Fixed Price MLS listing vs Listing with an Actual Real Estate Agent (LA 1545)
Fixed Price MLS listing vs Listing with an Actual Real Estate Agent (LA 1545)
Transcript:
Steven J Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Hello?
Steven J Butala:
Wow. Welcome to Land Academy.
Jill DeWit:
Puberty just strikes at crazy times, doesn’t it?
Steven J Butala:
Mid fifties.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly.
Steven J Butala:
I’m just now getting my adult voice.
Jill DeWit:
There you go. That’s right.
Steven J Butala:
Figuratively and literally.
Jill DeWit:
You used to sound like your mom when you were 12 and now you sound like your mom again. Just kidding.
Steven J Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit:
And, I’m Jill DeWit.
Steven J Butala:
[inaudible 00:00:36].
Jill DeWit:
I mean, hilarious. If my voice dropped four octaves.
Steven J Butala:
Know what else would be hilarious? If you were the data person for a week and I was the salesperson for a week.
Jill DeWit:
Oh my Goodness. That would be a disaster. Anyway, we are broadcasting from sizzling, Scottsdale, Arizona. But it’s cool.
Steven J Butala:
Today, Jill and I talk about fixed price MLS listings versus listing the property with an actual real estate agent.
Jill DeWit:
Not like a fake real estate engine, a real one. Actual.
Steven J Butala:
Most of them are fake actually.
Jill DeWit:
That’s why you put that there. You should say one that shows up. Just kidding.
Steven J Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It’s free and if you’re already a Land Academy member, please join us on Discord.
Jill DeWit:
Jeanette wrote, Hi Jeannette.
Jill DeWit:
“What flat fee MLS listing service is best for land? I hear a lot of people using Zillow, but if you use a different flat fee MLS service, it gets listed there anyway. Also, is the flat fee MLS fee per property, or does it allow for multiple property listings or switching properties for the listing period? Help, please.”
Jill DeWit:
I can answer this.
Steven J Butala:
Oh, yes.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. I was waiting. So, it’s per property and listing. You don’t just… It’s not like a turn it on, turn it off thing at six months to do like LandWatch or land and farm for your signature things. You have 10 that you could have running or five you can have running depending on whatever your deal is with them. Or you could put one up, it sells, take it down, put another one in its place. As long as you don’t go over the five or the 10 or 20, whatever you have. So, this is a whole different thing it’s per property.
Jill DeWit:
So, what does it cost? Anywhere from… I’ve seen deals down to man $39 for six months up to $400, 395 for six months, depending on the location. Because I think, I know that their contracts vary what each individual MLS and stuff, regions in the country charge these services. That’s where the money difference comes in.
Jill DeWit:
So, do we want to jump into, I kind of answered her questions. Can we jump into the show because I’m going to talk even more about this.
Steven J Butala:
Today’s topic fixed price, MLS versus listing with an actual real estate agent. This is the meat of the show.
Jill DeWit:
So, what the heck are we talking about?
Steven J Butala:
Well, let’s define what the MLS is really quickly.
Jill DeWit:
That’s… Okay. You define MLS.
Steven J Butala:
You took a lot of notes in this.
Jill DeWit:
I kind of did.
Steven J Butala:
This is right up your alley because we saw the vast majority or maybe all of our property with real estate agents now, so Jill’s qualified.
Jill DeWit:
Do people not know what the MLS is?
Steven J Butala:
Yeah. People don’t know.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. You define the MLS, then I’ll define the different ways to get things right on the MLS.
Steven J Butala:
The MLS is an acronym for a Multiple Listing Service. There are approximately 344 ish of them in the country. They’re all divisions of the National Association of Realtors and they pay dues. They pay for the privilege to be a part of the National Association of Realtors.
Jill DeWit:
Realtors do. Do realtors pay a fee?
Steven J Butala:
So do the MLS-ers.
Jill DeWit:
And the MLS’s. Okay.
