I am Keith Gordon, member of your local MLS Realtor Association which is Mid-Florida Regional MLS. I come to you with a message about selling your Orlando home and the buyer’s agent that you will likely engauge along the way. My company is ADDvantage Real Estate services better known as GetMoreOffers.com. We specialize is listing homes in the MLS for a flat fee. Our basic flat fee MLS listing plan is $349 for a 9 month listing. I also offer a full-service-flat fee MLS listing called ADDvantage Success. It is through this contract-to-close listing program that I have come to believe that too many buyer’s agents think they are CMA (comparable market analysis) Super Heroes and not professional messengers as they should be!

My story is about buyer’s agents. Because I represent many by owner MLS sellers throughout Florida, I come to you with a unique set of skills and experience. I am not your typical Realtor because my business model is web-based and we are a discount real estate broker in Orlando much the same as a Charles Schwab. I work for a fraction of what a traditional 6% charges and my company offers many services and marketing that you can’t get from a “bricks and mortar” agent such as our Street Smart ADDvanatge Realtor eblast, 100% on-line listing and 24/7 edits to your listing, feedback and more.

My issue is why buyer’s agents use a CMA (comparable market analysis) as their crutch to sell a home. A CMA is not the only way to compare value and ruins the excitement that gets a deal done. If a buyer says to an agent I want to make an offer and the buyer’s agent says, “great, let’s run a CMA and see where values are?” By the time the buyer has come forth with their “I love this home and want to make an offer” it would seem pretty obvious that they have seen more than one home and have an idea where they think value is. If they are wrong and offer too much, something called an “appraisal” will come to the rescue and save the buyer from paying too much. 

What’s wrong with saying to the buyer, “great, what do you think you want to offer?” This leaves the door open for a discussion with the buyer about other homes you have seen and begs for the buyer’s opinion of value.

CMA’s are NOT the only tool in the arsenal of Realtors to weigh value. I believe it takes the excitement out of the deal. It’s not just about price per square foot. It is also about the street, back yard, pool, kitchen, roof, layout and many other factors that a CMA can’t accurately compare.

Realtors are not super heroes with a cape that reads “CMA to the Rescue.”

Call me anytime about listing your home 1-877-232-9695.

Over the past 4 months, buyers and sellers in Orlando are coming closer together with their expectations of value. This narrowing of these “price-expectations” along with the added urgency of the expiring tax credit deadline has depleted our inventory of available MLS listings homes in Florida by 21%.

I see the real estate market in Florida completely differently now as we move into the second-half of 2010. I am Keith Gordon, broker and co-owner of a Florida flat fee MLS listing and full-service discount real estate firm, ADDvanatge®. We are a state-wide flat fee MLS listing service that specializes in being “available” for sellers, buyers and Realtor 7 days a week from 8:00am-8:00pm.

As a flat fee MLS broker, I primarily work with sellers so I have a unique and accurate view of how they are pricing their homes and I see a dramatic change in their expectations.

There remains a few “hold-outs” that bought right at the top in 2005 and possibly 2006 that remain 12-15% over-priced. But, unlike past years such as 2008 and 2009 where there were more over-priced MLS listings than well-priced ones, I see the reverse now.

It is not uncommon to to a new flat fee MLS listing at ADDvantage® sell during the first 2 weeks of being active in the MLS. This means that seller priced their Orlando home within a few percentage points of appraised  value. When a seller does this, every Realtor that has attempted to negotiate a home with their buyers and failed due to over-priced and inflexible sellers pounce of these well-priced listings.

Listing with one of ADDvantage’s® flat fee MLS listing plans helps the seller price their homes better because we don’t charge 6% to list but rather a flat fee starting at $349. This saves the Orlando home owner at least 50%.

Every poorly price home we have at ADDvantage is still active. I can recall about 10 homes out of our 147 we currently have listed in the MLS that are over-priced. They have been priced poorly from the start and continue to be priced behind the curve. The typical scenario of this type of listing is “we aren’t selling if we can’t get “x.” But “x” has nothing to do with current market value. I have yet to see one of these listing sell.

