Finding the right real estate agent is a crucial step in the process of buying or selling a property. However, finding a reliable and competent agent can be a daunting task, especially if you are unfamiliar with the industry. 

Many people make mistakes when hiring agents. They do this based on connections or personal relationships, instead of assessing the agent’s competency and expertise.

This guide provides valuable insights on how to find a real estate agent. We will help you find someone who will meet and exceed your expectations.

Choosing an Agent

Moving Past Guilt and Connections

People often make a mistake when selecting a real estate agent. They choose someone they know, like, or trust, simply because they feel guilty. They might feel compelled to hire a friend, relative, or acquaintance as their agent, even if that person lacks the required skills or experience. 

However, it’s crucial to remember that real estate transactions are significant financial decisions that demand the expertise of a qualified professional.

Finding an Experienced Real Estate Agent

Ensuring a Successful Real Estate Transaction

When it comes to becoming a real estate agent, the requirements are not very demanding. In fact, the training needed to obtain a license is pretty minimal in many places. For example, in Tennessee, agents are only required to complete a short course that lasts about two weeks. This means that many agents enter the industry without having received extensive educational training.

Unfortunately, this lack of education often translates into a lack of practical experience. On average, agents only sell around five and a half houses per year nationwide. This low number reflects the limited exposure and on-the-job learning opportunities that many agents encounter. It’s like a baseball player who finds themselves in the World Series but has only had six chances to bat throughout the entire year. It’s difficult to expect them to perform exceptionally well in such a high-stakes situation.

In the same way, agents with limited sales experience can find it challenging to navigate the complexities of real estate transactions. Buying or selling a property involves intricate processes and negotiations that require a certain level of expertise and skill. Without adequate experience, agents may struggle to provide the best guidance and representation to their clients.

To bridge this skills gap, it’s important for aspiring agents to seek out additional education and practical experience opportunities. Continual learning and professional development can help them better serve their clients and navigate the complexities of the real estate industry. Additionally, clients looking for an agent should consider the level of experience and track record of potential agents before making their decision. Working with an agent who has a solid foundation of knowledge and experience can significantly increase the chances of a successful and smooth real estate transaction.

Benefits of Flat Fee Real Estate Agents

Save Money and Avoid Surprises

If you’re considering selling your home, there are lots of advantages that flat fee full service real estate agents can offer. Here a just a few:

Save Money – $10,000 on average: Flat Fee agents, like the agents at Scout Realty, will list your home for a fair, flat fee while providing a full service experience that includes everything from listing on the MLS to a fully executed marketing strategy that markets and sells your home in the fastest amount of time for the most amount of money. 

Transparency: You know exactly what you’re paying for and the associated costs upfront, avoiding surprises at closing.

Predictability: The set fee remains the same, regardless of the final sales price, providing clarity on expenses.

Experienced Agent: You receive guidance and representation from an experienced agent dedicated to your best interests.

With a flat fee realtor, you can expect transparency, predictability, and the support of a knowledgeable agent throughout the home selling process.

How to Interview a Real Estate Agent

What Questions Do I Ask?

Remember, agents are interviewing for a job with you!

To ensure you choose a real estate agent who is both well-connected and competent, it’s essential to adopt a strategic approach. While connections can be valuable, they should not be the sole basis for your decision. By using effective evaluation methods, you can assess an agent’s competency and determine whether they are the right fit for your needs.

At Scout, we’ve developed valuable resources to help you, like our Seller’s Guide: How to Interview a Real Estate Agent. These interview questions are designed to help you make an informed decision based on the agent’s qualifications and expertise.

When interviewing potential agents, here are just a few of the questions to ask:

1. What sets you apart from other Realtors in the market?
2. How do you determine the appropriate price for a home?
3. Can you provide a written marketing strategy for my property?
4. Are you a full-time real estate agent?
5. How many clients are you currently working with?

Agents should not only have a genuine desire to serve their community but also the required competency to serve their clients well. By using available resources like our interview questions, you can make an informed decision considering the agent’s connections and their ability to meet your real estate needs.

Download our resources, take the time to effectively interview potential agents, and avoid the trap of hiring an agent solely because of guilt or personal relationships.

Remember, this decision will have a significant impact on your real estate experience, so it is crucial to prioritize competence and expertise when choosing a real estate agent.

