March 11th, 2010
admin
The fastest growing segment of the real estate industry today is the flat fee MLS listing service broker. In the post recession economy consumers are more cost conscious than ever and flat fee MLS provides the most economical way for sellers of real estate to gain access to the market. A correctly priced listing in the Realtor MLS is still the most viable means to affect a sale, so more and more sellers are flocking to services where there are pricing level options. Going fast are the 6% commission days where one price was supposed to fit all.
If you’re a real estate broker and would like to join the revolution that’s taking place in real estate you’re probably wondering where to start. After all, with so many established Internet companies offering flat-fee services, how can you break into the market? Bloomkey is a company founded by the original online flat fee real estate broker, Lawrence Bunnell. In 1997 Mr. Bunnell founded the very first national online real estate company and the first company to ever become licensed in all 50 states, homebytes.com, inc. Bloomkey is the successor to homebytes and is now the most successful flat fee company in the nation having assisted thousands of property sellers with their real estate needs all throughout the United States and Canada.
Bloomkey now provides an easy way for real estate brokers to enter the flat fee MLS listing arena. By leveraging Bloomkey’s strong Internet presence and direct marketing acumen, brokers can quickly be up and running and soon earn, in many cases, far more than their traditional real estate broker counter-parts. All without the up-front costs associated with having to build your own website, pay for marketing or any of the other start-up costs. And, imagine not having to be at the beck and call of your clients night and day for 6 months while they pester you about why you’re not spending more on marketing their home.
To register today as a flat fee real estate broker with bloomkey, visit www.bloomkey.com/real_estate_agents
March 2nd, 2010
admin
When it comes to the flat fee MLS real estate industry, one company stands out as a leader. Bloomkey.com has been one of the very few companies to invest in innovative marketing tools to assist sellers with successfully selling their homes. While plenty of Internet companies gladly accept your money for placing your property data into the Realtor® Multiple Listing Service, there is usually not very much going on “under the hood”. The typical flat fee MLS listing companies provide a method for you to pay online, but that’s where the “online” experience ends for most of them. From that point on you’ll be receiving whatever service they provide just like you would with a traditional land based agent.
The advantage of using an Internet real estate company shouldn’t end with being able to pay online. After all, the Internet provides the most efficient and effective means for advertising ever invented. Being able to promote property and conduct automated transactions using a variety of innovative online tools is the promise of the future of real estate.
As the original online flat fee broker, Bloomkey, on the other hand, has spent years developing a robust, database driven web application to provide real estate buyers and sellers with the very latest in real estate technologies. Not only can you select and purchase a customized home selling package complete with yard signs, lockboxes, information flyers dispensers and even professional real estate assistance at Bloomkey.com, Bloomkey customers get to utilized a wide array of marketing and real estate transaction automation tools.
February 12th, 2010
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The Ottawa Citizen reported today that the Canadian Real Estate Association will ask its members to bow to the demands of the Competition Bureau of Canada and allow easier and possibly cheaper access to its Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Association president Dale Ripplinger said Wednesday its 98,000 members will be asked to allow agents to list a home on the MLS for a flat fee without forcing customers to accept a bundle of other real estate-related services, such as the agent presenting all offers.
Earlier this week, the Competition Bureau said the association’s practice “limits consumer choice” and prevents realtors from being more “innovative” in their services. The bureau announced, after a lengthy investigation into the real estate market, it would proceed with its case and haul CREA before the federal Competition Tribunal to force an end to the practices. CREA will ask its members to make changes to rules governing MLS at their annual general meeting March 22 in Ottawa. If accepted by the membership, a home seller would be able to pay a flat fee to a real estate agent for an MLS listing, without having to sign an agreement for further services from the agent.
February 6th, 2010
admin
For many home sellers the choice between flat fee MLS listing and for sale by owner website listing is a choice that comes down to dollars and cents. Advertising on FSBO websites is a relatively inexpensive alternative. And it avoids the expense of having to pay a buyer’s agent commission when the property sells. According to Hitwise, an Experian Company, FSBO website and online classified advertising on sites like Craigslist have become the new classified advertising medium of choice for real estate sellers as more and more Internet users have migrated away from the use of traditional newpaper classifieds.