At ADDvantage®, we are the messenger, albeit a good one!. We list Orlando homes in the MLS, we market aggressively on the Internet and I represent many of the sellers ar ADDvantage® who use our full-service discount listing service ADDvantage Success.

There are two distinct advantages of listing flat fee in the MLS with ADDvantage®. The service and marketing are excellent and you save at least 50% in real estate commissions.

There are also two distinct advantages of using our full-service discounted flat fee plan ADDvantage Success. If you going to sell a home in today’s market, you must sell within what I refer to as the “appraisal envelop.” Every successful seller at ADDvantage® gets their deal done somewhere within this envelop. What I do for the sellers that I represent is get a deal done faster and at the high-end of this envelop. The extra cost to the seller over our traditional flat fee MLS “self-representation” plan is $350 up-front and a additional 1/3 of 1% at close or $330 per $100,000 in sales value. My value to home sellers is professionalism from start to finish. I do expect to get my sellers a sales price at the high-end of appraised value and I make sure no buyer’s agent takes advantage of one of my sellers or that no buyer is engaged that can’t close.

If, by chance, I push the buyer’s agent too far in value and we don’t appraise out, then the seller can always opt out of the contract, negotiate the difference by meeting in the middle, the buyer can agree to pay the original contract price or a combination of asking the buyer to take some or all of the seller’s closing costs such as documentary stamps on the deed or title policy.

My best advice to sell a home today is get the most for it and go buy another home at these bargain prices. 

Call anytime, 1-877-232-9695 or 727-942-2929. Might check out of smart home selling tips.

ADDvantage® now makes it simple to understand how flat fee listing works by watching our flat fee MLS videos.

In today’s price driven real estate market, every penny counts these days and ADDvantage® is leading the way on this cost saving campaign by offering the best by-owner flat fee MLS listing service.

ADDvantage® holds direct MLS membership with 28 Florida Realtor Associations from Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale,  Orlando, Florida Keys, Marco Island,  Ocala, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, The Pan Handle, Bradenton, Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, Gainesville, Naples, Boca and just about every small Florida city in between.

Listing Flat fee in the MLS has grown in popularity because sellers save 50% in commissions without sacrificing marketing or service. We offer the best live phone support and superior Internet marketing so selling your Florida home is easy and cost effective. ADDvantage® has been working overtime for years earning the respect of fellow Realtors and by-owners throughout Florida.

In today’s price driven buyer’s market, sellers must sell and compete along side short sales and bank owned properties. Lower sales commissions are an excellent starting point to get noticed and sold faster. ADDvantage® has done a great job in Florida for by-owners…Just take a look at our flat fee MLS sales statistics!

When listing flat fee MLS, in Orlando, by-owners only pay a commission to buyer’s agents. If you sell without a Realtor, no commission is due. Our basic 9 month flat fee listing is just $349 which includes a listing in Mid-Florida Regional.

With flat fee MLS, there is no binding listing agreement (view flat fee MLS listing agreement) and you can cancel anytime, with a moments notice and without a fee or penalty.

Our Internet marketing is superior and we will list your home, condo, commercial property or vacant land on hundreds of sites such as MSN, homes.com, Craigslist, AOL, Realtor.com, getmoreoffers, Bargain Network, Yahoo and many more.

Our service commitment to our Orlando by owners makes ADDvantage® your best partner in Florida to list flat fee in the MLS. We offer the most reliable live phone support from 8:00am and to 8:00pm every day o the week including Saturday and Sunday.

We are the only Florida discount real estate broker or full-service real estate company to do this. We truly understand real estate is a sales business and we understand each call is important and maybe your sale. We have offered this live phone support for six years now and continue to do so. We enjoy the best reputation in Florida among fellow Realtors because of it. When Realtors see our name in the MLS, they know what to expect when they call. Real-time live support 7 days a week!