Steven J Butala:
It all is one big, huge multi-level marketing thing. And, at the tip top, the billion dollar winner is the National Association of Realtors and AR. And, so they got the bright idea a really long time ago to put all the property, residential properties only. This has nothing to do with commercial real estate. There is no MLS for commercial real estate. They got the bright idea to force their real estate agents to… All over the country, to post property in a database. It used to be in a book like a phone book and it would come out every month.
Jill DeWit:
I remember that.
Steven J Butala:
And so-
Jill DeWit:
My mom.
Steven J Butala:
Fast forward to the tech industry and it coming up with this bright idea about these fixed price MLS’s. And, so they’re licensed real estate agents that have put out a Silicon Valley twist on this and a fixed price listing now is, “Yeah, we’ll represent you we’ll sign all the paperwork. We’ll play your game, but-”
Jill DeWit:
Now you’re tipping into my-
Steven J Butala:
Oh, sorry.
Jill DeWit:
Section.
Steven J Butala:
So the multiple listing services, it’s a Ponzi scheme for real estate agents to charge what they charge because everybody’s got the heroin needle called the MLS in their arm.
Jill DeWit:
It’s like the old days, you know what? You could be selling a property back, then put it in the newspaper. You didn’t have to do this and you still don’t have to do this by the way, it’s not right.
Steven J Butala:
That’s the kicker, here.
Jill DeWit:
That’s a funny thing, it’s not a requirement. You think it is.
Steven J Butala:
If you’re not a licensed agent like Jill and I, and the vast majority of the people who are involved in Land Academy.
Jill DeWit:
We are not licensed agents.
Steven J Butala:
We don’t have to do anything.
Jill DeWit:
Oh yeah.
Steven J Butala:
We don’t have to play this game.
Jill DeWit:
No.
Steven J Butala:
But anyway, Jill. Go ahead.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. So, here’s the point. Now I know the MLS, it’s one big place that the planet is convinced you have to post your property. And that’s where Realtor, Zillow, Redfin, everything pulls stuff from when you. Google these sites, it’s pulling them from all these different MLSs. So, I want to get it on there. Why do I want to get my property on there? I’m going to get a lot of use. That’s reach. So, that’s the whole goal here.
Jill DeWit:
Now, how do I do it? It’s based on where I want to sell the property. And I have a lot to talk about here so bear with me.
Steven J Butala:
Oh, this is your show.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. So how do I decide for… okay, now I know what the MLS is. Now I’m going to tell you about how there’s two ways to get it on MLS. And, then I’ll tell you how I make my decision. So, there’s two ways to go on the MLS. One is old fashioned way. I have a property. I own it. I call an agent in the area “Hi, will you represent me? Will you sell my property for me?” “Sure. Great.” We sign an agreement, just like you’re selling our house. It’s six months or a year. I will give you a tip. I always fight for six months because I don’t want to keep it that long. And, usually they’ll say “Fine, I’ll do a six month listing for your property.”
Jill DeWit:
So, you sign it. I’m promising to pay you a commission. With land it can be up to 10%. Depends on that and just so you know, that’s kind of a normal thing you don’t want to… So you don’t fall over and say, “I thought it was three.” It’s different for land. And, they put it on the MLS. They will take the pictures. They will do drone shots, whatever it is, they write the description. It’s like you’re doing nothing. So, that’s an advantage of there, by the way. I’m giving them the commission, but they’re paying for all that and doing that work. I just sit back and they call me when they say, “I just got an offer. Here it is.” And, you make the decision and they get it rolling.
Steven J Butala:
Is it choose the right agent? This can be an amazing situation.
Jill DeWit:
This is true.
Steven J Butala:
Amazingly positive. I mean.
