South Boston, otherwise known as “Southie”, currently has 86 condominiums listed for sale. Just one of those units, a mere 1% of all condos currently for sale, is an entry only MLS listing where the owner of the unit decided to save the real estate agent commission typically paid to a listing agent and instead pay a one-time flat fee to get their condo into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

505 E 5th Street Unit 2 Boston, MA 02127 is the latest condominium listing to hit the market for sale in South Boston. The two bedroom one bathroom 669 square foot condo is listed for sale at $389,900. The other condominiums currently for sale in South Boston have an average listing price per square foot of $467, while 505 E 5th Street Unit 2 is currently listed for sale at $433 per square foot, an approximate 8% discount on the rest of the neighborhood. What the owner, who’s acting as a for sale by owner (FSBO), has done in using an entry only MLS listing is quickly get their property maximum exposure across thousands of websites and immediately in front of tens of thousands of buyers who start their search online, all for a one-time flat fee.

South Boston Flat Fee MLS

Is this flat fee MLS approach worth considering if you’re a homeowner looking to sell (or rent) in South Boston, or anywhere in Massachusetts for that matter? Well, let’s look at the most recent statistics from the Boston MLS system to see how South Boston condo listings that are put into the MLS by traditional real estate brokers charging a full commission stack up against flat fee entry only MLS listings that make their way into the local Boston MLS via an entry only approach for a one-time flat fee (saving the seller thousands in Realtor commission fees).

Let’s focus on what has happened in the South Boston condo market over the past 6 months.

South Boston condo sales using full commission – Over the past 6 months, there have been 408 condominiums sold in South Boston, the average size of units sold has been 1,026 square feet, with an average list price of $463,565 at $469 per square foot, and an average sales price of $465,617 at $472 per square foot, with average days on market (DOM) at 26. Inherently baked into these statistics is the fact that the average sale price to list price ratio is 100.4%, meaning that listing agents listing these condos for sale in South Boston are always getting their asking price, in fact, slightly more than that.

Now, of the 408 condos that sold in South Boston over the past 6 months, 7 of them were entry only MLS listings, entered into the local MLS system for a one-time flat fee, thus saving the seller on average almost $12,000 in real estate agent commissions paid. Let’s see how those flat fee MLS condos fared compared to their full Realtor commission cousins.

South Boston condo sales using entry only MLS listings – Over the past 6 months, there have been 7 South Boston entry only MLS listings that have sold, the average square footage has been 1,046, while the average list price has been $470,843 at $464 per square foot, with an average sales price of $472,929 at $465 per square foot, and average days on market (DOM) at 7. Average sale price to list price ratio for entry only MLS listings in South Boston has been 100.4%, the same as the traditional full commission listings, but on average, entry only MLS listings are selling more than 3 times faster.

For a discerning homeowner, these are some compelling statistics from the Boston MLS system that make the idea of foregoing a listing agent, saving on average $12,000, and selling quickly, worth additional consideration.