We also give every seller more control over your MLS listing because each seller has their own seller control panel to change price, commission, view who has viewed your listing and all seamless, 100% on-line and electronic. No faxes, or emails, just clicks.

Even Realtors trust ADDvantage® to list their own listings when they need marketing outside their local MLS coverage. Homeowners, builders and investors all trust ADDvantage®.

Contact ADDvantage 727-942-2929

Managing a Flat Rate MLS service is complicated because we service the Realtors® with showing instructions and must do an excellent job with Internet marketing, making sure our MLS listing are accurate and manage our clients change requests in a timely manor.　

At ADDvantage®, we have succeeded is both categories of delivering excellent service to Realtors® and our Orlando home owners for 5 years in a row.　

Our formula for success was simple to think of but very difficult to implement. We decided in 2005 that all calls will be answered “live” by a human between the hours of 8:00am-8:00pm 7 days a week. 　

We are the only Florida flat fee MLS or full service real estate service has done this…Even Saturday and Sunday.　

Realtors® throughout Florida now know ADDvantage® as the real estate company that is always available. Our positive reputation with Orlando Realtors® helps you get more showing because when a Realtor® searches the MLS and sees our name they know one phone call gets immediate gratification….Instant showing instructions!　

It’s no secret Realtors® don’t love flat fee MLS services because we represent competition for listings and flat fee MLS services are notorious for horrible service to both teh Realtors® and their clients.　

Our approach since we started ADDvantage® in 2005 was to do the opposite of what we perceived as “business as usual” real estate. Hence, ADDvantage® was born and we now we enjoy without doubt the best reputation of any flat fee MLS service in Florida.　

ADDvantage is also a “concierge” flat fee MLS service because 2 of our flat fee MLS plans blend in with other full-service listings.　

ADDvantage® offers 2 hybrid flat fee MLS plans where we represent the seller, take all calls, schedule all showings and negotiate all offers right through closing. The seller benefits by often getting a higher price for their home. These 2 plans also add additional value to our already good reputation because unlike a flat fee listing, these listings are imputed into the MLS as an “Exclusive Right of Sale Listings” not “Exclusive Agency.” Full-service listings are designated in the MLS as “Exclusive Right of Sale Listings” and flat fee listings are “Exclusive Agency.”　

The names of these plans are ADDvantage Plus™ and ADDvantage Success™. With a “Plus” listing, the seller “works” all unrepresented buyer leads in an effort to sell without paying any commission. With ADDvantage Success, our Orlando agents “work” all unrepresented buyers to help sell your home.　

The seller never pays more than one commission which is typically 3%. Just one agent will be earning that commission. Regardless of which plan you choose and the saving are at least 50%. The “Success” plan removes the hassles of working with buyers. But, some sellers want to work the buyers so I recommend “Plus.”　

List your Miami home with the company that has earned the trust of Orlando Realtors, ADDvantage®.

1-877-232-9695

Most Orlando home owners do not fully trust Realtors®. For whatever their reasons, this remains a fact. I am Keith Gordon, broker for flat fee MLS Orlando listing service ADDvantage®.

I belong to 26 Florida MLS Realtor Associations, including the Mid Florida Regional MLS. I have been a licensed Florida real estate broker since 1984. My honest real estate brokerage dealings for the past 25 years has earned me a reputation as being forthright, respected and as a result, zero complaints with the Division of Real Estate in my 25 years of brokerage activity.

Trust will always be an issue when money is involved, especially big real estate commissions. Because 6% represents huge money, Orlando by owners have turned to an alternative way to list and sell real estate in Florida…Flat Fee MLS.

I have found that many of our clients even doubt our honesty and sincerity until they have listed and dealt personally with our staff. Once they see our professionalism and have experienced our easy to use MLS listing software, the trust barrier comes down. We are timely with our MLS edits once you are a client and our overall customer satisfaction is unapproachable.

