When looking at the current condominium market of flat fee entry only MLS listings in Massachusetts, there’s one city that aggressively uses this listing technique, and that is Boston. The capital of Massachusetts, home to 600,000+ residents, has more than three times the number of entry only, or flat fee, MLS condo listings as the next closest city, which is North Andover, MA. What is the motivation for Boston for sale by owners to leverage an entry only flat fee approach to listing their condominium for sale?

Boston for Sale by Owner Condo Listings

Based on information provided by the Boston MLS system, in just the last one month alone, there have been 311 Boston condominium real estate sales that have taken place, the average sale price was $655,404. Clearly there is significant volume in the market, and given an average sale price of over $650,000, we’re looking at individuals who have more than likely been involved in more than one real estate transaction.

With the average Boston condo sales price over the past month being $655,404, on average sellers are paying approximately $32,770 in real estate commissions to sell their condo. Simply put, Bostonians are pursuing a Boston for sale by owner (FSBO) approach because they have the ability to save more than $16,000 in real estate commissions with a flat fee MLS solution.

Flat Fee Boston MLS Listings

Boston FSBOs can list their condominiums for sale using a one-time flat fee listing. Such a solution will allow you to list your for sale by owner Boston condo on the official local MLS, as well as websites like Realtor.com and Homes.com, for a one-time flat fee without paying a commission to the listing brokerage.

Practically speaking, if you were to take the average sale price of a Boston condominium over the past month ($655,404) and use that as an example, a seller would save $16,090 by using a flat fee Boston MLS listing – condos for sale by owner in Boston can save property owners thousands of dollars in real estate commissions. You can read more about how MLS entry only listings work at /how-mls-entry-only-listings-work/.

Flat fee entry only MLS listings are gaining popularity in Massachusetts, and that trend is exemplified in Boston, which has three times the number of entry only MLS condo listings as any city in Massachusetts.

The pilgrims first landed in Plymouth Massachusetts, and Plymouth seems to be the first to have landed on the progressive concept of flat fee MLS listings. Oftentimes used by Plymouth for sale by owners (FSBO), flat fee MLS listings allow sellers to get their homes into the official local MLS system for a one-time fee. Plymouth has nearly three times the number of flat fee single family home MLS listings than any other city in Massachusetts.

Plymouth currently has 17 single family homes listed for sale that all leverage this flat fee model, sometimes called entry only MLS listings. In terms of volume of listings, a handful or Massachusetts cities come in second with 6 flat fee MLS listings each, including, Marblehead, North Andover, Revere, Springfield, Walpole, and Weymouth. However, by far,

Plymouth MA For Sale by Owner (FSBO)

Clearly, a groundswell of Plymouth flat fee MLS listings is occurring. Property owners in Plymouth who are interested in selling are showing through their actions that they’re interested in the potential of saving thousands of dollars on the sale of their property by leveraging an entry only MLS listing model. This groundswell is happening across a vast array of listing prices in Plymouth, all the way up to $615,000 for the 3,300+ square foot home located at 189 Billington Street Plymouth, MA 02360.

For this Plymouth single family home that is listed at $615,000, the seller saves $15,080 by leveraging the flat fee MLS model offered by EntryOnlyNewEngland.com instead of a traditional real estate brokerage model where the seller pays a commission to both the Seller’s Agent of the listing brokerage and the Buyer’s Agent of the brokerage representing the buyer. With a Plymouth flat fee listing, there’s simply a one-time flat fee to list the home for sale in the MLS. This $15,080 savings represents a material savings to any seller that can be applied to the purchase of their new home or anything similar.

Plymouth Flat Fee MLS Listings Get More Popular

There have already been 11 single family homes that have sold in Plymouth this year (2012) that leverage the flat fee entry only model, already matching the total number of single family homes that sold using the same model throughout all of 2011, with almost two months to go in the calendar year. While the total number of single family homes in Plymouth sold via a traditional real estate brokerage model far outweighs those sold using a flat fee MLS model, the entry only model of listing a property for sale is gaining popularity in Plymouth.