Real Estate

I know the difference between a realtor and a real estate agent. I was under the impression that an agent can work and sell real estate, but can’t call him/herself a realtor unless they belong the the Association of Realtors. I believe that you would have to be a realtor to subscribe to the MLS.

No, it would be restraint of trade for the state to force you to join the National Association of Realtors. All you need to be is licensed.

In many states the courts have held that the MLS must be open to everyone, although they are typically owned by the local Board of Realtors. The MLS is localized, typically to a single metro area, so check with your local MLS to see what their rules are.

We bought a new home , and have less than 120 days to sell our existing home.Our listing agent was also the selling agent that we bought from.(New home)They accidentally listed our home as a TRIPLEX on the MLS. The realtor just called and I pointed out the error. Realtor apologized and said no calls have came in , we should lower the price.

Your input please, especially realtors.

If you need to sell fast, I would lower the price. However, they did have it listed incorrectly, so I would talk to the agent about lowering her fees as well.
She should absorbs partial and/or cut her and the broker’s commission fees due to the mistake. I don’t feel you should have to believe that price was the strict driving force in no interested lookers, it is possible that it was due to the way it was advertised. Or I would tell her that I would expect additional advertising of the home with the correction highlighted. I would really call her and ask her what she is going to do to compensate the time wasted during the error in advertising. Time is of the essence when needing to turn property. Also, be sure that you read and re-read the contract you signed with her to insure that there is no "clause" protecting her.

Should you add an MLS listing to your FSBO strategy? Real estate agents used to be the only people who could access the MLS, but now anyone can see it on the Internet. Adding an MLS listing increases the number of eyes that will see your home. When selling your own home through a site like FSBO.com, you can add an MLS package. You will still avoid paying most of the commission, but you may have to pay a commission to an agent who brings his or her buyers to your sale.

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Just wondering, our realtor (we like him, we really do) told us that the exclusion list that we provide him with – names of just a few people that have seen the house ‘by owner’ and are somewhat interest, is ony good for 7 or 10 days (he couldn’t remember whether it was 7 or 10). That means that these people need to make a contract on our home within seven to ten days of our signing up with him otherwise we have to pay him a commission. I have never heard this before – it seems a bit unfair because it often takes people more than 7-10 days to decide about a home yet we brought them in by owner and he would get a commission is they go past that time. Does anyone know about this ‘rule’ and is it really true??? We are in IN.
Thanks!

There is no rule. The timeframe is negotiable (maybe his broker has an office policy?).
Tell him that the exclusion is for the duration of the listing agreement.

Join David Mendel and HAR Chair Margie Dorrance, as they discuss property sales for the month of January 2010.

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How you can you add MLS listings to your site if you’re not a Realtor? Could you partner with one who could allow you use their data feed? This would be on a popular RE site and there would be something like "MLS listings provide Jon Doe Realtor" with a link to their website.
Hi Dave, i am not selling my home. I want to provide MLS listings on my website for others to view, similar to what local agents offer on their site.
Danno – They would be listed as MLS listings (all MLS listing for a particular area) and it would clearly be stated that the MLS listing were provided by a Local RE agent with their name displayed and a link to their site.

look in to "for sale by owner" they have a way of you getting MLS on your own. ***POLAR YC : Contact the realty offices of where your interested & most likely they would be happy to help you out, seeing how the "market" is dead on arival.

I need to know what actions I can take, because I am in a different state, and this person had a signed and notorized contract with us that they would pay the monthly payments until October of 2007, and then they would purchase the home. There was nothing in the contract that said that they could get out of it in any way. Well, they sent us an e-mail asking us for the power of attorney so that they could sell it. My first thought was "no-way," because how could we trust this person who already broke the trust of breaking the contract? Yesterday, I see that this person had the home listed on the MLS, and had a realtor’s sign in the front yard. He had to have claimed that he was the owher in order to do that. Isn’t that fraud? We have a whole mess to figure out now. What should I do?

They can’t sell anything until they fulfill the terms and then they buy it and the title is transferred. So yes it’s fraud. In fact to the point that you could have them charged for it.

So they are claiming to be the owner. And they want a power of attorney? A power of attorney would allow them to sell it in your name (as if it was you selling it) and allow them to take the money and run. And since you gave them the POA there wold be very little that you could do about it. Something is very wrong here.

Contact the realtor and as you are the owner you wan’t details regarding the listing. Or I would actually be sneaky and pretend that you are a buyer first and find a few things out. Then call the cops. There are so many things wrong with this picture that it seems something is really wrong on so many levels.

Lean more about the San Francisco housing market including average home price, average income, and the local tax rate. To gain access to property listings including the MLS, for sale by owners (FSBO), foreclosures, and more, visit http://www.realty.com. This video is produced by Realty.com.

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Looking for something in Chicago… Don’t want to bug my realtor for his MLS license.

MLS access is strictly limited to those belonging to the association and a few others, such as appraisers. However, nearly all MLS organizations automatically list their properties on Realtor.Com.

You won’t get all the realtor pertinent information contained in the MLS, but you should be able to see all of the available properties for your specific area.

Real estate video marketing & flat fee MLS. Utilize flat fee MLS if you want the Realtor exposure but don’t want to be locked into a 6% traditional listing commission.

Since half of all potential buyers have gone missing in the last year or so, there is a lot of competition on the MLS right now. A buyer has a big advantage because there are far more available properties than there are buyers so I guess a savvy seller could us flat fee MLS to their advantage by paying the flat fee to get the MLS exposure and then offer the Realtors a huge commission to bring them a buyer. That might work…

Another option would be to focus on the Internet. Afterall everyone says buyer’s start their home search there! It would only take you about six months at ten hours per day to master search engine optimization and all the little tricks and techniques that is takes to get a high ranking on Goggle and Yahoo! And, if you have that kind of knowledge I would like to know why you are reading this anyway?

The MLS is the greatest real estate marketing tool ever created. However, in todays market it’s just not enough. There’s just too much inventory on the Multiple Listing Service for it to be your only resource. It doesn’t give you any kind of edge over the competing properties. Combining flat fee MLS with Internet Marketing is the answer to today’s market conditions.

Let us show you how to effectively market and sell your house by owner.

Please take a minute to visit us at:

Orlando & Tampa: http://www.cottagesandcastles.net

Miami & South Florida: http://www.Sellers-MLS.com

Naples & Southwest Florida: http://www.mlsswf.com

Caribbean property owners and ANYONE from around the WORLD can learn more at: http://www.RealtyoftheCaribbean.com

Atlanta: http://www.RandyBess.com

We are a licensed Florida Broker and International Realtor Organization.

Learn what it takes to effectively market and get results when selling your own home, by-owner.

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