How Can Discount MLS Benefit Home Sellers?

There are many different ways to find buyers for a piece of property on sale, but one of the most efficient ways to do so is through a multiple listing service, or what is more popularly known as MLS. Simply put, a multiple listing service is a collection of databases containing information about house listings in a particular area. This warehouse of information can be accessed by real estate brokers who have agreed to share their information with other members of the service, enabling them to locate buyers for properties using much less time, resources and effort than if they were to do it on their own.

There are many benefits that home sellers can enjoy if they choose to list their properties on MLS sites, such as:

More exposure. The real estate business is actually a game of numbers: the greater the number of people who know about a home’s availability, then the chances of actually finding an interested buyer becomes higher. As such, the coverage of an advertisement is a crucial factor in successfully selling a piece of property. Traditional advertising methods such as newspaper advertisements and “for sale” signs can only reach a limited number of people in a specific area. MLS providers, on the other hand, cater to brokers and buyers not only in the local area, but also across the nation or even abroad. Using MLS can effectively help sellers reach thousands (or even millions) of people across the world.

More savings. Sellers can save more money by using MLS because sales tend to be faster — you don’t have to advertise for prolonged periods using costly channels such as flyers and newspaper ads. Home vendors can get even more savings by availing of flat-fee or discount MLS. In this system, you will only have to pay a certain fee to list your property with the service, and this fee is usually much less than the traditional commission earned by a real estate agent. Sellers may have to pay a commission to the buyer’s agent if he or she found the listing, however, but this is still much cheaper than paying both the buyer and seller’s agent. Vendors can save more money still if the buyer himself found the listing; in this case, no agent has to be paid commission.

Less stress. Listing a property on an MLS site can help reduce the time and effort needed to find a buyer, and as such, there is less stress in selling a home. MLS systems also contain a host of information about properties that can help streamline the whole transaction such as details on mortgage payments, real estate taxes and utilities on a particular piece of property. Having this information on hand helps buyers and sellers conduct transactions as efficiently as possible.