This article written by Keith Gordon, Broker for ADDvantage Real Estate Services™, for flat fee MLS customers in Jacksonville (www.getmoreoffers.com)
Flat fee MLS sellers in Jacksonville trust the ADDvantage™ trademark of flat fee MLS over all the rest for good reason…we are the only Jacksonville flat fee MLS service to offer flat fee MLS sellers the Florida Flat Fee Seller's Bill of Rights.
ADDvantage™ is a member of NEFAR, Jacksonville's Board of Realtors®. Most Jacksonville MLS flat fee MLS companies use a business model formed through “third party websites” or they do not forward Realtor.com buyer leads to their Jacksonville flat fee MLS clients. They collect money and subsequently “sell” the seller's listing to a third party broker or give away their leads to another agent for a referral commission. This process hurts the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller because there is no consistency, reliability or accountability. At ADDvantage™ we never sell out our flat fee MLS listings to a third party broker. We are members of the local Jacksonville MLS and we have three full time flat fee MLS administrators available to input Jacksonville properties. We are members of 24 Florida MLS boards and we have developed our flat fee MLS concept into a national company using our sophisticated flat fee MLS listing software, innovative products and a seller friendly message: “Real Estate By YOUR Rules!”
ADDvantage WORKS™ with Street Smart ADDvantage™ marketing is the newest flat fee MLS innovation available to Jacksonville residents. This powerful FSBO with MLS flat fee marketing package is perfect for a $300,000 to $1,000,000 plus Jacksonville property because the marketing supports high-end property sellers with International exposure from the themovechannel.co.uk, print advertising with 250 Just Listed post cards mailed to your neighbors, a real “panning” virtual tour with still shots including a Realtor.com showcase link plus full contract to close representation. As well, if the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller offers a 4% or > buyer's agent commission, ADDvantage™ will market the Jacksonville property as Street Smart ADDvantage™. Realtors® will receive the bi-weekly Street Smart ADDvantage™ email newsletter promoting your Jacksonville flat fee MLS “high commission” property listing. ADDvantage™ doesn't earn that commission, it goes 100% to the buyer's agent and if you sell it to an unrepresented buyer, you pay no commission at all. More details on this new effective flat fee MLS plan for Jacksonville residents go to www.getmoreoffers.com/FL-Jacksonville-FlatFeeMLSlisting.asp.
It depends on which flat fee MLS service you list with in Jacksonville. List flat fee MLS with a reputable Jacksonville, Florida flat fee MLS service (such as ADDvantage™) and the flat fee MLS seller ends up with all buyer leads in their email in real time 7 days a week. List flat fee MLS with a Duval County discount real estate broker that doesn't tell you where your buyer leads go and you might find out that these buyer leads do not go to you, the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller. ADDvantage™ has initiated the Florida Flat Fee Seller's Bill of Rights on December 12, 2007 in response to what ADDvantage™ believes should be necessary disclosures made to Jacksonville flat fee MLS sellers by all Florida and national flat fee MLS services.
Money. There is commission money to be made in utilizing buyer leads that are generated from the Jacksonville flat fee MLS listing. These sneaky websites or companies can “have their cake and eat it too” by charging the unknowing Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller a fee to list in the MLS and then steal their buyer leads! Some Jacksonville, Florida flat fee MLS services are just disguised as a flat fee MLS services. In reality, they are just like farmers. They plant your MLS flat fee listing in Realtor.com and reap the valuable buyer leads and cash in by: (a) selling them to an another real estate company for a referral commission if they land a commission; (b) Giving the Realtor.com lead it to their agents with the hope of earning the offered buyer's agent commission from their own Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller; (c) They use the buyer lead in attempt to pre-qualify the buyers for a mortgage because the flat fee MLS service is also a mortgage broker such as Franklin Financial.