Jill DeWit:
The other way is, “You know what? My property is only 20 grand. I’m having a hard time finding a guy that wants to do it. Nor do we want to give them 2000 of my 20 because boy, that’s a lot of money on this property.” Kind of thing, whatever. However, your thought processes, you’re, “I want to get eyes on it. I need it to be in the MLS. I’ve got it all over social media. I need another little place I just need it out there.” So what do you do?
Jill DeWit:
We used to use a company here locally called Congress Realty. But, now we found a great nationwide company, which is Broker DirectMLS.com. And they have all kinds of specialists running all the time and they’ll do different things. So, when you go onto their site, you put in the zip code of the property and then it pops up whatever the deal is for six months. Here’s what it looks like. It gives you up to this many photos and here’s all the places that it’s run. So, what’s great about it is it’s not just the MLS for that area. It’s also on [inaudible 00:08:25].com and Zillow.com and maybe Land.com. And there’s all kinds of places, you have to look on there.
Jill DeWit:
Anywhere from gosh, 20 to 200 places, it will automatically be shared and you can go see the list.
Steven J Butala:
It’s a syndication and it’s an amazing service for the price. And we have no affiliation with them at all.
Jill DeWit:
No.
Steven J Butala:
But, it’s a great way to, to beat the six to 10% that you would pay an agent. That’s why it’s called fixed price. You just pay that… How much does it cost? I don’t mean to interrupt you.
Jill DeWit:
I’ve seen 4th of July specials for $39, but usually it’s like $99 to $300 anywhere in there. And, let me tell you too, you’re not paying them a commission. What you’re doing is you’re using, he’s an agent and he has connections all through these people to go through other agents, to get it on the MLS and not having to pay a commission.
Steven J Butala:
To make it legal.
Jill DeWit:
You’re only paying that fee. Yep. And it’s totally legal. One little side tip that I have there. Now, you’re doing your own posting, by the way. You’re filling it all out. You’re taking the pictures, you’re doing the drone. He’s just giving you access to fill it out and then he’s posting it for you. And then I would put in the description there that you were willing to work with agents who bring buyers to you because I’ve had that, where they go. “Hmm.” If you say, “No commission, I’m not paying anything.” You might accidentally tick off the wrong guy. And, they’re, “I’m not even going to put this in front of my customer, even though I found you.”
Jill DeWit:
So, I do put a note in there and then when they call, we talk about it. So, that’s a little tip from me. But, it’s a great source, a great resource to use. Now, how do I choose? That’s my final point is, “Okay, great. Now, I know to deal with an agent, getting an MLS, now I know I paid $99 and do my own photos and get on the MLS. Which one’s the right way to go?” I choose based on the property and who’s going to be your buyer. I have a lot of properties in parts of the country that are beautiful hunting properties, or maybe it’s usually a niche-y property, maybe it’s hunting. Maybe it’s a zoned hotel. Maybe it’s something special commercial.
Jill DeWit:
Something like that, I take a step back and I go, “Where’s my buyer going to come from?” You know what? This is a niche. It’s going to need the right agent. It’s going need the right guy, driving him around. It’s going to need a white tail property guy or something like that. That’s when I call them and I have them handle it and they do it for me. And, I happily pay the commission. They drive them all around. I do that. But, then the other properties, I’m, “You know what? I’m just trying to get it out to the planet.” This is just one more level. I’ve done all the Facebook marketplace ads I’ve got on Twitter, Zillow, Trulia, all the different groups I want to get it out there. It’s a not a real high dollar property.
Jill DeWit:
That’s another thing too. If it’s over a hundred thousand dollars, those people plan different. They’re not usually looking on Facebook marketplace they’re usually looking on the MLS, but it’s a little less expensive property than I do the flat rate. One more tip though, or other investors. I have done it for houses than the flat rate MLS listing on my own for houses. So, play with it. What do you want to add?
