Getting the most out of listing Flat Fee MLS in Fl

How do you price a home in today’s competitive Florida real estate markets of Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville?

2009-08-16T06:08:00.000-07:00

How do you price a home in today’s competitive Florida real estate markets of Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville?

Keep it simple. Go to Realtor.com, Homes.com, Remax.com, Getmoreoffers.com or Zillow.com. Gather “listed” (not “sold”) data/comparables. In today’s market, “sold” data can be skewed as much as 6% because Realtors® don’t confirm whether or not the seller has paid closing costs (called seller concessions) when they do a CMA analysis (comparable market analysis). CMAs are based on sold data. As well, sold data has short sales and bank owned which is not necessarily your direct competition as many Realtors will not work short sales with buyers.

While my pricing advice is sound, the big unknown in Florida is the appraisal hurdle. That in itself is a huge reason to take my pricing advice.

I suggest opening an Excel spreadsheet or start writing down where your competition is priced. Get an idea of price per square foot living area (list price divided by living area square footage). These “comparables” will give you a range of what’s on the market that has not sold. This will establish a base price to then evaluate further. You may need to adjust for items that your comparables have or don’t have such as pool, upgrades, etc. Be sure you do keep in mind that in today’s market upgrades are worth 50% of their value. Unfortunately, in a buyer’s market, everything is discounted.

For this example, say your base price after your analysis is $210,000. Now let’s fine tune your price to make it attract offers. Because this market is a buyer’s market, you need to price your home right where you would if a cash buyer was negotiating with you. In paragraph 2 above, you established your base price at $210,000 using nearby comparables. Then ask yourself this question. If a cash buyer was negotiating with me right now, how far would I go down in price assuming that the buyer was represented by a Realtor and you were paying a 3% commission…You pay no listing commission with flat fee.

If that figure is $190,000, then add 2% back for closing costs (doc stamps on deed and seller’s title policy) or $190,000 x 1.02% = $193,800 and $5,700 for commission. Your MLS price would be $190,000 + $3,800 + $5,700 = $199,500. Remember not to advertise a lower price than your MLS listed price of $199,500 because of MLS rules. Possibly add an additional $1,400 for the cost of our ADDvantage Success™ flat fee plan which is a hybrid/full-service plan where I help you set the price, negotiate all offers and the close the deal.

I believe it is better to price a home under your competition and leave no room for negotiations than to price it in line with all of your competition. Your “competition” is still listed and not sold. So what they are doing is not working. The bottom line is, better priced homes get shown more. It is far more desirable to get a buyer interested in your home and buy it that have 20 showing and no offers. That means they used your property as a comparison tool and bought something else.

When I receive Realtor showing requests for my ADDvantage Success flat fee MLS clients that are priced to sell, I coach that buyer’s agent to bring their buyer’s offer in at full-price. It helps them save time and they love that type of assistance because to them, it’s al about getting a deal done and getting paid!

In this crazy Florida market of 2009, the name of the game is Realtor showings.

Call me any time about how to list with us in the any one of 27 Florida MLS Boards using our flat fee MLS listing plans.

1-877-232-9695
1-727-942-2929
1-305-393-8138

Price drops are not the only way to garner attention for your MLS listing in Miami

2009-08-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

Selling homes in 2009 is all about price. But, there is a point where price drops are not the only way to garner attention for your MLS listing in Miami.

Sellers in Miami have 3 choices; lower the price; raise the commission; or do both. What’s the right move when trying to sell a home in Miami, Ft, Lauderdale and other Florida cities such as Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville?

A client of mine in Miami who happens to be listed in SE Regional MLS using a flat fee MLS product called ADDvantage Plus™ (not a limited service flat fee MLS plan as this client has full contract representation) wrote me and said, 'Also, we are very much negotiable on the price. Additionally, with your experience is there anything else we can do to attract more people to come view the property and get more stimulation out there in the market place? Any suggestions, comments and/or advice would be very much appreciated!'

This client happens to be offering a 3% buyer’s agent commission, list price $850,000, has been listed for 12 days and has 3 Realtor® showings and no offers. The question is should these Miami Beach sellers drop their price or should raising their commission to 4%?

The thinking I use hinges on the concept that offering a larger than normal 3% buyer’s agent commission is always cheaper than dropping price $20,000. But, nothing motivates buyers more than dropping price. I believe the most correct answer is to drop price and raise commission from 3% to 4%. If your buyer’s agent commission is already at 4%, leave it. This should get the attention of both buyers and the Realtors. And, drop price right to where you would accept a deal.

If your are competing against very similar properties where price is the only differential, then I would move the commission to 2.5% and pass that commission savings on the buyer.

Let’s look at a scenario where a seller in Miami thinks their home is priced well after comparing similar homes listed in the MLS by using Realtor.com or other sites such as Homes.com, Zillow.com, Remax.com or getmoreoffers.com. The Miami MLS listed seller is asking $850,000 and is offering a 3% as a buyer’s agent commission. The seller is flat fee MLS listed and no “listing commission” is being paid. With this scenario, the seller maybe thinking dropping price to $829,000 (as they said 'Also, we are very much negotiable on the price’) and keeping the buyer’s agent commission at 3% to attract an offer. I would raise the buyer’s agent commission to 4% as a carrot for the Realtors® and use a our Realtor® direct marketing program Street Smart ADDvantage® to eblast the Realtors about the 4% commission offer. Then drop price to $839,000 which makes up for the extra 1% in commission.

