Florida’s Real Estate professionals published the summer marketing trends a few days ago and the numbers prove – it is still a buyer’s market. Investors are picking up lots of REO and Short Sales and buyers are finding homes well below the market value from a few years ago. As an ADDvantage® Real Estate Services broker for more than 20 years, I watch these trends carefully to spot every elevation, deflation and change in the market for my clients. Selling a home is tough in the market right now. Sellers look for the cash buyers who are a no fuss, no mess kind of deal. Foreclosures are still on the rise. Here in Tampa Bay, one and 600 homes are being foreclosed on every day.
As a Buyer you want safety and security. Maybe an investment property or something for your family to settle into for retirement; whatever the case may be, when it is time to make that choice to purchase a new property, you want a Buyer’s agent who is going to be there for you. At ADDvantage® Real Estate Services we do just that. I will help you find just the right house for the best price in the current market. ADDvantage® Real Estate Services office staff includes myself, my business partner and my two assistants, who are very knowledgeable regarding the state of the housing market, the MLS, and the properties in the area you are looking in. We answer the phones from 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM, 7 days a week. ADDvantage® Real Estate Services also has Realtors all over Florida who are ready and willing to help you find the right property for you and your family. ADDvantage® Real Estate Services is the best discount Real Estate service provider in Florida and will help you find the home you have dreamed of!
Summer Sales with Florida’s Largest and Best Flat Fee MLS Company
The days of paying 6% to sell your house is over. Foreclosures are still at an all time high and people are scrambling trying to do a “short sale” to come out of the recession with some dignity still intact. Just in the Tampa Bay area, homes are still selling, but for much less than they were 4-5 years ago. The trend reports show that Real Estate sales have been pretty level for the past year. It is a Buyer’s market and still fluid. Investors are picking up greatly reduced REO (Real Estate Owned) properties with lower prices and fast cash closes. House flippers are also winning in this market by scooping up the deals when they can and turning them over to sell at a better price.
It has been difficult for homeowners to sell their home and make back what they deserve or even break even. We watch these trends carefully to see how and where they are moving so that we, as a company, can assist our clients the best way possible. At ADDvantage Real Estate Services® we are there to help buyers and sellers.
ADDvantage Real Estate Services® recognizes the market trends and understands that to stay on top in this recession, we have to offer our clients the best possible service with the best possible deals around. Currently we offer clients many different packages available to meet all your needs. ADDvantage Real Estate Services® works with buyers to find the perfect home, vacant land or commercial property at the best deal. The broker, Keith Gordon, is the best at negotiating deals so you can sit back and reap the benefits. ADDvantage Real Estate Services® also works with sellers on a Full Service level providing all you need to sell your house and negotiate your contracts at the end of the deal.
In conjunction with ADDvantage Real Estate Services®, GetMoreOffers.com is Florida’s largest and best “By Owner” Flat Fee MLS company. With GetMoreOffers.com we offer many packages that can be fine-tuned to fit the seller’s needs and can allow the client to work with our sophisticated software system right from the comforts of your own home. From our MLS Express $69 – 30 Day Listing package to our ADDvantage Success™ List till You Sell package, all the tools you need to sell your property is right here at GetMoreOffers.com.
GetMoreOffers.com is happy to announce our new and exciting MLS Express $69 – 30 Day package. The MLS Express $69 – 30 Day package offers clients a test drive to list your property in the MLS and hundreds of online Real Estate websites like Zillow, Realtor.Com®, Trulia, etc. List your property for 30 days with the option to upgrade to a regular MLS Flat Fee package if you have not received a contract on your property at the end of the 30 days. Don’t wait… try us out and test drive our MLS Express $69 – 30 Day package and get in on this terrific deal.
MLS ADDvantage® is our discount Flat Fee package offering clients an inexpensive way to list their property for 6 months with all the marketing capabilities, but only pay a Flat Fee of $199. A Flat Fee means that you choose the Buyer’s Agent commission and only pay us the Flat Fee amount of $199. This can save you thousands of dollars! MLS ADDvantage® is our most popular basic package giving you, the client, the marketing exposure you need. 85% of all Real Estate buyers will look online first. Visit MLS ADDvantage® for more information on this fantastic Flat Fee package.
