I was wondering if you knew of anyone offering a way to get their house on mls (for a fee) without a sellers commission in our area? We live in Comox, BC (Vancouver Island).

Thanks!

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Mike Fotiou says: Email sent!

More importantly, calgaryfinder.com has much more advantages then the MLS, welist, and thoise other sites. alteast you can get many good services for free on calgaryfinder, its just a matter of time before the mls buys out calgaryfinder

Gulsen, you’ll now have to show some real value added for that $15,000 commission! That’s 0.5 – 1.0 full years salary to some people (in after tax $$$), so a shiny suit and used car sales talk won’t cut it anymore!!

$1000 is a reasonable price, maybe a bit high. Gulsen’s $2000 will drive people away… must think in real terms of value added. It is, after all, just an advert. Most buyers do also check Welist, regardless of the fewer listings.

All the power to you Mike! Push for your rights to list, market this heavily, and you will personally take a large chunk of the market. (Just assess the world of discount brokers and now nearly extinct of full service brokers!)

My opinion, if I were a seller I would actually be willing to pay more than $995 for all the services you provide and listing on MLS. Maybe you’re kind of devaluating seller agents. Market research, advise, materials, driving, showing, negotiating..many many possible hours if a listing lasts for several months. You are probably betting that the seller will have you represent them in their next purchase, which probably happens a lot right? I think you could charge more, like 1500-2000 and have it due on sale which sellers may actually prefer – no one loves to pay upfront fees. More risk, more reward.

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Mike Fotiou says: That’s their self-serve package: a web listing, a sign, and 3 photos. A Calgary search of PG’s website shows only 63 listings in total. Might as well just post it on Kijiji, Craiglist, or CalgaryFinder for free.

If you really wanted to pay and still go the self-serve route, I think WeList would be a better choice for Calgarians in terms of market exposure – currently has 545 Calgary listings.

I will definitely be showing my seller’s homes and be providing full representation throughout the entire process. I’m just offering sellers more options with how they end up selling.

This is a full-service listing less Open Houses and other marketing money wasters – savings the seller gets to pocket.

The only way buyers would be dealing with the seller directly is if they contact them through a Sellers FSBO ad, etc, and again only if the Seller wants to deal directly with the buyer without an agent. It’s all about having options.

I’ve added another Q&A to clarify this issue, thanks!

I find people trying to sell their own homes often to be abnoxious, stubborn, and generally annoying to deal with and would much rather deal with their agent! That is one of the reasons agents exist, to be the middle man in an emotional transaction. Plus, don’t they still have to abide by certain laws? For example, do sellers know they legally can not hide latent material defects? Will they remember all these rules as a trained agent would? I would be nervous dealing with sellers. The RE industry exists for good reason; agents should just lower their commissions a bit if money’s the issue!