I believe there are three areas that Orlando, Florida owners have trust issues with:

1) Buyer leads are one area that flat fee MLS home sellers do not fully understand. At ADDvantage®, our policy with regard to buyer leads has been effective and honest since we started ADDvantage® back in 2005. Once a buyer lead is received by us from any source such as Realtor.com or Homes.com, we promptly forward it to our seller in real time 7 days a week from 8:00am-8:00pm. This level of service is unheard of in the real estate. Between these hours, all emails and calls are answered “live” by our staff and forwarded to our Orlando flat fee MLS sellers…Either by phone and/or email. Our relentless attention to all details has earned ADDvantage ® the best reputation in all Florida for delivering the most reliable and trusted flat fee MLS service. As well, all leads and Realtor® calls for showings are stored in the sellers account in their easy reference and retrieval.

2) The next point of trust or dis-trust is how Realtor.com and IDX works. Most Orlando by owners do not fully understand the nuances of Realtor.com and why should they. Fact is, no seller contact information is allowed, by rule of Realtor.com, to be published in Realtor.com. ONLY the listing broker’s phone number and name may appear. All Realtor® websites such as Coldwell Banker and remax.com receive their MLS listing data directly from Realtor.com through a feed called IDX. This means all websites that display MLS listings contain the listing brokers contact information, not the sellers. So, sellers must implicitly trust the flat fee MLS broker to professionally handle buyer leads. The sellers contact information is displayed on our site http://www.getmoreoffers.com and sites such as Homes.com.

3) Offers from Realtors® are another big trust issue. Sellers do want the marketing and cost saving offered by flat fee MLS listing services but, “don’t touch my offers.” Sellers would prefer their offers going directly to them and not through the flat fee broker. At ADDvantage®, we facilitate our seller’s deals and would never impede the sale. We forward all offers directly to our sellers (8:00am-8:00pm 7 days) and call notifying of the offer being forwarded by email. We have never mishandled an offer in 5 years. Most offers do come through ADDvantage® as Realtors® prefer the “listing broker” to initially receive the offer and then forward the offer to the “self-represented” seller. From there, the buyer’s agent and seller negotiate the offer. As a note, it is clearly stated in the MLS to call seller directly for all showings and includes the seller’s phone number. But, it has been Realtor® protocol for 80 years to deal only with the listing broker. This also assists ADDvantage® with timely updating the MLS listing status from “active” to “contract pending” an MLS board requirement.

Trust will remain an issue when big money is involved. Orlando by owners that do choose ADDvantage will soon believe it is possible to trust a flat rate MLS service with your home sale and still 50% off the cost of a traditional listing….Or, possibly pay no commission if you sell without a Realtor®. At ADDvantage®, we have earned our reputation as Orlando’s most trusted and hardest working flat fee MLS broker. We consistently deliver more offers, more buyer leads and Realtor® feedback on all showings. We do this 7 days a week from 8:00am-8:00pm for 5 years in a row.

Cal us anytime 1-877-232-9695 

January and the first part of February were as slow as I have ever seen in my 26 years as a real estate broker.

This is great news for Orlando home sellers. I have an excellent pulse on how business is in Florida as I belong to 20 Florida MLS Realtor boards. I am the broker for Florida based ADDvantage®, a flat fee MLS listing service.

The calls are coming from Realtors® seeking showing instructions and un-represented buyers. Buyers have finally realized that if you are going to buy property in Florida, now is the time.

If you aren’t getting action on your FSBO listed property or you are looking for a better way to sell, try us. We are the most advanced flat fee MLS listing company in Florida.

Our systems are so advanced that we are going national with our MLS listing software.

Our flat fee MLS programs start at $349 and end at $799 plus $500 at close. They all do something different as far as marketing and representation.

All of our programs are flat fee. You pay just the buyers agent and if you sell “by owner” you pay zero commission.

Call us anytime….we are here 8:00am-8:00pm 7 days. 1-877-232-9695

The dilemma is you want your MLS listing to be seen “fresh” to the Orlando Realtors® but you don’t want to miss the perfect offer.

The correct answer to “what’s the best month in Florida to list in the MLS” is…Right Now.