Street Smart ADDvantage MLS Flat Fee® gives the client all the perks of our MLS ADDvantage® package with the addition of 3 more months to list your property, Realtor E-Blasts, Realtor.com® Showcase and more for only $399 Flat Fee! No extra closing costs for the listing agent. No fees to us at the end. You only choose to do a 4% commission to the Buyer’s Agent and get our listing out there – to the buyers. Visit Street Smart ADDvantage MLS Flat Fee® for more information.
If you need more bang for your buck and full contract representation, but don’t want to pay the high commissions, stop over and take a look at our ADDvantage Success™ package and see just what we can offer to you to help you sell your property. Our ADDvantage Success™ clients receive the Full Service support without the cost of using a Full Service Agent. For $599 Flat Fee and 1/3% at close (minimum of $699), clients can rest assure knowing that Keith and the ADDvantage Real Estate Services® Staff will be there all the way to the end. Take a look at testimonials from our ADDvantage Success™ clients or read an article about why one client chooses ADDvantage Success™ for all of his property sales. And till the end of summer you can use our promotional coupon code “success50” to receive $50 off of our ADDvantage Success™ package.
With accessories and upgrades such as Agent Assure, metal yard signs, lock boxes, home warranties, Realtor.com® Showcase, Comparative Market Analysis and more, you will only get the best with ADDvantage Real Estate Services® and GetMoreOffers.com. We are Florida’s Largest and Best MLS Flat Fee company and we will give you the service you want. We will answer the phone 7 days a week from 8 AM – 8 PM. Take “ADDvantage” of our summer deals and visit us today.
Flat Fee MLS in Florida 3 steps to succeed
In 2007, 2008 and the early part of 2009, buyers were watching more than buying and now it seems the opposite
Flat fee MLS Listing 101 keeps you safe when you list your Florida
My credentials are: Florida real estate broker for 27 years and never a customer compliant; Recognized as an advocate for flat fee MLS Sellers Rights (publishing the Florida Flat Fee MLS Bill of Rights); Received the 2008 Realtor.com award for marketing excellence; Negotiates all ADDvantage Plus™ contracts for our Florida flat rate MLS sellers; Co-founded of ADDvantage® with my partner Erin Knorr…We are Florida’s most innovative flat fee MLS listing service offering our legionary 8:00-8:00, 7 days a week live support. Read of client testimonial and listen to what they have to say about ADDvantage by visiting “getmoreoffers.”There are four flat fee MLS “business models” offering listings in Florida
Selling a home in Florida requires being priced where Realtors and buyers searching Realtor.com will perceive your listing as a value.
Competitively pricing your home ensures Realtors and buyers will see your listing as attractive. Buyers and Realtors engage listings that are priced right and they avoid listings that leave too much room to negotiate.
Don’t fear low ball offers. Smart Realtors don’t waste their time presenting low balls. I negotiate many offers for our sellers at ADDvantage® through our contract-to-close plans ADDvantage Plus™ or ADDvantage Success™. I negotiate 5 deals a week and seldom ever see a low ball turn into a deal, so just ignore them!
Competitively pricing your home ensures Realtors and buyers will see your listing as attractive. Buyers and Realtors engage listings that are priced right and they avoid listings that leave too much room to negotiate.
Don’t fear low ball offers. Smart Realtors don’t waste their time presenting low balls. I negotiate many offers for our sellers at ADDvantage® through our contract-to-close plans ADDvantage Plus™ or ADDvantage Success™. I negotiate 5 deals a week and seldom ever see a low ball turn into a deal, so just ignore them!
Competitively pricing your home ensures Realtors and buyers will see your listing as attractive. Buyers and Realtors engage listings that are priced right and they avoid listings that leave too much room to negotiate.
Don’t fear low ball offers. Smart Realtors don’t waste their time presenting low balls. I negotiate many offers for our sellers at ADDvantage® through our contract-to-close plans ADDvantage Plus™ or ADDvantage Success™. I negotiate 5 deals a week and seldom ever see a low ball turn into a deal, so just ignore them!
Flat Fee MLS Florida is Better with ADDvantage Success™
Selling by owner in Florida with ADDvantage® saves savvy Floridians from paying 6% and often results in a better selling experience because we offer a higher level of customer support and marketing. We have the best reputation in Florida for customer support with our 8:00am-8:00pm live 7 day support and effective flat fee MLS listings plans such as ADDvantage Success™.
Is real estate in Florida selling? Flat Fee MLS Florida Listing Service ADDvantage® reports 26% of their listings have sold the past 6 months
Flat Fee MLS Florida company ADDvantage® sold 26% of its listed homes the past 6 months in 117 days…Read how
