Category: Which Miami Flat Fee MLS Service is Best?
ADDvantage is the best Flat Fee MLS listing service in Florida…Proof is now in our latest data
I started listing homes in Miami offering flat fee MLS in 1999. In 2005, ADDvantage Real Estate Services and GetMoreOffers.com was launched, our web-based flat fee MLS listing site. Since 2005, we have sold over $100,000,000 in property in Florida for nearly 500 sellers.
But, we haven’t been successful selling for everyone. No surprise, right? But, what might surprise you is what happened to the hundreds of listings that we weren’t successful but rather canceled their listing with us and went to a full-service agent thinking the grass may be greener elsewhere. Because we have a no strings attached listing agreement, a seller can cancel their listing at any time with no cancellation fee whatsoever.
Since our inception in 2005, we believed (and still do) that transparency in real estate was missing and our answer to that was a technology driven web-based discount real estate company centered on service, hard-work, honesty and value.
In 2011, we decided to go back and track every seller that left ADDvantage for a full-service Realtor, not just in Miami but all of our MLS listings in Florida. As a co-owner of ADDvantage, I always took it personally when we lost a listing to a full-service agent because I always felt that our service and marketing was better than any full-service real estate company. As well, I knew why we don’t sell every property listed through our company; it was the listing price. But the question remains, are the sellers we lost to full-service better off?
To answer that question we spent many man hours compiling the “lost listing data record,”tracking every listing that ever left us, right to its sale date and sale price. We wanted to see if the sellers that switched to a full-service agent from our flat fee MLS service did better or worse than their last listed price with ADDvantage. It must be noted, in all fairness to this study, that the trend of real estate prices since 2005 have been steadily dropping in Miami and all of Florida. Time is not a friend of any seller in a bear market, only sellers in a “seller’s market” benefit from patience. Those sellers that misprice a home are likely going to be behind the price curve always.
The data points that resulted from our 3 month study were both surprising and shocking. Florida home owners that were successful selling through ADDvantage flat fee MLS sold 6% under their last listed price compared to 32% less for those sellers that canceled their listing with ADDvantage and choose to re-list with a full-service agent. Not only did these sellers sell for less, but they took on an additional 169 days on average to sell and paid an additional $8,345 more in real estate commissions. OUCH!!
The fact that our successful sellers paid less in commission and sold just 6% under their ask has to do with our business model. The sellers we attract are after two things: Control over their listing and saving money in real estate commissions. Therefore, it only makes sense that our average sales price is just 6% under list price because our sellers are looking at Realtor.com, the neighborhood sales stats through Miami-Dade Property Appraisers office and our system sends newly MLS listed properties in our clients immediate neighborhood automatically on a daily basis. Our sellers at ADDvantage are well-informed about price.
As well, our ADDvantage Success plan comes with unlimited price analysis by me and I work for the seller just like full-service in that I negotiate and close the deal right through inspections, appraisal and review of the closing statement. I would rather not negotiate and price the listing very tight to where my seller wants out. I want to make the buyer want my listing and fear someone else will buy it. This technique draws more offers and I believe it results in a higher price for my seller because we will draw out the best buyer, sells faster and keep a falling market from working against me and my client.
Back to the study…You can draw several conclusions about this listing study. One, of course, is that these sellers that withdrew their flat fee MLS listed properties were over-priced while listed at ADDvantage. You can also conclude these sellers needlessly gave away $8,345 in commissions. Another conclusion that seems most relevant is that if these sellers followed their instincts in the first place that lead them to ADDvantage to save money and fully trusted our system, marketing and company, they would have ultimately saved an average of $8,345 in commission. Some defectors do come back to ADDvantage once they experience “the other side” and see the buyer-showing lead flow with another real estate company or,I should say, its lack therof. We always deliver excellent service and marketing and do enjoy an excellent reputation with fellow Miami Realtors, our past customers and do receive consistent referrals.
We do help our sellers with pricing their homes at ADDvantage. Our system automatically sends our client sellers an email on every new listing in their neighborhood so they can see what’s going on. We do recent sales data reports for our ADDvantage Success clients anytime they wish and get feedback from Realtor showings. I coach our sellers as well when they ask. My pricing advice is always the same. I focus on showings and offers. If we have a high number of showings and no offers, we are priced too high. The theory is buyers are using our listing as a comparable to buy something else. If we have offers, I can analyze where these buyers are trying to get a deal done, then re-price possibly 12% higher than the highest offer. If there are no offers, then I look at time on market and recommend a price drop based on the opinion of the seller and comps.