Listing flat fee MLS by owner in Jacksonville means the owner retains the right to sell their Jacksonville property without paying a commission. That is one of the main benefits of listing your Jacksonville home flat fee MLS. Without buyer leads from Realtor.com, Homes.com, the yard sign and other advertising on the Internet, the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller has little to no chance of procuring an unrepresented buyer. Read ADDvantage's™ Florida Flat Fee MLS Listing Agreement. It clearly spells out every detail of what ADDvantage™ does and what we expect from our Jacksonville flat fee MLS sellers. In particular, it clearly states that all buyer leads from Realtor.com go to the Florida flat fee MLS seller by email. If you list with a free flat fee MLS service in Jacksonville and their offer doesn't include forwarding these valuable Realtor.com & other buyer leads to the flat fee MLS seller, it is likely because they feel entitled to do so since they are charging you a fee to list flat fee MLS. Oftentimes the cheapest flat fee MLS service is the one to watch out for but ADDvantage™ has known even some of the higher priced flat fee MLS listing companies to retain buyer leads for themselves. The end results is: (a) The Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller is really entering into what might as well be an Exclusive Right of Sale Listing Agreement because the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller will ultimately end up paying a Realtor® the offered buyer's agent commission because there will be no unrepresented buyers to sell to; (b) The Jacksonville Realtors® will have to find their own way to the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller's property because their will be no assistance from the self-serving Jacksonville flat fee MLS - they have no phone support. Whether it's an expensive, cheap, or free Jacksonville flat fee MLS listing, be sure to confirm where your buyer leads and Realtor® inquiries are going…because unless they put it in writing, it just might be a black hole. Please read how ADDvantage™ protects Jacksonville flat fee MLS buyer leads.
This is perhaps the single biggest misunderstanding about listing flat fee MLS in Jacksonville, Duval County, and the rest of the State of Florida. The truth about publishing Jacksonville flat fee MLS sellers' numbers is: (a) In the MLS, the broker of record's phone number is published by rule of the MLS; (b) The self-represented flat fee MLS contact number is displayed under Broker/Realtor® remarks stating “contact seller directly”, followed by the seller's phone number; (c) 60% of Realtor® calls will go directly to the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller and the balance to the flat fee MLS service; (d) Realtor.com prohibits any seller contact information hence the reason why many Jacksonville flat fee MLS services take these leads because the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller has no control and is often none the wiser.
Only if your flat fee MLS listing company answers the phone as well. We are clearly in a buyer's market and every Realtor® and buyer lead from Realtor.com and other Internet sources is critically important to finding that one buyer. Often, Jacksonville flat fee MLS sellers will be in a meeting or for some reason cannot answer their phone when a Realtor® attempts to make an appointment to show their home. As well, many agents simply contact the flat fee MLS service to confirm the showing instructions which is normal Realtor® protocol. The roll of a competent Jacksonville flat fee MLS service would be to back up the flat fee MLS seller and assist the Realtor® in need of showing instructions.
Here are a few popular “Realtor® in distress” circumstances:
At ADDvantage™, we field phone calls SEVEN days per week from 8AM until 8PM. In the real estate field, it is essential that prospects and agents can reach the listing company at all times. One missed lead could be the one that got away. ADDvantage™ realizes this and for the best interest of our flat fee MLS listed Jax sellers, we send email confirmation of every email or phone call we receive on their Jacksonville flat fee MLS listed property.
ADDvantage™ started offering flat fee MLS to Jacksonville residents in May 2005. Its Florida broker, Keith Gordon, has been a Florida real estate broker since 1984. We offer flat fee MLS services throughout Duval County, Clay County, St Johns County, and all Florida. We are members of 24 Florida MLS boards. ADDvantage is a member of the NEFMLS as well as the St Johns / St Augustine MLS.
It's not just a flat fee MLS listing to us! We have an attitude, a quite serous one, when it comes to phone coverage. We are Jacksonville's only flat fee MLS discount real estate firm that answers the phone 8:00-8:00 7 days a week. We get results this way because we talk with more buyers and Realtors® about showings.
