Fort Myers, Florida

Flat fee MLS

Answers Fort Myers flat fee MLS sellers should have before listing flat fee in the MLS

This article written by Keith Gordon, Broker for ADDvantage Real Estate Services™, for flat fee MLS customers in Fort Myers (www.getmoreoffers.com)

How long has ADDvantage been in business in Ft. Myers

ADDvantage started in May 2005. Its broker, Keith Gordon, has been a Florida real estate broker since 1984. We offer flat fee MLS services throughout Lee County and all Florida. We are members of 18 Florida MLS boards.

Is ADDvantage the best choice to list my home flat fee in Fort Myers?

ADDvantage is a member of the Fort Myers and the Beaches MLS, which is Fort Myers's Board of Realtors. Many Ft. Myers MLS flat fee MLS companies use a business model called “third party websites.” They collect money like a ”vending machine” and subsequently “sell” the seller's listing to a third party broker. We call this practice ‘off-ing’ because it “offs” the inputting and maintenance responsibilities to another entity/broker. This process misleads the seller because there are half truths about this process which is not in the seller's best interests. The result is inconsistency and accountability issues. We at ADDvantage never “off a listing” as we have three full time MLS administrators, members of 18 Florida MLS boards and we have developed our flat fee MLS concept into a national company using our sophisticated listing software, innovative products and a seller friendly message: “Real Estate By YOUR Rules!”

My home in Fort Myers is worth about 500k. How many homes has ADDvantage sold in the greater Fort Myers area?

ADDvantage, a Fort Myers discount real estate broker, is the only flat fee MLS company that publishes its sales statistics on its website. As of 6/24/2007, ADDvantage has sold just about 32% of its MLS listed properties.

Why does ADDvantage answer the phone 8:00-8:00, 7 days a week?

We have salesgoal at ADDvantage. Sell more Fort Myers properties than any other MLS discount company. We are Fort Myers's only flat fee MLS discount real estate firm that answers the phone 8:00-8:00 7 days a week. Our hard work results in more showings.

Fort Myers Realtors® are talented and important.

Fort Myers Realtors® are responsible for 84% of the real estate transactions in greater Fort Myers.

The National Association of Realtors® research indicates homes sold through Realtors® net 32% more than those sold by FSBO. In today's buyer's market, getting your home sold requires extensive marketing. The question is should you hire a local Realtor® and pay 6-7% commission or go it alone “FSBO” or take a middle ground and list flat fee on the MLS?

Fort Myers home sellers have choices: (1) Sell FSBO? 2) List flat fee in the MLS? Or 3) Go full service?

FSBO: Selling FSBO works best in a seller's market because marketing is not a major factor. A sign in the yard and an ad in the local paper should get it sold. In a buyer's market, sellers need sophisticated internet and local advertising. The MLS, Realtor.com and other popular real estate websites such as Homes.com and themovechannel.co.uk are not available to FSBO sellers.

Flat Fee MLS: We are members of the Fort Myers and the Beach Board of Realtors. Flat fee means the seller pays “no listing commission.” The seller pays only the agent representing the buyer a commission, plus the flat fee charge. Flat fee listing prices vary. In Fort Myers area, prices range from $99-$599, depending on the quality of listing service. www.getmoreoffers.com offers four programs: MLS ADDvantage™-$349; Street Smart ADDvantage™-$599; ADDvantage PLUS-$799 up-front and $500 at close; ADDvantage WORKS-$1299 up-front and $500 at close.

Top 10 questions to ask a Fort Myers flat fee MLS company before signing up:

1. Who is the broker “inputting and maintaining” the MLS listing?
2. Is that broker “entity” the company that collects your flat fee money? If not, ask more questions (3-5 below) or just hang up the phone!
3. If the company who collects your flat fee MLS money is not the broker of record (2 above), then ask for the name and phone number of the broker who will actually be inputting and maintaining your MLS listing?
4. Call that broker and:
   • See if he/she answers the phone
   • Ask what are the listing procedures are for changing and editing your listing?
   • Ask what hours of the week does he/she answer the phone?
   • Ask how Realtor.com and other buyer leads that come by email are forwarded to the seller?
   • Ask if they offer a website that enables sellers to make their own changes to a listing?
5. Who actually makes edits and changes to the listing? Do they have an MLS administrator?
6. Are there any office procedures or dedicated phone support during the weekend?
7. How are “buyer leads” forwarded that come in by phone?
8. If I have a question about a sales contract, will there be a broker to assist me and how much will that cost?
9. Ask if the listing broker has software to manage listing?
10. Ask the listing broker how many MLS boards they are members of.

