How Much Does It Cost to List on the MLS?

Are you looking to sell your home and wondering how much it costs to list your house on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)? Well now, you’ve come to the right place. 

What is the MLS? 

If you’re considering being a home seller, you likely know about the MLS already. If you don’t know already, the MLS is a database of for sale properties to which only licensed real estate agents and real estate brokers have access. And actually, there isn’t just one database. Over 600 regions across the United States have their own MLS database, all with searchable fields to help agents, brokers, and even buyers find specific properties, property features or their locations.

Agents typically fill out their clients’ property information on the MLS. This information includes everything about your property, from its legal address to whether it’s a patio home or whether there’s a party wall. It takes time, a good understanding of the property, and generally also at least a few professional photos.

Why do you need the MLS? 

You may wonder if the MLS is worth the effort. You may want to just sell your home on your own, keep the agent commission, and do it by yourself. The National Association of Realtors has determined that 92% of prospective home buyers find their home on the internet. And where do most internet listings come from? The MLS. Most home real estate websites are directly or indirectly linked to the MLS. No other database contains as much real-time, trusted, accurate data about a property.

If you want to sell your home, you need it to be found. The MLS is basically your marketplace – the place where you can advertise to the world that your home is on the market with all of the features your next buyer cares about most. The MLS is accessible to every real estate agent and broker, therefore all of their clients, associates and partners and is the best way for you to get your house noticed.

So how much does it cost to list on the MLS?

There is a cost to list your home on the MLS, but it varies somewhat. Remember, only licensed real estate agents and brokers have access, therefore, you will have to go through them to get to the MLS. They can charge whatever they want for you to basically be using them for their access. However, you can still sell your own home and avoid the agent commissions, but you aren’t going to get on the MLS for free.

Some agents now offer an MLS access-only service where sellers pay them an upfront flat fee to gain access to the MLS without agent support or additional services. All you are paying for is to get onto the MLS. Flat-rate MLS services can be found for as little $99 and as high as a few thousand dollars. The difference is usually the length of time you can have your property listed in the MLS database. If you want to keep your options open and flexible, choose the longer terms. Your property may not sell as quickly as you anticipated, and you don’t want the stress of knowing you’re up against an MLS deadline.

However, once buyers start to come through the door, say at an open house, you might not know how to answer the tough questions without driving people away and know how to negotiate for terms in your own best interest.

The entry only agent will send you the offer, and that’s it. If you agree, the second phase of the transaction will start, including the buyer having a home inspection. And you won’t get help there either. 

Should you work with a discount broker?

Discount brokers can also offer clients a low cost to list on MLS, a percentage point or two less than the typical 3% of the sale price that full-service agents charge their clients. You will pay this commission at the end of your transaction after your home has sold. Discount brokers may offer you additional services beyond MLS access. They are basically willing to work as a typical full-service agent but at a lower commission. 

For both flat-rate MLS providers and discount brokers, there’s an important factor to remember: you will still need to pay the buyer’s agent their commission at closing. As a FSBO, you are really only saving the commission you would pay your agent, the listing agent. The buyer’s agent still expects their standard commission which is still typically 3%. 

Why not consider Trelora? 

Trelora, a full service, discount broker can help you list on the MLS for a low cost. Trelora is a modern residential real estate brokerage that is revolutionizing the home buying and selling process and putting the consumer first, and its disruptive low-cost, fair model has enabled it to be successful in Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, Tucson, Atlanta, St. Louis, Charleston, Raleigh and Charlotte. 

Since its founding in 2011, Trelora’s model has combined fee transparency with experienced agents and the latest technology to successfully help over 6,000 clients buy and sell their homes, saving them more than $65 million in fees along the way.

But don’t take our word for it. Here is just one of many comments left by Trelora customers on Google, Yelp, and elsewhere: 

“Long gone are the days when you have to give away 6% of your equity if you use Trelora. They handle your sale, take photos, post on the MLS, coordinate showings and walk you through all the paperwork for a fraction of the cost. We trusted them with our $1M+ sale in Seattle and were not disappointed. We only wish they were nationwide.” -Sharon and Richard, Seattle