Real Estate Broker Realtor Flat fee discount MLS listing 100% commission split Sand Dollar Realty Group of Orlando Florida
For Sale By Owner FSBO services

 
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LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED IN CENTRAL FLORIDA
Attention Realtors: We pay a $50 referral fee at time of payment for any flat fee MLS leads you send to us.

1. What exactly is the MLS? The MLS is a powerful tool that Realtors use to market properties. MLS stands for Multiple-Listing Service which is the computer database that Realtors use nationwide to list real estate. The MLS is owned by local member Realtor associations and is typically broken up into regions or counties. The Mid-Florida Regional MLS is the largest MLS in Florida and is shared by over 30,000+ Realtors in the Mid-Florida area including those in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Sumter, Polk, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Western Volusia, and Eastern & Central Pasco Counties including the metro Orlando and metro Tampa areas. The Regional MLS of South Florida services the Southeast Florida and Treasure Coast area and is shared by some 25,000+ Realtors in Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Martin County, and St. Lucie County. Some areas like eastern Volusia County including the Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach area, Brevard County, Flagler County, Ocala/Marion County, Alachua County, Citrus County, Nassau County, and Hardee and DeSoto County MLS's cover much smaller areas. Realtors who are members of these MLS's can view your property information and show your property to their customers. The general public does not have access to the MLS. Generally only dues paying Realtors have access to these databases, however MLS data typically uploads onto many other real estate websites.

2. What other websites does the MLS load onto? By listing your property in the MLS, your property is automatically loaded onto the most powerful real estate website in America, Realtor.com where millions of potential buyers can review your property's information. The MLS also automatically uploads onto many other internet sites like Florida Living Network.com, Orlando Sentinel.com MLS search (not their paid classified ads) for Mid-Florida MLS listings, Google.com, Yahoo.com, MSN.com, Cyberhomes.com, SDRhouses.com, and many more similar real estate websites. Being that these websites are owned by 3rd party companies, we only have limited control over the exact content uploaded onto these websites from the MLS. However the exposure that uploading onto these websites provides is unmatched by any non-MLS real estate service provider.

3. Why would I do a flat fee MLS listing instead of selling as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO)? The answer is simple: Market Exposure. Most serious buyers are working with a Realtor to help them buy a house. The MLS database is used exclusively by Realtors to search for properties for sale in the area. Thousands of Realtors use the MLS every day to search for properties. The MLS automatically uploads onto many real estate websites and exposes your home to millions of potential buyers by virtue of these websites. Some 70%+ of all house buyers begin their search on the internet, and nearly 80% of all FSBO sellers end up hiring a Realtor to sell their house anyway. The cost to list in the MLS is only a few hundred dollars, and you get all that additional exposure. If you are considering using one of those FSBO or For Sale By Owner type services that charge hundreds or thousands of dollars upfront and do not even offer MLS exposure, you may want to strongly consider doing a flat fee MLS listing instead of or even in addition to those services.

Other traditional FSBO marketing includes store bought (often unprofessional) yard signs, newspaper ads (quite expensive), property flyers, posting on FSBO websites, open houses, etc. While all these things can generate leads and we certainly do not discourage them, the exposure they give you is limited at best and often produces dismal results. As we stated before, most serious buyers are working with a Realtor. Smart Realtors are going to make sure that their buyer is pre-approved to obtain a mortgage before they even start showing the buyer a house. That Realtor is going to want to know that they are going to get paid a commission prior to showing your house to their buyer. That is another feature of the MLS. By advertising in the MLS, you are offering broker protection by automatically offering a commission to all of the member Realtors. While there is no guarantee that the MLS will sell your house, it is definitely your best avenue for getting your property exposed to the greatest number of potential buyers.

4. Why shouldn't I just hire a full service Realtor to sell my house for me? That is definitely an important question to consider. The important thing to remember is that we give you a choice of what services you can purchase. Many of the big box corporate and franchise realty firms will not allow you to negotiate on their commission rates or services. In fact if many of these big box firms had their way, they would drive MLS-only and menu-based firms out of town with tar and feathers. Unfortunately, the internet has greatly leveled the playing field and has caused many of the big box firms to lose a ton of market share to alternative brokerage models.