Full-service: A conventional full service listing is 6-7%. Normally 3% of this total commission goes to the listing agent as a listing commission and the remainder is offered by said listing agent to another agent to deliver a buyer. I think listing commissions are worthless 95% of the time unless; (i) the listing agent is so well connected to buyers that that agent will sell your property through those connections; (ii) the seller is not available to help in the showings and cannot lockbox the property because it is occupied.

Top 10 questions to ask a full service Fort Myers

1. Is your office open on Saturday and is the phone answered live?
2. Do you “personally” answer your cell phone on Saturday or Sunday? What are your hours?
3. My property is in Fort Myers Beach. How many active listings do you have within 10 miles of my property?
4. In the past six months, how many homes have you “personally sold” within 10 miles of my property?
5. How many of your own listings have you “personally“ sold within 10 miles of my property within the past six months?
6. Of these “sold” homes, what was the average number of days on market (DOM) for those sold homes?
7. How many listings of yours have sold in the past 6 months and where?
8. Are you present when another Realtor® shows the home?
9. What will you do to sell my house besides put a lock box on my door? (This will raise the feathers of most Realtors® but needs to be asked).
10. Why should I list with you if you aren't going to be there when the house is shown?

My property is in Lee County. I am considering a flat fee MLS listing using Street Smart ADDvantage™. Is the Realtor® eblast effective in the Fort Myers area?

Fort Myers Realtors® are motivated by commissions. The smart thinking behind Street Smart ADDvantage™ is to offer higher than a normal “3% co-broker commission” (that's the commission the agent representing the buyer would earn) in an effort to garner more attention from Realtors.

The power behind our Street Smart ADDvantage™: the higher the commission, the bigger the motivation.

Our proprietary Street Smart ADDvantage™ e-mail system sends a bi-monthly email alert to Fort Myers Realtors® within 35 miles of your property informing them of the “higher than average” commission being offered on your property. By going to www.getmoreoffers.com (left side middle), you can estimate the number of Realtors® that are located in your zip code.

ADDvantage's Street Smart ADDvantage™ Realtor® eblast reaches Realtors® in all Lee Country. Street Smart ADDvantage™ emails are well received by Fort Myers Realtors® because the message is good news for them…more commission. As well, unlike other Realtor® sent emails which contain information about just “one” property, the Street Smart ADDvantage™ eblast contains typically 10 properties all offering a high co-broke commission. This type of email is informative.

Street Smart ADDvantage™ Concept 1: It's may be better to raise the commission than to lower the sales price: If you are selling a $300,000 home, 1% of commission is $3,000. In a typical co-broke flat fee MLS listing, the seller offers 3%. When negotiating price with a buyer on a $300,000 home, a $5,000 price move between counters offers is realistic. $10,000 may be more realistic in some markets. The math: Raising commission 1% or $3,000 is less than a price drop of $5,000….so adding commission could be more lucrative than adjusting your sales price.

Street Smart ADDvantage™ Concept 2: Offering more commission to the agent/Realtor fee, they are positioned to offer the commission where it should be: to the agent who sells the property. Instead of paying 6% to a listing agent, half of which would be offered by the listing agent to a buyer's agent, sellers could theoretically list flat fee and then offer the entire 6% to the buyer's agents. If all things are equal and a Realtor® could only show one of two homes, it's logical that they would choose to show the one offering a higher commission. By using our Street Smart ADDvantage program, you’ll get our powerful a bi-monthly e-blast to the Realtors® within 35 miles of your property.

Street Smart ADDvantage™ Concept 3: Realtors® value their home sale more than yours. A recent study conducted using public recorded sales of nearly 100,000 houses in suburban Chicago showed that more than 3,000 of those houses were owned by realtors. Those agent owned homes sold for an average of 3% higher than the other “non-Realtor” owned homes which stayed on the market for an average of two additional weeks. Check out more on this at www.getmoreoffers.com/streethome.asp

See our “8 Reasons why ADDvantage offers Fort Myers home seller's more flat fee MLS services that get faster results.”