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Donald Plunkett - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Donald Plunkett is the President of Congress Realty, Inc., a $299 flat fee MLS listing company which serves Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.
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- Phoenix Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Phoenix sellers have an option in listing their home; they do not have to list with a traditional broker that charges a listing commission at closing. They can list with a flat fee MLS broker that places their property on the MLS for a pre-paid flat fee, and no listing commission. Because of the flat fee MLS presence in Phoenix, sellers in aggregate have been able to save literally millions of dollars in commissions.
- How to Sell Your Home in Any Market
[Real-Estate:Selling] A lot of people give up on selling their homes, or do not try to sell at all because they think you cannot sell a home in a down market. The truth is, you can sell a home in any market. There has been and always will be demand for housing.
- MLS Listing Service
[Real-Estate:FSBO] What is an MLS Listing Service? You'll find out.
- San Jose Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] With some of the highest median priced homes in the country, San Jose homeowners are not in a position to overlook the real estate commissions as a major line item on their closing statement. Something that might blend in with other costs on the sale of a $100,000 home, suddenly is an enormous figure on a $700,000 home sale. San Jose homeowners are also some of the most actively engaged property owners in the country when it comes to understanding real estate.
- Boise, Idaho Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] People look to preserve gains in the sale of their home; if there are no gains, they look to preserve as much of their original equity as possible. Boise no doubt felt repercussions of the real estate boom as well as some real estate deflation afterwards. After all, who in Boise is not familiar with someone who deployed their plentiful California home sales proceeds into a Boise-area home or investment property?
- Billings, Montana Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Montana's largest city by population, Billings is a major center of commerce, finance, medicine, education and culture in the state. Billings is also the first place in the State of Montana that flat fee MLS listing programs were successfully introduced to homeowners. Just as being situated on the Yellowstone River made Billings a commercial center, the right mix of growth, inflow of people from other areas, and overall real estate appreciation has made Billings a leading place for sellers to look for alternatives to the steep listing commissions existing brokers charged.
- Missoula, Montana Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Residents of Western Montana aggressively look for cost-savings in the sale of their homes. Because of the obvious appeal of the area, the presence of the University of Montana, thriving arts and cultural scene and dramatic scenery, the Garden City has been growing for some time. Putting aside the national credit market meltdown which began in 2007, Missoula real estate seemed to be for some time selling itself, and the steep fees associated with selling it did not seem to make sense for many sellers.
- El Paso Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] El Paso is unique: its location in West Texas and the Mountain Time Zone is actually closer to the State of California than it is to Texas's Eastern neighbor, the State of Louisiana. The closeness of El Paso to its neighbor Ciudad Juarez and the presence of more than 70 Fortune 500 businesses, major military installations like Fort Bliss, and the beautiful grandeur of the nearby Franklin Mountains add to the uniqueness of the city. What is not unique about El Paso is a real estate market that steadily increased in value in recent years, and with it, steadily increasing ...
- Colorado Springs Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Sellers of properties throughout the State of Colorado have looked for brokerage alternatives in selling their homes, and Colorado Springs homeowners are no different. With the high number of military related jobs at Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base and other local installations, coupled with mobile working professionals at companies like Agilent Technologies, HP and Boeing, Colorado Springs tends to be a very active real estate market with homes being bought and sold more frequently than national averages. Without years and years of appreciation for most sellers, steep brokerage commissions are impossible to hide.
- Statewide MLS
[Real-Estate] As many homeowners are aware, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a database of homes for sale in a particular area. Each MLS has hundreds, if not thousands, of members and they each list their properties on the MLS. Thus there is no database out there that is even remotely as powerful in helping buyers' agents and their buyers screen, view and select properties to purchase.
- Fresno Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Fresno area homeowners do have several options when it comes to selling their homes: they can list their home with a local real estate agent, they can attempt to sell the home by owner, or they can sell through a combination of the two: a flat fee MLS listing. To do this, the seller would need to locate a member of the Fresno Association of Realtors MLS system that would list the property for a small upfront fee rather than charging a listing commission on the back end. The seller would agree in writing to compensate a buyer's agent if...