What is flat fee real estate, and what are the benefits of using a flat fee broker versus a traditional agent? If you’re thinking about selling your home and want to save money on commission fees, read below to learn about this cost-effective alternative to traditional real estate services. In this article, we’ll explain exactly what flat fee is and answer six common questions to help you make an informed decision about your home selling options.

Simply put, flat fee real estate agents charge the same rate, regardless of how much work they do on your behalf. Whether you sell a home for $100,000 or $1,000,000, the fee doesn’t change, and you end up saving a lot of money when it sells. And the even better news? With this type of straightforward pricing, you won’t have any surprise fees when your house sells, and the cost to you remains the same.

6 Common Questions About Flat Fee Real Estate

1. What is Flat Fee Real Estate?

Flat Fee Real Estate is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of paying a traditional real estate agent a percentage of the sales price of your home, you only pay a low, flat fee for their service. In a traditional real estate transaction, you can expect to pay anywhere from 5% – 7% in commission fees when selling a home. However, with Scout Realty, you can list your house for a low, flat fee instead, which allows you to retain more of the equity that you’ve built up in your house.

Scout Realty adopted this strategy in order to shift the real estate experience in favor of the homeowner. By doing so, we are able to provide an unparalleled customer experience, regardless of the price of your home. Whether your home sells for $200,000 or $2,000,000, you still pay the same flat rate. As our founder, Jonathan Harris, explains it, “We’re on a mission to eliminate commission fees. This is how we best serve and create value for our clients.”

2. What are the Benefits of Using a Flat Fee Broker vs. a Traditional Agent?

There are a variety of reasons to sell a home – whether relocating for a job, up or down sizing, or maybe the equity in your home is too good not to capitalize on. Making a profit might not always be the reason you’re selling a home, but one thing is for sure – no one wants to lose the equity that they’ve built up by paying outrageous commission fees. In fact, by selling your home for a flat fee, you’re able to save over $10,000 on average. This is cash that can be used to make a down payment on a new home, or maybe to take that dream vacation you’ve been wanting to take for years.

In order to truly capitalize on the equity you’ve gained in your home, it’s important to understand the difference in how much money you’ll be spending when selling your house with a traditional agent versus a flat fee broker, like Scout Realty. With Scout, we don’t charge a crazy 6% commission fee that most traditional brokers do. We only charge one flat rate when you sell your home. Because a traditional real estate transaction has a standard brokerage fee of 6% on average, the listing agent and the buyer’s agent typically split that commission fee. If a listing agent doesn’t offer the standard rate of 2.5% – 3% commission split, buyers’ agents might refer their clients to other properties, which will slow down the process of your home being sold.

3. How Do Commission Fees Really Work?

 In a traditional home sale, the commission fee is typically around 6% of the final sales price of your home. The commission is split evenly between the listing agent and their broker, which means each party receives roughly 3% of the sales price.

Here’s an example: if your home sells for $500,000 and you agreed to pay your agent and the buyer’s agent a total of 6% percent of the sales price, then you’re automatically out $30,000 in commissions, and can be down over half of YOUR equity! Use our free Instant Savings Calculator to see how much you can save when you sell your home with Scout.

When you choose a flat fee real estate broker like Scout, there’s no need to worry about the crazy overhead of selling your home, regardless of how much a buyer agrees to buy your home for. Instead of worrying, you’ll know BEFORE you go under contract exactly how much you’ll pay to sell your home. There’s no hidden fees or charges – with Scout, it’s one flat fee no matter what.

4. Is Scout Realty Considered a Discount Brokerage?

At Scout Realty, we believe that discounting your cost and discounting your value are two totally different things. We create something that we call ‘Value Innovation’. We’re often asked “how do we create value for people if we don’t charge a full 6%,” or “if we don’t charge 3% on the seller’s side, are we considered a ‘discount brokerage’?”

Our goal at Scout is to:

1. Eliminate or reduce our costs for our clients.

2. Raise or increase the value we provide for them. So, whenever we reduce or eliminate commission fees, this automatically increases the value we have for our customers and provides them the opportunity to retain as much of their home equity as possible.

5. Will My Home Be Listed on the MLS?

An important thing to note is that even when you use a flat fee realtor like Scout Realty, your home will still be listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), so that it can be found just like every other home that’s listed in Nashville. The MLS is the main online directory that real estate agents use to list their properties and share them with other agents that also belong to the local MLS. This is an important thing to note because many third-party services, such as Zillow, Realtor.com, NextDoor, Trulia, etc. pull their listings from the same MLS, so your home will get maximum exposure for only a fraction of the price.