Jacksonville Realtors® are responsible for 84% of all Jacksonville real estate transactions.
The National Association of Realtors® says that homes sold through Realtors® net 32% more than those sold by FSBO. Getting your home sold requires marketing and, at times, professional guidance. The question is should you hire a local Realtor® and pay 6-7% commission or go it alone as a FSBO…have the best of both worlds and list flat fee MLS with a reputable Jacksonville discount real estate broker such as ADDvantage™?
FSBO: Selling FSBO works best in a seller's market because marketing is not a huge factor being that the demand is much higher. In a buyer's market, which we have today, you need more marketing. The MLS, Realtor.com and other popular real estate websites such as Homes.com and themovechannel.co.uk are not available to FSBO sellers. As well, when you are in the MLS, IDX feeds display your Jacksonville MLS flat fee listing on popular local real estate sites such as remax.com, Coldwellbanker.com and any local Realtor® website. Of course, the listing agent must be a member of the local MLS board in Jacksonville, sign the NAR IDX agreement and authorize the local MLS to allow the IDX listing feed. Not all flat fee MLS services take the time or even know to do this.
Flat Fee MLS: A flat fee MLS listing through the Jacksonville Board of Realtors® (NEFAR) can be very effective. Flat fee means the seller pays “no listing commission.” The seller pays only the agent representing the buyer a commission, plus the flat fee up front. Flat fee listing prices vary. In Jacksonville, flat fee MLS prices range from $99-$599, depending on the quality of flat fee MLS listing service. www.getmoreoffers.com offers four flat fee MLS programs: MLS ADDvantage-$349; Street Smart ADDvantage™-$599; ADDvantage PLUS-$799 plus $500 at close(not to exceed $3,000), and ADDvantage WORKS™-$1299 up-front plus $500 at close(not to exceed $3,000).
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. 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.
Yes. Street Smart ADDvantage™ is our most successful flat fee MLS plan in all of Florida. Jacksonville Realtors® are motivated by earning commissions. The smart thinking behind Street Smart ADDvantage™ is to offer a higher than normal 3% buyer's agent commission (that's the commission the agent representing the buyer would earn) in an effort to garner more attention from Realtors®. To qualify for the Street Smart ADDvantage™ flat fee MLS program, the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller must offer the buyer's agent a 4% or > commission. This entire commission goes to the buyer's agent as ADDvantage™ has already been paid their $599 flat fee and earns no commission at all.
Our proprietary Street Smart e-mail system sends a bi-monthly email alert to Jacksonville Realtors® that are within 35 miles of your Jacksonville property, informing them of the “higher than average” commission being offered on your property. By going to www.getmoreoffers.com/streetsmart.asp, you can estimate the number of Realtors® that are located in your zip code, as well as use our interactive table which helps the Jacksonville flat fee MLS seller better determine their net profit using varied buyer agent commissions.
Street Smart ADDvantage™ emails are well received by Jacksonville Realtors® because the message is good news for them…more commission. As well, unlike other Realtor® generated emails which contain information about just “one” property, the Street Smart ADDvantage™ eblast typically contains 10 or so Jacksonville properties all offering a high buyer's agent commission. This type of email is helpful and well received. (see sample of Street Smart ADDvantage™ eblast)
Street Smart ADDvantage™ Concept 1: It 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 counter 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: Offer more commission to the agent/Realtor® who actually brought the buyer. It makes sense 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 MLS listed property.
Street Smart ADDvantage™ Concept 3: Realtors® value their home sale more than yours. A study conducted using public recorded sales of nearly 100,000 houses in suburban Chicago, as reported by Get Wired Magazine, showed that more than 3,000 of those houses were owned by Realtors®. Those agent owned homes sold for an average of 3% more 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
Sell your home with ADDvantage Real Estate, a flat fee MLS company.