The real questions to be asking are: What services do I need from my Realtor and how much should I pay for it? Most firms want to do everything and want to charge you roughly 6% of the sales price to do this. On a $300,000 house this will cost you $18,000. Typically half of this commission (or 3%) is paid to the buyer’s Realtor, so the listing broker would get paid $9,000 on this transaction. With a flat fee MLS listing you pay us $299 upfront and you get to keep $8,701 of your equity. Since nearly 90% of all listings are sold by a buyer's Realtor and not the listing Realtor, why pay them an extra 3 to 4% in commission to perform their services. If you are comfortable showing your own property and negotiating with buyers, then you should definitely consider selling your property using a flat fee listing. We have written an interesting article on this subject: Click here for article on Flat Fee MLS listings.

We did a little "unscientific" research comparing limited service listings vs. full service listings for list vs. sold ratios, days on market, and sold prices. We were surprised at the results that show you actually have a higher chance of selling, in a quicker time frame, and at a higher price if you choose the limited service listing over a full service listing. Here is the article showing this research. On top of all that, you get to pay a full service Realtor several thousand extra in commission. Regardless of what other Realtors may tell you, the numbers don't lie.

5. Explain to me how a flat fee MLS listing works. This is a quick summary of our flat fee MLS program. With our Basic Listing Plan, your property information along with up to 10 color photographs gets placed into the MLS and gets advertised onto the many websites listed above. You take care of the showings, the negotiations, and the closing. If another Realtor sells it, you pay them the pre-agreed commission (typically around 3%). If you sell it yourself, no additional commission is due. You will save thousands. Ask about our special programs for multiple properties. Click here for more information about our special investor programs. We do handle routine phone calls regarding Realtor showings and basic property information so as not to inundate you with phone calls, but any important calls like showing appointments or contract offers are forwarded directly to you. You can pickup a Sand Dollar "For Sale" sign when you stop by the office with the forms and your payment or a sign can be shipped to you at your request. Blank contract forms can be emailed or sent to you. Also for just a little bit more money we offer a Deluxe Listing Plan that offers many more upgrades to the Basic Plan including a virtual/video tour, market updates, electronic lockbox, and more. You can pay for the Deluxe Plan or just pay for certain additional services as you need them. A price list is located towards the bottom of this web page.

COMPARE YOUR COSTS:

For a $500,000 house. An average 6% commission costs you $30,000. Or with us you only pay $15,299 if another Realtor sells your house. Your savings is $14,701.

For a $300,000 house. An average 6% commission costs you $18,000. Or with us you only pay $9,299 if another Realtor sells your house. Your savings is $8,701.

For a $200,000 house. An average 6% commission costs you $12,000. Or with us you only pay $6,299 if another Realtor sells your house. Your savings is $5,701.

6. If I sell my house on my own, what happens? Many times our customers end up selling to a buyer that found the property on Realtor.com, the internet, or other marketing without involving another Realtor. If you happen to be fortunate enough to sell your house on your own, then your savings are even greater. You do not owe us anything more than the upfront money already paid to us. Upon closing, we will need a copy of the signed HUD-1 settlement statement in order to close out the file. You can provide us the contact information for the title company or attorney handling the closing, and we will take care of obtaining the settlement statement.

7. What counties / areas do you service? We currently service the following 25 Florida counties. If you do not see your county, call us anyway because we still may be able to help you. Alachua County, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lake, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, East & Central Pasco, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, Saint Lucie, Sumter, and Volusia County (West Volusia, Daytona area, and New Smyrna area). CLICK HERE FOR SERVICE AREA MAP

8. How long is my listing for? Our standard listing agreement is for 12 months. If you want to list for a shorter period of time, you are welcome to choose how long you want to list for. We typically do not list properties for longer than 12 months, but we will allow you to extend your listing indefinitely at no additional charge if it is close to expiring.

9. How much time does it take to get listed on the MLS and the internet sites? Typically we can get your listing loaded into the MLS within 1-2 business days of receiving all of the paperwork from you. Realtor.com and the other internet websites upload their data from the MLS. Listings often take 4-5 business days to show up on these websites.