This way we keep both the buyer’s and the Realtors® looking at the listing.

In another situation, a recent flat fee MLS Miami Beach client listed his property and sold it within a few days of being on the MLS. He asked me about how to price the home. He gave me his price range where he would accept an offer. I said price it at the low end and get it sold as time is never on the side of a seller in a buyer’s market. He didn’t take my advice and priced it at the high-end. Our signup process is 100% online and the seller controls everything about their listings. So when I saw his higher than expected price I asked him about it. After a short conversation (and before his listing it the SE Florida MLS) and changed the price to the lower price and got a contract in days.

Call me any time about pricing strategies and how we can help you sell your Miami property. 305- 393-8138

Please visist our flat fee MLS Miami website...GetMoreOffers.com

2009-08-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Call us anytime....1-877-232-9695 or 727-942-2929

There’s more selling a home in Florida than just getting listed in the MLS. At ADDvantage®, we offer pricing advice to our sellers that helps them get more showings which results in more offers.

Our url is getmoreoffers.com and it is true for several reasons.

First and foremost, we believe our roll is to facilitate the sale by promoting our sellers best interest. We start by answering the phone 7 days a week from 8:00am to 8:00pm “live”. We have been doing this for our flat fee MLS sellers in Florida since 2005 and continue to do so. The benefit is enormous to sellers that list their Florida homes with ADDvantage® because Realtors and buyers call all day long requesting showing instructions even though it says in the MLS to call seller directly for all showings and appointments. They invariably find the need to the listing broker. When they do, we give them your “exact” showing instructions, send an email to confirm the call and our system even sends an email after the showing requesting feedback.

Next, Internet market with ADDvantage® is world wide. Your listing will be seen everywhere from Craigslist to AOL and from Zillow to Realtor.com. Once listed flat fee MLS with us, just type your address into a google search bar and you will find your home.

Our flat fee MLS listing plans are not one size fits all. There are 5 plans. A basic 3 month plan is $179 and our ADDvantage Success™ hybrid full-service/flat fee plan is $699 plus $699 at close. “Success” is a contract to close full service plan. It is our best value for getting maximum showing and the best results. It takes a flat fee listing and packages it as a full-service listing so Realtors don’t get the impression that they are dealing directly with the seller…This helps get you a higher sales price for your home, more showings and an overall more professional experience.

Once you read our testimonials from our Florida flat fee MLS sellers from cities such as Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Pete, Naples and Ft. Myers, you’ll find what past sellers say to be comforting.
This Tampa Florida flat fee MLS sellers was rather impressed by the service he received…
And they said selling a home in this market would be painful and expensive. Not so with the help from Keith and Addvantage. Addvantage easily exceeded my expectations and couldn't have been more helpful during the entire process. I'm sure having the correct pricing on our home helped, but who would've believed our home would be sold in 5 days! Forget about the old way of selling a house and paying half a years salary in commission fees. This is the way to go hands down. Thanks again.

Nathan
Tampa, FL

Call us anytime 1-877-232-9695 or visit our site www.getmoreoffers.com

This blog below was published in 2007 by me (Keith Gordon broker for ADDvantage and edited and rewritten by Erin Knorr). It remained the popular blog for its uniqueness. The idea was so accurate that even today this pricing strategy is exactly what sellers should be doing.

Listing Flat Fee MLS in Florida? 3 tips to SOLD Miami, Tampa, Orlando

My three tips on how to find a buyer for your flat fee MLS listing in Miami, Tampa flat fee MLS listing, Orlando flat fee MLS listing or Jacksonville in the challenging current of today’s market:

1. Imagine the buyers are deep water fish, searching for food-which is in this analogy, properties. Imagine this huge school of buyers will not ascend beyond a certain point. They believe property prices will come down and therefore will not venture into the unsafe waters.

2. Then picture sellers as fishermen from all parts of Florida including Miami, Tampa and Orlando. Some are experienced but most are amateurs and don’t know how deep to sink their bait. Some seasoned fishermen know exactly what depth to hang their bait and get results. They dangle it right at the threshold of where the fish can grab bait without panicking and running back to safety.

3. This safe zone is where few sellers know to fish but if they do, they sell. It is right between where sellers are priced and where buyers are poised to buy.

As a seller, all you have to do to get sold is lure the real buyers up from their safety zone by tempting them with a price they can't resist. This means being priced under your competition.

I am Keith Gordon, broker for ADDvantage, a Florida licensed flat fee MLS listing broker. We currently have over 25 flat fee MLS listed properties sold or under contract during the past 45 days by giving our flat rate MLS sellers this advice. Some credit has to be given to our flat fee MLS program ADDvantage Plus because it does help a flat fee MLS listing get more exposure, more showings and the seller receives contract-to-close service. This concierge flat fee program does get more homes closed and helps speed up the sale.

In closing, price your property right where you would sell to a cash buyer. Leave little to no room to negotiate. Attract the offers and wait on your buyer that will pay up a bit.