Steven J Butala:
Let me end this with a very positive story.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven J Butala:
And, you’ll never hear me speak positively of real estate agents again, but this is how you can win. Jill and I bought a property for approximately send a mailer out and we bought a property in an area that’s relatively new for us from an investor standpoint for 5,000 bucks. And, I knew going in, it was a jumping up and down in the property came back down moment for us. And, we asked our transaction coordinator to interview a few real estate agents that are local to the properties. She did and she got one and the agent sold the property within days for, I think honestly, above the asking price.
Steven J Butala:
And, so what ended up happening is, and then our transaction coordinator came back to us and she works in house and said this to Jill, “I really like working with this agent. She’s a really bright, it’s not a lot of work for me. And she’s asking for more property.” Which is just music to my ears from a person who does the data, because if I have now a parameter and someone to work with on the south side, I can work it back into and create a mailer around that real estate agent. Well, we’ve been doing that. Jill’s been collecting real estate agents. For every 20 real estate agents that you’ve talk to or work with one might be okay. And that’s probably a generous number. It’s probably closer to 50.
Jill DeWit:
That’s kind of funny.
Steven J Butala:
So, when you find a real estate agent that’s really worthwhile and understands your product type, whether it’s houses or mobile homes or land, do mailers around that person.
Jill DeWit:
And they understand you.
Steven J Butala:
And, they’ll tell you. They’ll say, “Look, if you can get, in this is zip code. If you can get any kind of property, that’s more than an acre for less than 12,000 bucks an acre, I can sell this.” They don’t even say less than 12. They say-
Jill DeWit:
I can sell it for X.
Steven J Butala:
“I can sell it for 20 grand. I have multiple people in my speed dial that’ll buy these properties for 20 grand all day long.” And, so-
Jill DeWit:
And now you know how to price it.
Steven J Butala:
It makes my job taking candy from a baby.
Jill DeWit:
Yup.
Steven J Butala:
I mean, I’ll go in that at 10,000, an acre, which is a lot for us anywhere. Usually what ends up happening is I have now the luxury, I know my pricing, he just set my pricing. So, now just like yesterday, we talked about pricing, well now I don’t have to price it because he told me.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly.
Steven J Butala:
It’s 20,000 so I’m going to go in at probably 10,000. And, then before I buy the property, we’ll do our due diligence process. We bring that agent in and say, “What do you think? Can you get 20? I know you said 20, but what can you really get for it?” “Oh, I can get 18 five for this.” Done, done and done. We immediately buy it. They usually have an escrow agent in the area. “Oh, that’s great. Jack. Why does the real estate agent just send out a mailer anyway?”
Steven J Butala:
I’ve been asking real estate agents that my entire life.
Jill DeWit:
Same thing.
Steven J Butala:
They have no interest in doing that. I don’t know, they’re not data people.
Jill DeWit:
It’s funny.
Steven J Butala:
There can be a happy ending to all this, but for lower priced property, like Jill said, or flat fee listing’s great.
Jill DeWit:
I love it. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week. You can find this right here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven J Butala:
Tomorrow the episode of the Land Academy Show, is called, “When is it Appropriate to Survey Land?” You are not alone in your real estate mission.
Jill DeWit:
How are you doing there?
Steven J Butala:
It’s almost never appropriate to survey your land except in about three or four situations. And, we’ll talk about that tomorrow.
Jill DeWit:
Yes. It’s funny. If you’re interested in learning more about us or what we do, please check out LandAcademy.com or HouseAcademy.com. We provide the education tools and support you need to be flipping property like the pros.
Steven J Butala:
We are Steve and Jill.
Jill DeWit:
We are Steve and Jill.
Steven J Butala:
Information.
Jill DeWit:
And, inspiration.
Steven J Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you enjoyed the podcast, please review it in Apple Podcasts . Reviews are incredibly important for rankings on Apple Podcasts. My staff and I read each and every one.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me directly at steven@BuWit.com.
The BuWit Family of Companies include:
I would like to think it’s entertaining and informative and in the end profitable.
And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts.
