Selling a Home ~ Discount Listings vs. Full Service Listings

by Karen Goodman on March 22, 2010

I recently posted information from Gary Keller’s Vision Speech covering the current housing market and economic trends and information on what buyers and sellers are looking for when they search for homes.

family reunion 2010 web Selling a Home ~ Discount Listings vs. Full Service Listings Today I’m sharing with you the portion of the Vision Speech comparing full service real estate brokerages to discount brokerages (often called limited service, flat fee or MLS only listings).

It’s not surprising that a portion of home sellers want to save money by hiring a discount real estate company.

In exchange for a few hundred dollars, the discount agent will put the listing in the MLS and will assist with the contract paperwork if an offer comes in. The discount agents don’t offer advice on pricing, staging or help write marketing remarks. They don’t advertise the home, and usually they don’t even provide a sign for the yard or a lockbox so that buyer agents can access the property without the seller being home.

Since the MLS only agent is paid upfront and doesn’t get paid any additional money if the house sells, they actually work harder for the same money if the home sells.

In this compensation model, there is no incentive for the discount agent to provide additional services or work to keep the deal together that hits bumps on the way to closing.

Full Service Real Estate Brokerages vs Discount Brokerages:

Click on the picture below to see the slide show covering the differences between the top 5 full service real estate brokerage companies and discount brokerages:

percentage of listings that fail to sell
average sale price
how long does it take to sell
how many listings are discounted listings

Bottom Line:

Homes listed with one of the top 5 full service brokerages are more likely to sell, sell for more money and sell faster.

I’m not suggesting that smaller or independent full service brokerages don’t do a good job of selling homes. They simply weren’t evaluated in this study.

Home sellers also appear to understand that successfully selling a home in today’s housing market isn’t a sure thing. In order to have the best chances to sell at the highest price, more and more of them understand that you get what you pay for.

Hiring a discount agent, often means selling for a discount too.

To learn more about Keller Williams Realty, visit ConsiderKW.com.