I as well will show my buyers any homes that they have interest in. Typically it is more work for the buyers agent because now they need to deal with the sellers instead of the sellers agent and explane all details with the offer etc.

I just brought a buyer to a flat fee listing. My buyers loved it and we closed in just a couple of weeks. I will always show homes to my clients if it has the criteria they need- regardless if its a flat fee or not.
Pete

Hi,
I am not in Madison, but I can tell you that I have had difficulty getting through to get info about a a property or schedule appts for properties listed with flat fee agencies. That could be influencing your volume of showings if that problem exists there.

If your home, from the listing, seems like a perfect match for my buyer, I will jump through hoops to get the appt. If it is a marginal match, and I have ample inventory to choose from which may meet the needs of my buyer equally well, I will fill up our day without having to jump through hoops to get to your property. What might seem like a marginal match online, could end be the property a buyer wishes to purchase. You might be shortchanging yourself of some buyers.

A few agents will boycott flat fee listings, and those individuals are unlikely to come online and admit that.

Deborah

While there might be some highly unethical agents that "blackball", the bottom line is that it's buyers locating properties now. Most buyers, if they want to see a house, will find a way to see it (as the agents who "blackball" whine about disloyal buyers). It's more likely that in conjunction with a slow market, your price is not appealing enough (I know- the last thing that you want to hear). Make sure that the internet exposure of your property is substantial- that's where buyers are looking in huge numbers.
You might also buy a web address and enter your property there, as well, but reevaluate your pricing strategy.

most of my realtor friends will blackball flat fee discount listings. I personally do not see too many sucessful flat fee services

When selling my home fsbo, I was directly told by an agent that they would not show my home unless I was listed with an agent.

As a buyer, I have to disagree with the statement that your home is competively priced. You seem to be priced right where everyone else is in your area, and that is after your 20K drop in price. As pointed out in other postings, that may be different from the prices at which homes are selling.

It would also be a numbers game. It will take a while to sell a 400K house, and there is a huge supply off homes in your area in your price range and there may be fewer buyers for homes in that price range than homes in the 200K-225K price range. You just listed in early June, so I don't think six weeks is too long given the price of your home.

Sara, I meant to link you through to this page.

And I also forgot, I geniunely wish you luck with your move.

Sarah,
Some Great answers here. The fact is that times are hard and there are less buyers. Good Realtors are doing more these days to ensure their homes sell.

The prior answers discussed the fact that: -no additional marketing is being done which is necessary in these times.
-you get no representation when it comes to market knowledge, experience, marketing, negotiating, closing. (I don't mean an attorney who has an entirely seperate function)
Another aspect, that although if my team has an agreement with a buyer and has an obligation to show the best homes. I do warn my buyers that, in my experience, it may take longer to get an answer and that sellers are not held to the same standards of disclosure as Realtors.


Besides this, before a Realtor is contractually obligated to a buyer a Realtor would be less than wise to send a buyer to a home that they could just go knock on the front door and talk to the seller about. Kind of like if you went to work and weren't sure you would get paid.

This Market is not like 2-3 years ago when everything sold with a simple sign. It takes a full committment from both seller and Realtor. Look at the stats for last year: if you were to put your home on the market with a Realtor, you would have had a 29% chance to succeed. (Dane County Figure) Our Team was able to achieve an 83% list to sale rate, Based on, A team of specialists, hard work, tough seller consultation, and the best online presence. Once we got an offer we negotiated hard till it came together and kept it together.

That is what sells homes these days.

Check out the link below. All it would take is to pick up the phone and get a professional opinion of your individual situation. Call any agent who has answered this question. (preferably one in Madison)

Looks to me like your house is somewhat overpriced. I'll bet the people that bought the house at 2754 Hollyhock considered or even looked at your house...but chose to close on 7/2/2008 for $380,000. Same size, about the same age, a 4-car garage. They have been trying to sell since 6/06 when they thought it was worth $425K.
It is true that the Buyer's Agent has to do more work to get a Flat Fee Listing to close, but once you have a Qualified Buyer, the path of least resistance is to find them the house they love at a price they like. That means showing them EVERYTHING and then some. I think what you are missing with your Mad City listing is someone telling you the cold hard facts about what it takes to get your house sold. There isn't anyone laying out the comps and giving you firsthand info on the harsh reality of this market. With so many houses to choose from, an overpriced listing is a liability to a Listing Agent. Our friends at the Flat Fee joint will be happy to take your money AGAIN when their current listing expires and they won't say BOO about the price you pick to list it at. They are merely clerks for an advertising service, not professionals with your best interest at heart.