10. Can I make changes to my listing once it has been inputted into the MLS? Yes. We allow unlimited changes to your MLS listing during the first 14 days. After that we allow 1 change per week with a maximum of 20 changes during the life of the listing. We are quite liberal with allowing changes as long as we feel we are not being taken advantage of. All changes will need to be in writing and submitted on a Status Change Form.

11. Can I use my own For Sale By Owner sign? We recommend that you use our company For Sale sign. Other Realtors often get confused or nervous about not getting paid their commission if they do not see the Listing Realtor's sign in the yard. If you do want to use your own sign, we recommend that you write the MLS # on the sign along with the words "Brokers Protected." That should make other Realtors feel more comfortable in showing your property.

12. How much commission should I offer to a buyer's agent? You are free to offer whatever commission you want to other Realtors. Our standard listing agreement has 3% pre-printed on the form, but you are welcome to cross that out and change it. However, we recommend that for properties priced under $500,000 that you offer no less than 2.5% to them. For properties priced above $500,000, we recommend that you offer no less than 2%. When the market is slow, we recommend that you instead offer a higher commission or a bonus (some people offer as high as 5%-10% commissions) to entice Realtors to show your property to their buyers.

13. Is my listing going to appear any different in the MLS and the internet than a listing by a full service Realtor? Your listing will appear in the MLS and the internet exactly the same as any other listing. The only exception is that the MLS will contain a note in the “Realtor Remarks” section that this is a limited service listing and that other Realtors should contact you in order to show the property or negotiate an offer. Other than that, there is no difference.

14. Will other Realtors sell my house or will they avoid my listing because it is an MLS-only listing? Smart Realtors show their customers everything that is available for sale that meets their buyer’s criteria. Every property is a little bit different, so by avoiding your property their buyer might end up buying nothing and then the Realtor loses out on getting paid any commission. There is always the chance that some Realtor may “blackball” a listing and not show it because it is a limited service agreement, a low commission amount offered to the buyer's agent, or any number of reasons. Typically Realtors who bring up these sort of scare tactics are just doing so becuase they are unsure of how else to justify charging you several thousand extra dollars for their own nearly identical services. The U.S. Department of Justice has already stated that anti-competitive practices like blackballing violate federal antitrust laws. In the future, flat fee MLS listings like so many internet-based services will more than likely be the norm rather than the exception.

15. Will you help me with proper pricing and marketing of my property? Is there any other marketing I should be doing to sell my house? 90% of what is going to sell your house is a For Sale sign and directional signs, a listing in the MLS, and a listing on the heavily trafficked internet sites. The other 10% may bring you a lead in if you are lucky enough. We encourage you to market the property any way that you can think of, and we will be happy to give you a free price analysis and a free marketing consultation at the time you list your property with us.

An interesting thing that many consumers are not aware of is that the reason why most Realtors advertise with newspaper and magazine ads, radio and television ads, open houses, postcards, newsletters, and more is generally not to sell your particular house. Certainly that would be a great thing, but the reason they do this is to bring them more listings and customers. If they get a buyer lead, they can use the MLS to sell that buyer any house that the buyer likes (not just yours) and still earn a commission.

16. Will you help me with the paperwork involved with selling my property? With a Basic or Deluxe Listing Plan, we will provide you with seller's disclosures and blank contract forms. You can use our menu-based services to assist you with writing up the contract paperwork or negotiating the terms of the contract. Generally the buyer’s Realtor will write up the initial offer and present it directly to you, so you will not have to try and track down contract paperwork on your own.

17. If I sell my property but need help getting it closed, can you help me? Yes. If the property is located in Central Florida, we can normally help you with any aspect of managing the transaction. We can help you write up the contract; deal with lenders and insurance companies; work with inspectors, appraisers, and contractors; order title work and home warranties; etc. For properties located outside of Central Florida, we can still help out but it will be at a distance without us visiting the property. Our licenses permit us to assist sellers and buyers with properties located anywhere in the State of Florida.

18. What if I do a flat fee MLS listing and then realize I am not comfortable with things? What are my options at that point? You basically have 2 choices. (1) You can upgrade your listing to a full-service listing agreement and we can draw up a customized marketing plan to help you sell your property. Any fees previously paid to us will be deducted out of the commissions charged to you at closing. OR (2) You can cancel your listing at no additional charge and no further obligation to us and do whatever else you need to do with your property. The listing fee that was previously paid to us, is of course non-refundable.