- Nevada MLS
[Real-Estate] In general, real estate market participants such as buyers, sellers, and agents have more information at their fingertips than ever before. That being said, they need to understand where to look for data and what to do with it. People looking to buy or sell a property in Nevada often inquire about which MLS database contains homes in a particular area.
- Sedona MLS
[Real-Estate] The Sedona, Arizona MLS system is a database of all broker-listed properties for sale in the Sedona area. This includes other nearby towns or areas such as Lake Montezuma, Rimrock, Oak Creek, Camp Verde, Cornville, Clarkdale, Jerome and Cottonwood. The full technical name of the service is the Sedona Verde Valley Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.
- Multiple Listing Service
[Real-Estate:FSBO] The Multiple Listing Service is first and foremost a list of virtually all properties for sale in a particular area. It is also an offer of compensation between brokers. Basically this consists of listing brokers telling other brokers, "You bring me a buyer and I will pay you a portion of the total commission."
- MLS Property
[Real-Estate] While MLS members including real estate agents and brokers understand how an MLS works, many homeowners using alternative means to list a property in the MLS (such as through flat fee listing brokers) do not know exactly what types of property are eligible to be listed. Each Multiple Listing Service has a variety of property types which are typically divided into sections. While they vary according to local MLS, some of the most common property types are: single family residential, multi-family residential, land, commercial, residential rental, and commercial rental.
- Why MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] For real estate agents, the importance of the MLS is extremely apparent. In fact, in a Realtor orientation session, it is not uncommon for a majority of the new agents to state that the primary or only reason they signed up to join the local association was to obtain the ability to list properties in and search the local MLS. These new agents understand, perhaps by speaking to other agents, how the industry works.
- Discount MLS Listing
[Real-Estate:FSBO] While sellers often realize that the MLS is the most effective marketing tool available to them, few are aware that it does not have to cost an arm and leg to get on the MLS. Any broker in the local association of Realtors has access to list a property in the MLS. While many of these individuals are traditional agents with traditional price structures, there are a handful of others that list a property for a greatly discounted flat fee.
- List On MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Residential real estate has become incredibly efficient because of the MLS system. The MLS is essentially a highly detailed, highly specific database for local real estate. And unlike a search engine like Google or Yahoo whereby a typical search yields so-so results, some good, some bad, many not relevant, the MLS system allows for extremely targeted searches with only relevant results.
- Montana For Sale By Owner
[Real-Estate:FSBO] While Montana is the fourth largest state by size, the population remains at slightly less than one million people. About 70 percent of the residents of the state own rather than lease their home. With mountain ranges, valleys, rivers and other scenic vistas, Montana's beauty is matched by few states.
- Alaska Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] The Great State of Alaska is home to some of the finest real estate in the United States. There are many reasons for this. The state has more coastline than the rest of the United States combined.
- Congress, Arizona Real Estate
[Real-Estate] Arizona history and realty are two topics that have long interested both Arizonans and those from other states. Wickenburg is a somewhat well-known town not far from Phoenix, Arizona, referred to as the Dude Ranch Capital of the World. Just northeast of this town, but not nearly as well known, is a smaller town known as Congress.
- Hawaii Flat Fee MLS
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Island homeowners many times are not aware that discount listing options are available when they are ready to sell their home. A novel concept that was already taking hold on the mainland in places like California and Nevada is now available in Hawaii: flat fee MLS listings. They way that it works is simple: a homeowner lists his or her property on the MLS for a pre-paid flat fee.
- Las Vegas Flat Fee MLS Listing
[Real-Estate:FSBO] There are approximately 1700 local associations or boards of Realtors. Las Vegas is home to one of the larger organizations out there: the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR). The group has about 15,000 members and has been around for over sixty years.