6. Would My Home Sell Faster With a Traditional Broker?

In the month of May, Scout Realty sold our flat fee Nashville listings in an average of 6 days. The average for all other Nashville homes that were sold by other brokerages during the month of May was 12 days. This is great news for anyone looking to move quickly and avoid paying thousands of dollars in commission fees. 

Another thing to note is that when you meet with a traditional real estate agent to discuss the sale of your home, you’ll generally get a presentation on how well they plan to market your home. However, an overwhelming majority of properties are sold by the cooperating MLS agent, rather than a listing agent. So, why would you invest a large portion of your equity in someone who will more than likely lean on another agent to sell your home instead? 

This is where Scout Realty comes in. In our Core listing package, we provide professional photographs listed on the MLS, an open house to generate maximum exposure, a feature in our email blast, organic posts on social media and much more! We offer a fully-integrated marketing strategy for every property that lists with us, designed to help your home sell as quickly as possible. 

With a traditional agent, you’re typically required to pay 6% of your home’s sale price. This can be upwards of $15,000-$20,000 in many markets! On the other hand, Scout agents charge a flat fee for their services and consistently sell homes faster and for more money. If you’re looking to save money on commissions or get more exposure than what is offered by most real estate agencies, then we recommend considering our team at Scout Realty. We have an extensive network of local buyers who are actively seeking homes like yours right now so don’t hesitate any longer. Reach out today!

See what you can save with our Instant Savings Calculator!

Zinga’s Provides Expert Advice with unmatched convenience

Scout Realty provides vetted service provider recommendations for all things home ownership. From buying and selling to repairs and beyond — our Preferred Provider Program connects you to top-notch professionals in your area.

Why we love Zinga’s Blinds: They give expert advice and provide unmatched convenience — THEY EVEN bring the showroom to you! Zinga’s Blinds loves their customers and provides great service with their lifetime warranty, best price guarantee, no-pressure estimates and in-home design consultations.

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Anyone that has lived in this city for at least 6 months (or has a favorite coffee shop other than Frothy Monkey) has earned the name, “Nashvillian”.

Nashville has always been a melting pot — welcoming people from all over.

And while opportunities are ripe for the picking in this city, some may be asking what the cost is for the local homeowner ready to move across town or down the street? 

The answer: a bidding war.

With flocks of new neighbors fleeing to Nashville from out-of-state, the unintended consequences can leave some sellers temporarily homeless.

First, let’s dig deeper into the problem.

Ask any real estate professional or buyer/seller in the Nashville area, and they’ll tell you that there is a massive deficit in the inventory of homes for sale compared to the number of buyers looking.

It seems that any well-kept home in a desired area will go under contract within a day or two of hitting the market with multiple offers on the table, for over asking price.

I’ve had 3 or 4 buyers this year lose out on homes in multiple offer situations with offers ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 over the asking price.  Homes with 20+ other offers are becoming the new normal.

If you think that’s bad, multiple homes have sold for above $100,000 over asking in certain spots in Williamson Co. One in Brentwood sold for $315,000 over asking. 

Why is this happening? Let’s look at the data.

The average housing budget for out-of-towners moving to Nashville in 2020 was $719,500, which was 48% higher than the $485,500 average budget for local Nashville buyers according to a recent study by Redfin.

That means that these out-of-towners simply have more cash to win highly competitive homes. 

Additionally, 63% of home buyers in Nashville bought sight-unseen, meaning an offer is submitted without ever stepping foot inside the home.

In 2020, more than two-thirds of Nashville homes sold had multiple offers on them in 2020, and a record amount of them sold above asking price.

Ready for the big shocker?

Inventory in January 2021 is at less than half of what it was in 2020 — 3,195 homes available compared to 6,588 in 2020.

Yikes!

If you put yourself in the shoes of someone thinking about selling their home, you start to see their reservations more clearly.

Sellers are not worried about there being enough buyers for their home; they’re worried there won’t be a home that meets their criteria to buy once all is said and done.

No one wants to have to go through the pain of moving twice. They want a smooth transition.

And no one wants to temporarily rent while they look for their next home.

Lack of inventory breeds more lack of inventory — and those brave enough to list their home have to account for losing out on a few multiple offer scenarios simply because of their home-sale contingency (the purchase of a new home is contingent on the old home selling).

