NYC flat fee MLS listings are still very rare despite advances in technology
and the city having the highest home prices and real estate commissions in the nation.
Is it because it the market is too profitable for NYC brokers to offer discounts?
But why are discount services so rare when there are over 30,000 real estate agents in NYC alone and not enough listings?
NYC flat fee MLS listings are rare for the following reasons:
NYC’s real estate industry is controlled by only a few major brokerage companies, creating an oligopoly for consumers
Aspiring real estate agents enforce the status quo, refuse to discount commissions and ‘dream big’
NYC doesn’t have a traditional MLS, so it’s more challenging to offer FSBO sellers a NYC flat fee MLS service
NYC Flat Fee MLS Reason One: Lack of Commission Competition
Although NYC has over 30,000 agents and many thousands of listings at any given time,
the industry is far less competitive than it may appear from the surface.
This is because a large proportion of all agents and listings are controlled by a handful of large and dominant brokerages in the city.
While a real estate salesperson license in NYC is very easy to obtain,
each new salesperson is required to associate with a brokerage in order to conduct business.
Licensed real estate salespeople at these major brokerages aren’t simply permitted to discount commissions.
Every listing agreement or deal requires approval and sign-off by a managing broker at the firm.
These large, traditional brokerages have unwritten policies which severely limit
or altogether prohibit offering any form of discount or reduced commission services.
NYC Flat Fee MLS Reason Two: Agents Enforce the Status Quo
The traditional school of thought suggests that although the vast majority of licensed real estate agents
don’t close any deals in a given year and price fixing at 5-6% in real estate sales commissions per given sale only benefits a handful of stars
the masses of agents who don’t close deals still protect the status quo
because of hope that they could potentially become one of these high earning star agents.
As a result, even though the system they are helping enforce does not benefit them,
these young and aspiring agents go out of their way to enforce the status quo
by refusing to budge on prices and boycotting discount brokers.
NYC Flat Fee MLS Reason Three: Lack of an Official NYC MLS
An alternative explanation for why NYC flat fee MLS listings are so rare
is because NYC doesn’t have an official MLS nor a dominant NAR (National Association of Realtors)
affiliated local trade organization in New York City.
While there is a Manhattan Association of Realtors (MANAR) which operates the Manhattan MLS,
it is not very popular and many of the major NYC brokerages have refused to join it.
As a result, the dominant trade group and inter-brokerage database is operated by REBNY, which is a private NYC based real estate association.
As you can imagine, large national “for sale by owner” websites would typically have no issues getting access to the MLS in most parts of the country.
However, they are at a total loss when it comes to a unique city like New York City.
Looking for a NYC Flat Fee MLS Service? Buyer Beware!
What typically happens when an unsuspecting NYC FSBO home seller purchases a package from a large,
national “for sale by owner” company is that the company will list the seller’s NYC home in the New York State MLS,
the Long Island MLS or some other irrelevant MLS which none of the brokers in NYC actually use.
What’s even more shocking and damaging to NYC FSBO sellers is the fact that most of these large,
national “for sale by owner” websites won’t even list the NYC home owner on local websites like StreetEasy.
Many of these large, national “for sale by owner” websites don’t even hide the fact that the listing is essentially a FSBO deal,
even if it is listed on the wrong MLS.
Oftentimes, these FSBO companies watermark all of the owner’s photos and add the company’s URL to the listing descriptions.
This encourages harassment by agents who have no buyers and who are purely looking to make the seller hire him or her and pay 6% in commission.
As a result of all of these woes and reasons, NYC flat fee MLS listings have remained very are.
Fortunately for home owners looking for a NYC flat fee MLS listing service,
they now have a choice between going it alone and paying 6% to a traditional listing agent.
Sell FSBO for a Flat Fee or List with a Full Service Agent for Just 1%
Hauseit is the only listing company in NYC able
which offers intelligent sellers two options for significantly reducing or eliminating NYC real estate commissions altogether.
For FSBO sellers, Hauseit offers NYC home owners the most reliable and effective NYC flat-fee MLS service for a low, one-time flat fee.
Your listing will be fully marketed on the NYC MLS (RLS) and dozens of other sites like StreetEasy
by a full-service REBNY member firm for 0% listing agent commission.
For NYC sellers who are too busy to list FSBO but still aren’t willing to pay 6% in commissions,
Hauseit offers sellers the ability to work with a full-service REBNY member listing agent for only 1%.