Dear Sarah,
If I am representing a buyer, I show them any and all homes that match their criteria - flat fee, MLS listed, for sale by owners included. As Rob said, its simply unethical for us to steer our buyers away from a more "difficult" listing. That said, these are not the times nor the market to be using a discount brokerage - your home should be actively marketed by a professional, full service brokerage. Summer is in full swing, now is the time to get your home sold and closed before family vacations and the start of the school year. Good luck with everything.
Best regards,
Sophia Peranteau

Yes I do...and here is why: There are so many houses for sale that you have to reduce the number shown to something manageable. Flat Fee Listers: Mad City and Homesomething mean the Realtor has to deal with a Seller who is inexperienced, not a bound by the code of ethics, lacks perspective, priced it at their whim, doesn't have a showing line, and will probably hire an attorney. This makes every one of those transactions more difficult. Why not pick the low-hanging fruit first?

First, your flat fee company is probably a Realtor member so the only difference is that as a seller you've opted to save money on a reduced service that only gives you a mls listing, which is all fine and good but you've elected to be responsible for all the additional marketing and networking it takes to sell a property As a Realtor when a buyer comes to me and has criteria such as school distict or bedrooms/baths and a price we search those criteria and provide to our customers, no flat fee service listings are deleted from our search. I would ask your service; if they could email you recent solds in your area, if not, call or go online to your local recorders office and search recent sales, this will also give you information as to the circumstances (eg. bank owned repo,estate sale etc. ) of the sale. When you say your price is competitive, just who has decided that as a fact? Go to realtor.com and search your area code, you can view pictures or virtual tours and see facts regarding your competition. this will help in setting a price. in many areas of the country foreclosures have negatively influenced the housing market . This may be a major factor. In our area we've seen price drops as high 35% in properties.
Your service most likely doesn't do open houses, You should. And try and coordinate with other listings in the area;this gives buyers multipule properties to see in the area. Make sure you store any excessive "STUFF" at an undisclosed address (humor). Also address those little things, the best way is to have a friend or relative come over and help you make a list of what they see needs to be addressed before hand. Invest in as many signs as it takes to "easily " generate traffic to your home from a high volume street. This coupled with an open house ad on sundays should get you a few peeks. As a professional it is my responisibility to find the best and most suitable property for my buyers, so showing a flat fee listing should not be an issue,also the renumeration paid is usually equal any other firm. So check what your listing broker is offering to a buyers agent. some flat fee companies offer( e.g 3% less $300 ) which equates to a tad less than maybe a competiting real estate company but this in no way should affect showings. Make sure you have as many pictures as possible on the local mls, if possible, make a virtual tour and ask to have it linked to your mls listing. For an additional $20-25 dollars you can have the tour linked to realtor.com
You've paid a mls fee to give access to real estate professionals start contacting them; especially agents with listings in your category. Invite each to preview your property and you can ask your listing agent to offer additional incentives to a buyers agent example $2000 selling bonus to the agent that brings and closes a sale within a specific time frame(7/31/08) this costs extra; but could satisfy your objective.
Bottom line, your flat fee service is only one aspect in the marketing of your property, be as pro active in networking your property as possible and if you are competitvely priced you should have a successful conclusion.

Sarah
I think that the fact you have had only a few showings is related to the decision to use flat fee broker, but not for the reasons you think.

I track the results achieved by MLS entry only brokers, discount brokers, and full service brokers in my MLS. This is what I have found consistently happens:
1. Listings by MLS entry only or limited service sell for 2.6% less than listings sold by full service Realtors.
2. Listings by MLS entry only or limited service fail to sell (expire) 33% more often than those by full service Realtors
3. Listings take longer to sell with MLS entry only or limited service.

THe reasons are pretty simple. The broker you selected just loads the listing in the MLS.
So when you need advice, you post on Trulia. You are asking our opinion regarding a property we dont know, a market we don't work, and we are also not acquainted with your situation (when you plan to move, how much you need to net, etc.). IMHO we don't know enough to help you.

So, just guessing, but the chances are your property is over-priced. I'd ask my Realtor how many homes, like mine , am I competing with. How many homes, like mine, have sold, lowered their price, or entered escrow since my home hit the market? Real estate is not a "set the price and leave it" buisness. It's more like chess, and you need current market data, and correct interpretation of the data, in order to know what move to make.

As a rule Realtors will not show any listing that is over-priced because we have plenty of listings to show that are correctly priced, and those are the listings that are selling.

I think it would be unethical for a Realtor to not show a house that met their buyers desires. More likely it is simply not at the top of the list, since there is so much inventory on the market. It is true per the Detroit answer that the Realtor knows they will have to coordinate both sides of the transaction. I would have a Realtor (or two) do a competitive market analysis for you to verify whether it is truly competitively priced. There are only three basic factors influencing a home sale: Location, Condition, and Price. A Realtor can give a professional opinion on the condition and the price.
Rob Summers
Keller Williams Realty
608 695-5201

Here in Detroit, that seems to be the case. The flat-fee guys don't do much, so if we show the house and our client likes it, then we are stuck doing all the work. Not to mention, most of the time we can't get them to answer their phone to give us permission to show the property. Get a full-service Broker. The house is likely your most expensive asset. You wouldn't take your Corvette to one of those "B" lots to sell it would you? Why would you do that with your house? You get what you pay for.