Flat Fee Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a service offered by real estate agencies and other companies as an a la carte resource for home sellers to get their property listed in local homes-for-sale databases. It's the industry classified ads for the housing market. The availability of these €unbundled€ services came about as consumers began to demand more choice and no longer required full services from real estate brokers.

The €Flat Fee€ applies to a one-time fee an individual home seller pays to a realtor to introduce the property into the database. By offering this service as an individual option, home sellers have the opportunity to avoid costly commission prices when selling an agent assisted home and pay a one-time cost to sell.

The inclusion of Flat Fee Multiple Listing Services into the housing industry has had a real effect on the real estate practices and consumer expectations. Until recently it was standard practice for sellers to solicit all the services from a real estate agency and pay full commission. Likewise, if a seller sold their home FSBO, they were at the mercy foot traffic and attractive yard signs, a difficult way to attract buyers. With a strong Flat Fee MLS package, sellers can now get their property listed online, property flyers to hand out, and even work with buyer brokers to show their property. Realtor agencies can also offer more options to clients who may not feel comfortable signing a selling agreement guaranteeing commission payouts.

A Flat Fee MLS is a great market asset to sellers selling their home For Sale by Owner. MLS packages offer several different options to sellers to help them sell their home quickly and professionally. Service packages can be as minimal as a single online listing or as comprehensive as agent-assisted negotiations in title and closing. The real advantage of a Flat Fee MLS is that it allows sellers the option to negotiate as much help as they need for a single fee without incurring the expensive costs normally associated with agent assistance. What's $400 when you could be looking at a savings of $10,000 by foregoing realtor commissions?

Prices for a Flat Fee MLS can cost anywhere from $50 to $700 depending on how many services sellers want. Some MLS's offer syndicated listing and flyer design for free. Others offer more advantageous and involved services at a bigger cost. The availability of access to active online databases is perhaps the greatest boon for sellers. According to the NAR 2010 Field Guide to Quick Real Estate Statistics, 74% of buyers used online methods to find their home. Getting your home where people are looking is the first step to selling successfully.

A Flat Fee MLS is the FSBO's best friend. Several non-realtor associated website offer <h ref="http://www.yigdigs.com">Flat Fee MLS services, such as Yigdigs.com, where sellers can get property listings, agent assistance, and access to a helpful community of real estate professionals for one flat fee.