Sellers have no control over the timing of a sale. December 2008 was a good month for ADDvantage® selling homes which is typically a slow month.

Like fishing, the worse the weather creates the best fishing opportunities. Beautiful perfectly clam days often produce less fish. But…No bait in the water, no fish…On any day!

At ADDvantage®, we know the best time to sell your Orlando home is the day that perfect offer comes along. We will do our job our marketing everywhere possible on the Internet such as google, craigslist, Vast, Homes.com, Realtor.com, MSN, AOL, Trulia, Harmon Homes, getmoreoffers.com and hundreds more real estate websites.

Marketing alone is not enough to sell a home today. Buyers and Realtors® must be able to see your home when they call or email. ADDvantage® is the only Orlando, Florida discount MLS broker that guarantees to answers the phone 12 hours a day 7 days a week…starting at 8:00am and ending at 8:00pm. Buyers and Realtors® in Florida are particularly active on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday are mostly un-represented buyers calling on signs and Realtor.com.

We are the only Florida real estate company that considers the real estate profession a 7 day a week job. Why? Unlike other service industries where sales people are held accountable by their owners/managers, Realtors® have no responsibility to sellers. Once you sign a listing agreement, they are not committed to do much…Especially, answering their phone.

This poor level of phone service will never cost you a showing at ADDvantage® because our track record speaks for itself…3,107 calls answered live the past 12 months and 1,047 answered after-hours. ADDvantage® will convert calls into showings and showings result in more Orlando homes sold.

We have been through challenging markets since 2006. We are selling 26% of our Florida flat fee MLS listed homes with an average “days on market” of 117 days.

Your flat fee MLS listing service holds the key to your success. Our clients are more successful due to our 8:00am-8:00pm 7 day a week live support.

List your Orlando home flat fee MLS with the most reliable discount MLS broker in Florida…ADDvantage®.

1-877-232-9695 or 727-942-2929.

We are the creators of Street Smart ADDvantage Realtor eblast which is Florida’s most successful Realtor-to-Realtor email.

We also offer the most unique and least expensive flat rate MLS contract-to-close listing plan, ADDvantage Plus.

We now bring another approach to garnering more attention for your Orlando MLS listing…Offer a Home Warranty.

Because the premium for the home warranty is paid only if you close, you gain the benefits that come with advertising the warranty and defer payment.

The other “why didn’t I think of that sooner” thought is that most Orlando Realtors that present offers will request that the flat fee MLS Orlando seller pay for a home warranty. The cost is about $400. If are you going to buy a home warranty after an offer comes in, you might as well gain the benefits of being able to advertise that fact in the MLS and 100’s of other FSBO websites before you a requested to purchase one.

According to a Gallup poll, 79% of both buyers and sellers rate home warranties as one of the most important considerations when buying or selling a home.

Call us anytime abut our Orlando flat fee MLS listing plans. We are here from 8:00am-8:00pm 7 days a week 1-877-232-9695.

5 reasons why Orlando FSBO sellers believe ADDvantage is worth the extra money:

1) We are the only Orlando flat fee MLS service that guarantees (it is actually in our listing agreement) 8:00am-8:00pm 7 days a week live buyer lead and Realtor assistance. Our live phone support is one reason why we are a more expensive flat fee MLS service. The common belief is that all calls go directly to the seller so why would anyone pay for extra live phone support of 8:00am-8:00pm? The fact is ADDvantage has answered over 2,900 calls live over the past 12 months from Realtors and buyers needing assistance. Flat fee MLS websites all say they same thing: that “Buyers and Realtors call the seller directly.” This is absolutely FALSE; we put the same remarks in the MLS as all flat fee services do which states “call the seller directly for all showings and offers.” The reason we have received over 2,900 calls is because Realtors are a busy bunch of people and often fail to slow down and read the Realtor remarks. Some read them and can’t find the seller, and some couldn’t care less what the remarks say and call the listing broker as protocol. Also, NO seller contact information is allowed in Realtor.com. These are the reasons why Orlando flat fee MLS sellers need reliable phone support. Is losing one buyer lead or missing one Realtor showing worth tying to save $150 and list with an unreliable cheaper flat fee service?