The tradeoff between Flat Fee MLS listing and FSBO website advertising is, of course, exposure. Sellers of property listed on FSBO websites are limited to the traffic and reach of the particular website. Compared with real estate brokerage websites like Realtor.com these FSBO sites pale in comparison in terms of traffic and reach. Realtor.com alone is the number 1 real estate website in the world followed by Yahoo Real Estate and Zillow.com. No FSBO website even ranks in the top 20 real estate websites.
Why is website traffic important to selling property and why should you be concerned about whether your property appears on the top real estate websites? In real estate there’s only one thing more important than location – *exposure*. The more people who know about your property for sale the better chance you have to sell. Realtors know that more exposure means a higher selling price and a afaster selling time. That’s why Realtors have entered into strategic partnerships with each other and numerous websites to display their property listings as widely as possible. Flat Fee MLS listing with bloomkey.com, for instance, includes listing on most if not all of the top 20 real estate websites that display property listings.
Real estate sold using a flat fee MLS listing gives your property the widest possible marketing exposure. For a selection of flat fee MLS and website only advertising packages, visit www.bloomkey.com.
February 1st, 2010
admin
Flat fee MLS has become the preferred advertising method for by owner real estate sellers. In fact, no other mode of advertising is more effective for home sellers in reaching the largest groupd of home buyers. The math is simple. You can pay a few hundred dollars for flat fee MLS listing with an online real estate company like Bloomkey.com or HouseZooks.com and reach millions of potential buyers. Most flat fee MLS listing packages last for 3 to 9 months – some for up to a year or even ‘until SOLD’. Or you can pay a similar amount to a local newspaper to reach a few thousand people. But newspapers classifieds usually last for just a few days.
As an advertising medium it’s hard to beat the Internet these days. A flat fee MLS listing with Bloomkey not only provides a listing on the Realtor Multiple Listing Service but also includes advertising on the leading real estate sites like Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Zillow.com as well as most of the major real estate franchises’ websites like Century 21, Prudential, Help-U-Sell, etc. When you stop to think about it, it’s really quite astounding how far your marketing dollars will go with a flat fee MLS listing. What just a few years ago would have required a real estate owner to give up 6% times their property’s sales price can now be obtained for less than the cost of a newspaper classified advertising campaign. Chalk it up to the economies of the Internet.
As with so many industries, Travel and Stock Brokerage to name two, the Internet has drastically impacted the costs associated with gaining access to the market for consumers. The efficiency afforded by being able to reach so many people for so little makes the Internet the perfect medium for real estate. Flat fee MLS is the best way to take advantage of the evolution of real estate marketing.
January 11th, 2010
admin
Flat fee MLS listing gives home sellers an cost-effective method for reaching the most home buyers. A listing in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is the best advertising a seller can get. Over three quarters of properties sold nationwide sell through the MLS system. The MLS is to real estate what a stock exchange is to securities.
Getting listed on the MLS wasn’t always as easy as one might suspect. To be able to post property listings in the MLS you must be a licensed real estate broker. Licensing is required in order to gain membership to the MLS. Additionally, most MLSs require membership in the National Association of Realtors® the trade organization for real estate agents and brokers. In the past, a property seller had no alternative other than paying a commission of 6% of the property’s value to a real estate broker in order to gain access to the MLS.
With the advent of the Internet, information about real estate for sale or lease became more readily accessible to consumers. Real estate brokers have come to realize that they no longer control the access to property for sale and lease information in the way they once had. In order to remain viable many real estate brokers have migrated to the Internet and begun offering ‘a la carte’ real estate services and products. One of those services is a listing on the MLS.
Now Internet based real estate companies like Bloomkey.com offer by owner real estate sellers low cost, flat fee real estate selling tools and services including an introduction to flat fee brokers who can provide advertisement in the MLS for a flat fee. With a flat fee MLS only listing on the MLS, by owner home and property sellers handle all other aspects of the sale for themselves while being able to gain access to the valuable pool of ready buyers only available through the MLS. That way they can keep control over their entire real estate transactions, including when the property can be shown, while retaining far more of their home’s equity than sellers paying a full commission to traditional real estate brokers.
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