In stark contrast, most out-of-state buyers are either:

• • buying in cash
• • waiving contingencies
• • offering a high amount over asking price

And sometimes all of the above. 

This “perfect storm” is undoubtedly multifaceted.

On one hand, the recent 30% property tax hike in Davidson Co. may have caused some locals to want to move to surrounding areas if commuting isn’t an issue and margins are tight.

On the other hand, the societal side-effects of business shut-downs and other strict urban Covid-19 mandates, as well as higher state and city taxes in areas like California, New York, Washington, Chicago, etc. are causing out-of-state buyers to flock to hot real estate markets like Nashville — which also happens to have 0% state income tax.

Plus…hot chicken. We have amazing hot chicken.

With all of this in mind, what can you do to position yourself to win?

Advice #1: Educate yourself on the market, and your criteria before for your next home before you begin the process of selling. Drive the neighborhoods; see how far away it is from your work/school/church, etc. Drive around during rush hour to see if it’ll work for your lifestyle. 

Advice #2: Save as much money as you can when selling your home so you can compete with the multiple offer wars that lay ahead. At Scout, we have a fair fixed fee for people listing their homes. You’ll receive a full-service listing experience that won’t be attached to the value of your home. This allows you to retain your hard-earned equity which in turn, gives you more money to compete with in your next offer. Our average client saves $10,000 when listing with Scout.

Advice #3: Don’t be afraid to talk to a Realtor in advance about different solutions and tactics available for your unique situation. At Scout, our number one goal is to educate you, not sell you. Trust me, you don’t want to jump in this market blindly with just anyone. You’ll want a full tactical strategy mapped out.

Advice #4: Reach out to get signed up for off-market homes coming on the market. If one comes up that’s a perfect fit, you can then consider Scout’s instant cash offer — which can close in as little as 2 weeks. It’s a bold play, but it could be worth it depending on the situation.

When selling a home, you want to sell for the most money in the least amount of time possible.

We get it — you want more money if you’re going to put in extra work to sell your home. So we’ve narrowed down the top 5 (realistic and quick) home improvements that give you the best boost on your home value.

Paint

A new coat of paint will refresh even the most tired home. Neutrals are great to appeal to a wide variety of potential homeowners.
The ultimate goal of painting is for people to see a blank canvas — to envision themselves living their daily lives in each space.

Kitchen Refresh

The kitchen is the heart of the home. Make sure that your kitchen makes a statement by updating light fixtures, knobs, and pulls, or even adding a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets. Any boost you do in the kitchen will help your home stand out from among the crowd.

Updated Bathrooms

Make sure that every bathroom is fresh and clean. Updating the finishes such as faucets, vanities, mirrors, and light fixtures is a great cost-effective way to make the space look and feel more updated.

Floors

Did you know you can rent a carpet cleaner from your local Lowe’s or Home Depot? If you can’t replace your carpet, cleaning them is a great way to make sure that your home is putting its best foot forward — not to mention, potential buyers will immediately notice if your home smells like pets.

Energy-Efficient Features and Windows

Buyers love investing money in a home that saves them money in the long run. Adding energy-efficient features to the home will add to the overall value.

1.   What is FSBO?

FSBO, otherwise known as ‘For Sale By Owner’, is the sale of a home without the use of a real estate agent in the process. This method of selling a home is primarily used to save money, but it isn’t always the easiest way to do so. 

Without representation from a real estate agent, you’re responsible for everything involved with the home sale. This means setting the price, managing all of the legal paperwork, negotiations (i.e. home price, repairs, etc.), and the marketing of your home to make sure your property is getting the amount of exposure it needs to sell.

If you’re able to handle all of these aspects of selling your home, great! You won’t need to pay an agent, which results in saving a few thousand dollars in the process. However, if you mess up somewhere along the way, it could cost you more money than it would’ve taken to hire an agent. It’s important to find the happy medium between paying a large commission fee for an agent vs. taking the risk of doing everything yourself.

That’s where Scout Realty comes in. Rather than worrying about commission fees, we sell your house for a low flat fee. 

That’s right. No commission and no hidden fees. 

Just one low, flat fee.

This gives our clients the best of both worlds. We handle the marketing, paperwork, negotiations, open houses, and anything else that’s needed to sell your home so you don’t have to list it as FSBO, but you won’t pay that large commission fee that you would with a traditional brokerage.