2) We are the only flat fee MLS service in Orlando, Miami, Tampa or Jacksonville that spends so much time making sure our flat fee sellers are ready for an offer. Just yesterday at 6:45pm, a Saturday evening, I received a call from an Orlando Realtor that was making an offer on a property she had shown earlier in the day. She reached me at 6:45 pm Saturday and received the advice she needed which was where to send the offer. I asked her if she needed the seller’s disclosure statement she said yes. I simply went to our “user docs” area of our seller’s control panel and emailed it to her. She got what she needed, the flat fee seller received excellent service as their offer wasn’t delayed and this was all made possible because our MLS Administrators did their job to ensure all clients have completed their seller’s disclosure. I believe that we are the only flat fee service in Florida that spends the needed resources to follow up with clients and mail “welcome letters” to inform sellers of what their responsibilities are. The list goes on about other success stories that flat fee sellers have experienced at ADDvantage. It all starts with excellent phone ethic and we take the time to get the details right. We help Realtors and buyers today, not tomorrow or Monday.

3) Another point about paying more for an ADDvantage flat fee listing is buyer leads. In our listing agreement we state that all buyer leads belong to the seller, not us. This is not the case with many flat fee MLS listing services in Florida who take the leads for their own purposes.

4) Another point is the listing agreement. Our flat fee listing agreement states that we answer the phone 8:00am-8:00pm 7 days and that a seller can “unconditionally” withdraw a MLS listing at anytime with no fee or penalty. By the way, “suspend” is not the same as unconditionally withdraw. Many other terms can be used that don’t mean you have the right to permanently cancel your listing with no penalties. Listing flat fee isn’t always cut and dry unless you’re dealing with ADDvantage.

5) Lastly, our flat fee MLS listing plans have more proactive features such as Street Smart ADDvantage Realtor eblast and ADDvantage Plus contract-to-close.

Cheap is cheap and with ADDvantage you simply get more.

Call us anytime, we are here 1-877-232-9695 or visit our flat fee MLS listing website getmoreoffers.com

ADDvantage, an Orlando flat fee MLS listing service, designed a special software program in 2005 that delivers an email to all Realtors in Orlando within a 35 mile radius of a Street Smart ADDvantage flat fee MLS listed property. Our Realtor-to-Realtor Street Smart email has become the best read email that Realtor receives of any kind in Florida.

To get in the Street Smart ADDvantage email, an Orlando seller must offer a 4% or greater commission to the buyer’s agent and be listed in the Street Smart program offered only through ADDvantage. Realtors from other companies call ADDvantage all the time requesting that we include their listings in the Street Smart ADDvantage email.

The Street Smart ADDvantage Realtor eblast program has been a huge success for the Orlando Realtors and the flat fee MLS sellers that have used this plan in Florida.

Over 1,000,000 emails have been delivered to Florida Realtors each year. Our flat fee MLS website, getmoreoffers.com, tracts the number of hits that each Street Smart ADDvantage listing receives so sellers can see their results.

Before we launched Street Smart ADDvantage in 2005, we researched the concept of paying higher buyer agent incentives and made the following conclusions.

Our Street Smart ADDvantage properties would get shown more by Realtors and sell better than other standard MLS listing. That would be only logical since a Realtor that sees a 4% or 5% commission offer will likely not pass up a chance to show that property and possibly sell that home.

In summary, the theory that supports the concept of Street Smart ADDvantage is higher commissions are often cheaper than price reductions. For example, a 1% commission on a $500,000 home is $5,000. When negotiating with a buyer or Realtor, price increments do not move in $5,000 clips but more like $10,000-$15,000. The extra $5,000 in commission pales in comparison to dropping $15,000 off the ask price.

Call us anytime, if you have questions about listing flat fee in Orlando MLS

1-877-232-9695 or visit our site getmoreoffers.com.