Last night, my husband and I sat down and filled out paperwork to get our house listed on MLS. As the decision to sell our house has been on the horizon for the past month, I have been following (…like a cat follows a mouse) developing changes to CREA rules and consumer access to the MLS.
We were happy to discover, that on October 24, 2010, a challenge with CREA, spearheaded by Lawrence Dale, a Toronto Lawyer, resulted in a huge victory for home owners allowing them to pick and choose the realty services they want or don’t want. These changes came, just at the right time for us, especially since we wanted to save on real estate commission costs but still wanted our home listed on the MLS system.
The completed paperwork went in, last night, to Realtysellers Real Estate Inc. (http://realtysellersrealestate.com/). So our home should be listed on MLS today. We know that the presence on MLS will increase the traffic through our home. We also realize, that selling our home privately, will take some creative and active participation on our part, although we have already determined that we are willing to do the work necessary to save our money.
After reading through all of the paperwork from Realtysellers, I was really delighted to discover just how creative their business model is. Not only will they place my home on MLS at no charge, BUT they will also offer a cash-back incentive to the home buyer who finds one of Realtyseller’s registered home listings and buy it.
Realtysellers has developed a business model that attracts both sides of the Real Estate transaction: Sellers (people like me) and buyers too.
Sellers get a free MLS listing and the option to choose how much commission they wish to pay to the realtor who brings in the buyer. The seller can also determine how much additional service they want from Realtysellers, or do not want.
Buyers who buy a Realtyseller listed home, using Realtyseller’s registered realtors, get a cash-back incentive.
There is no doubt that buyers need a huge amount of savings, or available home equity to cover the costs associated with buying a home. Here is a breakdown of how funds are divided up on a typical home purchase:
1. minimum of 5% of purchase price to buy a home (minimum of 20% of purchase price to buy a rental property);
2. Ontario municipal land transfer tax (plus Toronto municipal land transfer tax if buy a property in Toronto);
3. 8% PST paid on your mortgage insurance amount (if your down payment is less than 20%);
4. appraisal cost;
5. insurance coverage;
6. home inspection fee;
7. GST if you are buying a newly constructed home under $400,000 and GST and PST if you purchase a home over $400,000;
8. legal and disbursement fees;
9. closing adjustmensts;
10. title insurance;
11. possibly interest adjustment;
12. estoppel certificate.
Here is how this cash-back incentive works: If a buyer, purchases a home that is listed on the MLS system with any real estate broker, using a Realtyseller’s Realtor, that buyer will receive cash back, paid out by the Brokerage, immediately after the Brokerage has received their commission amount, from the Seller’s agent. The cash back paid out is a percentage of what the Seller paid as the agreed upon commission to the Brokerage.
While the free listing on MLS will certainly be a driver of business (which seems to be what everyone is talking about now....), Realtyseller’s cash-back incentive to buyers is the next big wave, which I believe, will sweep through the industry. This option, like the free MLS listing, will also certainly generate huge interest in Realtysellers, once buyers (who are not already under contract!) find out that this cash-back option is now available to them.
This blog post was written by Elizabeth Blair on November 3, 2010. Elizabeth is a Licensed Mortgage Agent with Mortgage Edge in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Elizabeth services mortgage clients in Mississauga and all over the Greater Toronto area.
You can contact Elizabeth directly by phone at (905) 510-5785
by email at eblair@mortgageedge.ca
or you visit any of her websites at:
www.missmortgage.ca
www.burlington-mortgage.ca
www.oakville-mortgage.com
www.streetsville-mortgage.ca
Elizabeth is licensed with the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and is also a Member of IMBA (the Independent Mortgage Brokers Association of Ontario) www.imba.ca
Lic # M08005880 / Brokerage Lic # 10680
Head office is located at: 15 Wertheim Court, Suite 210, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
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