Good luck. Finding reviews on flat fee MLS companies can be difficult. And when you do find reviews, they’re often skewed.
Here’s the deal. Most people who use flat fee MLS companies, are real estate investors and experienced FSBOs (for sale by owners). People who know what they’re getting into, and know exactly what to expect out of this type of service. These people aren’t likely to leave reviews.
That said, more and more people are beginning to use flat fee MLS services. People who would have otherwise used a full service real estate agent. It makes sense, too – the savings are tremendous, compared to listing with a traditional REALTOR®.
Let’s dig into to who’s actually leaving flat fee MLS reviews, and what to look for when doing your research.
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The saying ‘no news is good news’ rings true in the world of online reviews – and it applies to this service, too. Most of the flat fee MLS customers who are satisfied do not leave reviews.
Those who are leaving good reviews, are often those who have tried a flat fee MLS service for the very first time. They sold their home, had minor issues during the closing process, and saved a whole lot of money in commissions. They’re ecstatic about it and leave raving reviews.
What those raving reviews do not express, is how much the home seller played a role in the success of their home sale.
The MLS did its job. It marketed the home better than the home seller could have ever done on their own. It provided much more exposure than just listing the home in Zillow, Craigslist, and a handful of FSBO websites nobody ever searches.
However, if the home seller had not properly priced the home to sell, thoroughly cleaned and staged it, and taken great photos, the flat fee MLS listing wouldn’t have mattered. And, that’s where most bad flat fee MLS reviews come from – people with a lack of expectations.
Read all the bad reviews you find, and they’ll likely fall into one of two categories:
1. Unrealistic Expectations – These will read something like this, “I tried this service, and after 58 days I haven’t had a single offer!” These are typically from home sellers with unrealistic expectations. They don’t realize that the MLS is simply a marketing tool. The lack of a sale was likely caused by the home seller, due to one of these:
2. Poor Customer Service – These will read something like this, “I can never get anyone on the phone. I’ve left multiple voicemails, and never receive a call back. It took days to get a reply to my emails.” If you see multiple reviews like this avoid the company. These are legitimately bad flat fee MLS reviews.
If there is one thing to judge a flat fee MLS company by, it should be its customer service.
Before signing up for a flat fee MLS service, we highly recommend you call and email the company. Based on quickly you receive a response – and, how well your questions are answered – is a good indication of the type of customer service you’ll receive.
If you don’t mind doing a little a little bit of the leg work – and, homework – using a flat fee MLS service is a great way to save a lot of money. You have to do these three things in order to for it to be successful, though:
Notice a theme yet? Pricing, staging, and photos. Those things are so critical to the success of your home sale, regardless of what type of service you choose.
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Not sure how to find a great flat fee MLS company? To be blunt, google it. There are likely a handful companies near you. Then, the key is filtering the results to find the great companies based on three things:
Hopefully, these tips help you out in your search for a great flat fee MLS company.
Or, you can just give us at Transactly a shot 😉
See everything that comes with our service here.