2.        Pro’s and Cons of selling FSBO

As with anything in life, there are plenty of pro’s and cons of listing your home as a FSBO. Before we dive in, let’s first take a look at a couple of key statistics: 

According to Zillow.com, “36% of sellers attempt to sell their homes themselves, but challenges along the way lead many of them to eventually hire an agent. In the end, only 11% of sellers end up selling their home without a real estate agent.” This simply proves the level of difficulty that’s associated with selling your home without using an agent.

Another statistic to note comes from DaveRamsey.com, and states “Sellers using the FSBO option sold their homes for less than the median selling price of other homes. In 2018, FSBO homes sold at a median of $200,000. That’s a lot lower than the median price of $264,900 for agent-assisted home sales.” 

So, if you’re really trying to save money by listing your home without an agent, it’s important to note that you may end up selling it for far less than what it’s really worth.

Let’s take a look at some more Pro’s and Cons:

Pros:

–   The most notable “pro” to listing your house as FSBO is that you won’t have to pay a commission fee to a real estate listing agent. This is a large reason why most people go this route.

–   You’re the only one that knows your house as well as you do. This gives you plenty of expertise when discussing its best features and attributes that might be appealing to buyers.

–   You’ll control the open houses, viewings, negotiations, etc. This gives you the control over the entire sales process.

Cons:

–   Although you aren’t paying a commission fee to a listing agent, you’ll still more than likely end up paying anywhere from 2.5% – 3% to a buyer’s agent. If you don’t offer a commission fee to buyers’ agents, they will be reluctant to show your home, resulting in a much longer time on the market.

–   The amount of work required would be quite daunting. Negotiating contracts, scheduling showings and open houses, staging your home, and making sure everything is being done legally will take quite a lot of time and effort, which many people can’t afford to spare.

–   You may undervalue your home, which means you lose out on thousands of dollars.

Fortunately, Scout has been able to help clients that originally tried to list their home as FSBO.

Take Leslie for example. Here is her take on why using Scout to sell her home was far better than listing her home on her own:

 What made you decide to list with our agent?  

“I could get full-service assistance selling my home while saving a considerable amount of money.”

What advantage did you see over listing by yourself? 

“Listing with Scout gave me much broader visibility with being on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Plus, I needed to move before my home was sold. By listing with Scout, they took care of all the showings and kept me updated with immediate feedback from potential buyers.”  

Did you get the result that you were hoping for by listing with us?  

“I had a solid offer on my home within 2 weeks.”

What would you tell other DIY sellers after your experience selling with Scout?

“DIY sellers have to rely on potential buyers driving by and seeing your signs. I wasted a month thinking I could do it myself.”

Why were you considering selling on your own?

“The potential savings on commission is the biggest attraction but with Scout, you still save money without having to deal with the hassle.”

3.       Do FSBO sellers pay commissions?

If you decide to sell your home without using an agent, you cut the amount of real estate commissions that you’ll have to pay in half (roughly). However, more than likely, you’ll still end up paying 2.5% – 3% in commission fees to the buyer’s agent. This means the notion that FSBO sellers “don’t pay any commission fees” is false. As mentioned prior, if you decide to not offer the buyer’s agent any commission fee, they will more than likely not show your house to potential buyers, which can significantly increase the amount of time your house is on the market.

4.       Can FSBO homes be listed on the MLS?

The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is one of the best ways to increase foot traffic on your home. Listing your home here allows realtors, brokers and third-party sites, such as Zillow.com, realtor.com, etc. to pull your listing into their database. However, only licensed real estate agents have access to post listings on the MLS database. If you are listing your home ‘For Sale By Owner’, you will still have the ability to list on the MLS, but you’ll have to pay anywhere between $99 and $500 for a package to do so. The price you’ll pay typically depends on the length of time you are going to list your property, and whether or not you’re able to include photographs, legal forms, etc. With Scout, we handle all of that for you in our flat fee listing packages, so you’ll never have to worry about how much you’ll end up dumping into the MLS before your home sells.

In summary, if you’re wondering whether or not to list your home with or without a real estate agent, just know that with an agent from Scout Realty:

1. You can avoid the full-time job of having to balance your normal just with being a full-service real estate agent on your own.

2. You can avoid the stress of worrying about meeting all of the legal requirements that are associated with selling a house, as well as locating all of the legal documents needed to close.

3. Your home will be seen by far more active buyers, which means your house sells faster, and for a more competitive price.

What is Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate? 

A Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate Brokerage is a company that will list your home for a fair flat fee while providing a full service experience that includes everything from inclusion on the MLS to a fully executed marketing strategy that markets and sells your home in the fastest amount of time for the most amount of money. 

This is an important concept for homeowners to understand because traditionally, the cost of most real estate transactions was tied to the value of the home, rather than the value of the services provided by the real estate agent. 

Flat Fee Real Estate Brokers charge a fixed or flat fee for brokerage services instead of a commission based on a percentage of the sales price of the property.  

Why would a homeowner choose a Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate Brokerage? 

The benefits of listing your home with a flat fee full service brokerage are heavily weighted in favor of the homeowner. 

Transparency

One of the most frustrating things with the traditional model is that while you might know what percentage of your home value you’ll have to give away to your agent at close, you might not know exactly what that money paid for.  With a flat fee realtor, you will know the exact list of deliverables and the costs associated with those elements. 

When you sell your home with a flat fee you have the transparency to know exactly what you are paying for and the value you can expect to receive in the process of getting your home sold. 

Predictability 

A flat fee agent does the same work as a commission-based real estate agent, but they only charge a set amount.  This is helpful because as a homeowner you want to know exactly what you are paying for. 

Similarly, with a flat fee real estate agent you will never be surprised at the closing table with how much money you have to pay.  You will know at the beginning of the relationship what the real estate agent fee will be and that price will not change depending on the final sales price of your home. 

Experienced Agent 

A Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate Brokerage gives you the benefit of an experienced agent that can represent your interests in the transaction and help guide and advise you through the process.  You will never have to worry about an agent being incentivized to give priority to a different client because their transaction is “worth” more which is something that can happen in the traditional commission-based real estate model. 

Having an experienced agent in your corner is a benefit to any person considering selling their home. 

MLS Access

Considering that 44% of buyers start their home search by looking online, according to NAR, the MLS is a great way to gain exposure.   

A Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate Agent will ensure that your home is loaded to the MLS which populates the online platforms that buyers are looking at when they are on a house hunt. 

Keep More Cash at Close

Flat Fee Real Estate Agents understand that it is YOUR HOME and YOUR MONEY. Our goal is to help you maximize the amount of money you put in your pocket. 

When you choose to work with a Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate Agent you are protecting your equity and keeping more cash at close. 

For Example: 

Let’s take a house that sells for $650,000.

When you list with a traditional real estate agent that has a commission based on the value of your home, you can expect to pay your listing agent about $19,500 in commissions! 

With a flat fee full service brokerage, that fee is usually significantly lower. 

At Scout, our full service, flat fee Core Plan starts at $7,500.  

By selling with Scout, you save an additional $12,000 at closing to do with as you wish!

What are other listing models? 

When considering how to list your home it’s important to consider your options.  While Flat Fee Full Service Real Estate is a model that has several benefits there are other ways that you can list and sell your home.

Traditional Commission Model

The traditional commission model is what most people are familiar with when it comes to selling and buying a home. 

A Real Estate Agent is paid a commission based on the value of your home.  That means the amount that is paid can vary depending on how much your house sells for.  

According to Bankrate, these old-fashioned agents typically charge their clients about five to six percent of the sales price.  Zillow says that commissions can be as high as seven percent.  That commission is generally split between the buyer’s and the seller’s agent, but at the end of the day listing with the traditional commission model means that agents will walk away with compensation that was tied to the value of your home, rather than the value of the service they provide. 

Here’s another thing to consider, commissions paid on the value of the home erodes the homeowner’s net worth of the homeowner. 

Two-thirds of American homeowners’ net worth is tied up in their houses.  This means that those families risk a significant portion of their net worth if they choose to sell with the traditional commission model.

Consider this scenario: 

Let’s take an average house with a sale price of $500,000.  If the homeowner has a $450,000 mortgage and they build up $50,000 in equity, if they choose to sell with the traditional model there is going to be commission paid. 

The commission paid on the sale price of the house would be about $30,000 in lost equity.  

The $50,000 that they had earned in equity is reduced to $20,000 because of the traditional commission model. In this scenario, the homeowner that pays 6% on the sale of their house is actually paying out 60% of their equity in the traditional commission model.  

If two-thirds of Americans have their net worth in their house, to relinquish 60% of their net worth to a traditional commission is unconscionable. 

This traditional model that was created before the internet is outdated, harms the homeowner’s net worth and is no longer relevant for the modern homeowner.  