- Flat Fee Real Estate
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Flat implies a constant figure. Certain industries such as traffic attorneys or amusement parks have for many years utilized some sort of flat fee price to increase sales volume and customer satisfaction, to calm people's fears about the potential for a large bill after the service has been provided, and to give assurance that all customers will be treated fairly since they are all generating similar revenue for the business. In flat fee real estate, sellers are truly able to achieve a listing fee that stays constant regardless of the sales price of their home.
- Flat Fee Listing Agreements
[Real-Estate:FSBO] Thinking about listing in the MLS? Learn what to look for in a flat fee listing agreement.
- How Raising Conforming Mortgage Limits Would Impact California Real Estate
[Real-Estate:Mortgage-Refinance] Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two housing finance companies that have the implicit backing of the United States government, presently limit the mortgages they buy in the lower 48 states to a maximum size of $417,000. Alaska and Hawaii loans can be as high as $625,500. They also have a number of other requirements such as documented income, employment verification, and many others.
- Investing in Phoenix Duplexes
[Real-Estate:Investing] Single family homes historically have the lowest capitalization rates ("cap rates") of any property class. This is calculated by dividing the net operating income (assuming no mortgage) by the purchase price of the property. For instance, a $100,000 property that generated $9000 per year in net operating income would be classified as a "9 cap.
- Phoenix Arizona Casinos
[Arts-and-Entertainment:Casino-Gambling] For the gaming enthusiast or someone just looking to have a good time, there are seven casinos in the Phoenix, Arizona area. These include the following 2 Chandler casinos: Gila River Casino - Lone Butte and Wild Horse Pass, the following 2 Scottsdale casinos: Casino Arizona at McKellips Salt River and Talking Stick, and the Town of Maricopa's Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino, Laveen's Gila River Casino - Vee Quiva, and Fountain Hills' Fort McDowell Casino. Technically, these casinos are not a part of the cities mentioned.
- Understanding What Happened With Subprime Mortgages
[Real-Estate:Mortgage-Refinance] After the steep rise in subprime lending in the 2001-2006 period, followed by the credit crunch of 2007, some might ask, "If their borrowers can't pay, why did the lenders make these loans in the first place? Did they not want to be paid back?" To get to the bottom of this question, people need to understand how real estate lending has changed and what motivated the various participants.
- Flat Fee Listing
[Real-Estate:FSBO] For years, the only way you could sell your home through a broker was to pay a commission based on a percentage of sales price, often 6 to 7%. The higher the price of the home, the more an agent would receive for selling it. An agent selling a $1,000,000 home would make ten times more than one selling a $100,000 home.
- Austin Remodeling
[Home-Improvement:Remodeling] One of the many wonderful aspects of the Austin, Texas real estate market is the variance you will find amongst properties found within the city of Austin. While many large national tract home builders have entered Central Texas, the actual city of Austin still maintains its wide array of choice and design for home buyers. Throughout the city, especially in such areas as Tarrytown, Cat Mountain, Westlake, Hyde Park, and others, remodeling, and even complete tear downs have become increasingly popular.
- Arizona MLS Systems
[Real-Estate] When buying or selling properties in Arizona, one could get virtually nowhere without the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The MLS is a database of homes for sale and an offer amongst brokers to compensate one another if they represent a buyer that purchases their listed property. It is the single best marketing tool available for sellers.
- Alaska MLS
[Real-Estate] Nothing helps Alaska property owners buy or sell a home quite like the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). For buyers, it provides a list of properties for sale that their agent can access or that they can view at one of hundreds of different websites; for sellers, it provides a means of gaining exposure to thousands of home buyers living in or relocating to the state of Alaska. No other marketing method comes close to the power of the MLS.
- List By Owner On The MLS
[Real-Estate] For years, extremely knowledgeable home sellers, people like commercial real estate agents, real estate attorneys, and former residential agents would contact their friends in the residential real estate business, asking them to cut a deal. "Just put me in the Multiple Listing Service (back then it might have been referred to as the Multi-List) for a small fee and I will handle all the work," they would say. Occasionally the residential real estate agent would oblige, although they would want to keep the arrangement secret from their full paying customers.
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