This article written by Keith Gordon, Broker for ADDvantage Real Estate Services™, for flat fee MLS customers in Miami (www.getmoreoffers.com)
ADDvantage started in May 2005. Its broker, Keith Gordon, has been a Florida real estate broker since 1984. “I started in the flat fee MLS listing business in Miami , Florida in 2001 (Miami Pro Realty). We now offer flat fee MLS throughout Florida and are members of 18 Florida MLS boards.”
ADDvantage is unique among MLS flat fee companies in Miami because we are not a third party “website” that collects money and then passes off the seller's listing to a third party broker.
What started in Miami as a small flat fee MLS offering in 2001 has developed into a national company using our sophisticated listing software, innovative products and a seller friendly message: “Real Estate By YOUR Rules!”
ADDvantage is the only Miami discount real broker that publishes its sales statistics on its website. As of 6/23/2007, ADDvanage has sold 32% of its listed properties.
ADDvantage has a serious sales attitude. Broker Keith Gordon puts it this way. “For ADDvantage, we see the flat fee MLS business as a sales and marketing contest. Who can sell the most homes in Miami by “any” Real Estate Company, discount or full service. We want that title!. Answering the phone 8:00-8:00 helps in more showing.”
Did you know that real estate agents in Miami hold the key to 84% of all real estate sales?
The National Association of Realtors® says that homes sold through Realtors® net 32% more than those sold by FSBO. Getting your home sold is a huge undertaking. The question is should you hire a Realtor® and pay a total of 6-7% listing commission or go it alone as a FSBO or take a middle ground and list flat fee?
FSBO: Selling FSBO works best in a seller's market because marketing may be as simple as “putting up a FSBO” sign.” In a buyer's market, which we have today in Miami and other surrounding areas of Miami-Dade County, you may need extensive marketing such as the MLS, Realtor.com and other prolific real estate websites such as Homes.com and themovechannel.co.uk… that's not available by FSBO.
Flat Fee MLS: Flat fee means “no listing commission.” It also means you pay only the agent representing the buyer and the up front flat fee charge. Flat fee MLS listing service in Miami vary in price 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.
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.
Realtors® in Miami are motivated by earning commissions; it follows that higher commissions motivate them. That's the power behind our Street Smart ADDvantage™: the higher the commission, the bigger the motivation.
Our proprietary “eblast” software (e-mail system) sends emails to Miami 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 minimum number of Realtors® that are located in your zip code.
Our Realtor® email list reaches Realtors® in the Miami-Dade, Golden Beach, Sunny Isles, Plantation, Weston, South Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Hollywood, Davie, Sunrise, Coral Gables, Coral Springs and Pembroke Pines.
Street Smart ADDvantage™ emails are well received by Realtors® because the message is good news for them…more commission.
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