19. Do you have any special discounts for multiple properties, repeat customers, or investors? If you have more than 1 property for us to list or if you have used our services for another property within the last 12 months, we will give you a $74 discount off of our Basic Listing price for the second and any subsequent listings. If you are an investor and are a member of Central Florida Realty Investors (CFRI), Investors Resource Center (IRC), Lighthouse Landlords Association, Osceola Landlords Association, Tampa Bay Real Estate Investors Association, or have been signed up for our email hot property list for at least 6 months, you are also eligible for the $74 discount off of the Basic Listing price or the option to pay if and when the property closes. If you are a member of another investment association, please notify us and we will consider adding them to our volume discount promition.

20. I see other firms that offer similar services for cheaper than you do. Why should I pay you more? What makes Sand Dollar Realty Group different from these other firms? Many things.
We have written an article on what things to look for in hiring a flat fee MLS broker. Below are many things to look for when choosing your broker.
(1) First our firm is locally owned and operated in Altamonte Springs, Florida (15 minutes north of Orlando). You are not dealing with some out-of-state far away company that you can only access by internet or 1800 number. You can schedule an appointment to come into our office or depending on location you can have us come to your home. We would be glad to meet with you in person or talk with you over the telephone and help you analyze your property, your asking price, and develop a marketing plan.
(2) If your property is not located in Central Florida, we can still help you properly price and market your property. It will be at a distance of course, but we have lived in Florida for 30+ years and we know the various regions of the state quite well.
(3) We have been in business since 1996 and are the largest and most experienced flat fee MLS brokerage in Central Florida. We know what we are doing and will not leave you hanging out there all alone. Many companies that offer flat fee services have not been in business very long and are greatly lacking in experience. And experience counts during a buyer's market.
(4) Many of the super cheapo priced firms provide poor customer service and don't return phone calls or emails promptly. Some firms simply want to list your home online in order to keep the buyer leads for themselves. You will find that we are different. We will email or call you with all buyer leads. If we are not right there to answer the office phone, we will return your call within a reasonably short period of time. In fact broker Rob Arnold's cell phone number is 407-375-4567, if you ever need to speak with him at anytime day or night. A little bit of extra money is a small price to pay to deal with experienced professionals.
(5) We have full-time sales associates that are working to find a buyer for your property and earn the buyer-side commission.
(6) We allow you to upgrade your listing. We can provide you additional services all the way up to a full-service listing for a reasonable additional fee.
(7) We have many great affiliations with local experts, including an affiliation with a local title company, and contacts with many real estate vendors (inspectors, appraisers, insurance, home warranty, etc.) to help make your transition from listing to closing that much easier.
(8) We have full MLS memberships in the Daytona, New Smyrna, Brevard, and Ocala/Marion MLS's and reciprocal memberships in several others. Be wary of listing services that say they service those counties, but instead are only listing them in the Mid-Florida Regional or South Florida Regional MLS. These other areas are in a totally different MLS, and will not be seen by the local Realtors unless the listing makes it into those local MLS's.

We also offer a full-service listing service similar to those offered by most other real estate brokerages. But unlike those other brokerages our agents have the flexibility to negotiate commission rates to help save you money.

Also we can offer a menu-based pricing system (a la carte services), allowing you to only pay for those services that you actually need us to perform. Including lockbox rental, online virtual/video tours, contract preparation and review, offer negotiation, closing coordination and attendance, etc. Click here for more information about our full-service listings. Or click for more information about menu-based services that we offer.

PRICE AND SERVICE LIST:

Price List is effective as of 04/01/2008. All prices are subject to change without notice.

*Price for electronic lockbox usage is for Orange and Seminole Counties only. Additional $50 charge for properties in Lake, Osceola, Polk, and Western Volusia Counties. Not available in other counties at this time.

**Although we can still provide the service, a member of our firm will not be able to physically visit the property or meet with contractors/inspectors/appraisers for properties located outside of Orange, Seminole, and Western Volusia Counties.

***If done in conjunction with a transaction in which our firm is paid other fees/commissions, the fee for this particular service will be refunded/credited at the time of closing.

Click here to list your property - MLS listing forms and instructions.