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.