Entry MLS Flat Fee

An MLS Flat Fee option is a service by which you pay a very low flat fee to have your property included on the MLS which is a multiple listing service.  This service then populates the information about your property across a variety of online platforms. 

The main benefit of getting your house listed on the local MLS is that it gets your listing syndicated onto top real estate websites like Zillow and Realtor.com. Websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com pull data from these local MLS listings and serve it to their millions of users. 

Knowing that 44% of buyers start their home search by looking online it just makes sense to ensure that your property is included in the MLS.  

Keep in mind, only an agent can list on the MLS, which is the only thing you’re paying for with a flat fee MLS service. In other words, you won’t get access to the other services usually offered by agents.

The MLS is also sometimes called an “entry only” listing, which means that the agent entering the listing into the MLS is not performing any other tasks for the seller. So, for example, interested parties will know not to contact that agent to arrange a showing. They’ll go directly to you, the seller. 

If you choose an entry-only MLS listing you can expect to market your house, host your own open houses, negotiate your own contract, and facilitate the entire contract-to-close process. While getting your house included with a flat fee MLS listing is an important component of marketing your house, you can anticipate that the trade-off for a low upfront cost will cost you in terms of time, energy, and potential money as you work to effectively create leads for your sale and then work to close the deal.

For Sale By Owner 

It can be tempting to dive right in and just sell your house without the help of a realtor.  The thought of just handing over tens of thousands of dollars to someone simply because you live in a nice home makes even the most seasoned business-minded people squirm. 

So while FSBO might feel like a good option to keep more money in your pocket consider this. 

It is not a free way to sell your house, you’ll still need to pay a buyer’s agent… which means two to three percent of your sale price and the seller’s closing costs associated with selling the property. 

You will not be on the MLS.  With a large percentage of homebuyers shopping online before they even reach out to a realtor your home will not be visible to those potential buyers. 

You have to do all the work.  From filing paperwork to hosting open houses, and marketing your property there is a significant amount of time and attention that goes into selling your property and the hours of attention you’ll need to give your property to get it sale-ready, marketed, sold, and ensuring that all the legal documents are properly executed can really add up!

Scout Offers A Better Way 

When we looked at the traditional real estate model and the options that homeowners have to list their homes we realized the flat fee Nashville hypothesis proved the model for the modern brokerage. 

The hypothesis was to help customers by driving down the cost by offering services for a fair fixed fee while raising the value to the customer with a full-service experience to get their house sold in the least amount of time for the most amount of money. 

This nexus is called value innovation where the new model modern brokerage truly serves the best interests of the customer.

We have proven that our flat fee full service brokerage can sell houses faster than the industry standard and for more money. 

We are outpacing the industry average of 30 days on the market whereas ours are on the market for an average of 23.  The list price to sales price average in Nashville is 88% and Scout is selling houses in Nashville at 98.7% list price to the sale price. 

All of this happens because we realize that the traditional model was no longer serving the client’s best interest and that the real estate industry was due for disruption. 

Rather than follow outdated legacy modes of doing business, we decided to take a risk and break the mold of how a brokerage operates in order to provide the most value to our clients.

Our first step was to carefully consider how to best serve our clients. 

We believe that our success ought to be measured by what we give rather than what we take and that preserving and growing our client’s net worth was the best thing we could do for them. 

Working from the understanding that monies produced from a home sale was the homeowner’s equity and not our commission, we decided to do something radically different and offer a flat fee full service offer to the market. 

Scout provides specific services including a proven marketing strategy and a dedicated team to help sell your home in the least amount of time for the most amount of money for a fair flat fee….an amount that you will know upfront and with full transparency as to what you are getting for that fee.

You’ll see that working with a real estate brokerage that is designed to help the homeowner retain their equity it enables our customers to have more cash at close.  This gives the homeowner more buying power for their next home or frees up resources to travel, pay tuition, or even put towards retirement.  Most importantly, this model protects homeowners’ net worth. 

Scout has proven in Nashville that a Flat Fee Real Estate Brokerage is the model for the modern brokerage because it has created a repeatable process for excellence that includes a predictable pipeline of lead generation, excellence in its business operations, and a workforce of full service full-time agents that can cater to customer’s needs at the highest level with a fiduciary obligation to protect the homeowners’ net worth. 

Are you interested in hearing more about Scout and our Flat Fee for Service model? Click here https://scoutrealty.com/selling/ to learn more about Selling with Scout.