But, not everyone sees things as equal between flat fee MLS services and full-service. Some feel that full-service agents have an advantage because they are local and have possibly more buyers. The truth is buyers rule everything in real estate sales and 86% of all buyers are working with Realtors. Of course, all Realtors use the MLS exactly the same way and see all listing the same, especially in metropolitan Miami.
But, there are a few remarkable differences with the way we handle business at ADDvantage. All calls are answered by real people 7 days a week. Every buyer lead, every Realtor showing request is handled professionally with no “call the call center” as most full-service Realtors use. Call centers are not open on weekends. That is bizarre. So any Realtor that uses showing call centers can’t show and sell a home on a weekend if someone calls. Crazy, I tell you! If you knew that, you wouldn’t list your home with an agent that uses one.
Our Internet marketing is very powerful because we are members of most Florida Realtor Associations from The Florida Keys, greater Miami-Dade, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca and all the way to Jacksonville. Orlando, Daytona, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Tampa Bay, Panhandle and many more. Because we have most Florida MLS listed properties on GetMoreOfers.com, it attracts over 60,000 buyers per month. We use advanced proprietary Internet marketing methods to garner maximum Internet presence.
Call us anytime 1-877-232-9695.
And, check out our flat fee MLS client testimonials, these sellers saved thousands in commissions and received excellent service.
With so many Flat Fee MLS Services in Miami, which one is the best deal?
It is an interesting topic. Do I list flat fee MLS with the company that offers a listing in the MLS for $159 for 12 months or the one that is $298, $299 or $169?
Here’s the truth behind all the smoke and mirrors of listing flat fee in the MLS.
Truth number one about listing your Miami home using flat fee MLS. Some flat fee services in South Florida are horrible; some are good and some offer over-the-top service.
To find out what type of service you need depends on what type of seller you are? If you are a home owner that is detail oriented and wants the best service possible, list with a company that has the most articulate flat fee MLS listing agreement that protects you from possible ugly surprises.
ADDvantage, a trusted Miami flat fee MLS listing service, publishes their listing agreement on their home page for all to see. Listing agreements should include every significant detail about what the flat fee broker will do and won’t do. Some flat fee services say very little in their listing agreements and some “websites” doesn’t even publish one.
Like any contract between two parties, get it in writing. Flat fee MLS is a “paid-in-advance” service. Being that you are paying in advance for a service, the service provider should tell you in advance what they are going to do for the money you have paid.
If there is no listing agreement published on a flat fee MLS website, then move on to another flat fee service because listing flat fee with no listing agreement to pre-view would be like going to visit an un-licensed lawyer.
This will screen out truth number two about listing flat fee in the MLS which is the topic of “national” flat fee MLS ‘websites.” National flat fee “websites” are not licensed Florida real estate brokers and therefore cannot show you a listing agreement because sellers do not sign listing agreements with “websites” they sign listing agreements with licensed brokers. The point here is the “national website” only collects money and then refers the Miami home seller to a Florida licensed real estate broker. If you sign up with a national flat fee “website”, you will be signing a listing agreement of that “unknown broker” after you pay…that’s crazy…but people do it everyday because they believe what they see on the website “we are biggest national flat fee…” Conclusion…is if there is no listing agreement clearly published on the site, move on.
After you have located a listing agreement, choosing between flat fee MLS services boils down to service and technology. If a flat fee website looks homemade and lacks specific details about what they are offering, then their technology or effort they have put forth into their website will also reflect on how they display your MLS listing, search features on the website for buyers, IDX feeds, Internet marketing and customer control panel for easy edits. Crappy websites equates with crappy technology or lack of commitment into technology that supports their clients.
The next consideration is service or support. Flat fee is not just inputting a listing into the local SE Florida Regional MLS and my house magically gets sold. Flat fee is hard work and long hours. All calls do not go to the flat fee seller (see article…”Miami Flat Fee MLS Sellers should choose your South Florida flat rate MLS Broker Carefully”).
When it comes to selling a home using flat fee MLS, buyer leads and Realtor showings is what the flat fee MLS listing service should be focused on. The hours that the flat fee service keeps will directly affect the number of Realtor showings.
Cheap is cheap and selling a $1,000,000 Miami home is serious business. List with a flat fee MLS service that is serious about buyer leads and Realtor showings…one that answers the phone 12 hours a day 7 days a week…ADDvantage is Miami’s hardest working flat fee MLS service…8:00-8:00 7 days a week….2,890 showings booked through ADDvantage the past 12 months. Our basic flat fee MLS plan is $349 for a 9 month listing with excellent service.
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