Hello REWs,

i read an article in the past in which was written that over 90% of the purchased Real Estate in the US is sold over a broker (in Germany thats only 30%). And that on the average to sell a house in the US takes 8 weeks (in Germany it takes 13 months !!!).

For me that were unbelievably facts and now i want to ask you why there is such a big difference and which facts are responsible for that?

If you want to sell your house In Germany (and you decide to take a broker) you give him the order to search a buyer for the house. And this will take, in order to the brokers abilities, 13 months in average. And when he finds a buyer, the buyer has to pay 6% of the price of the house to the broker.

So please REWs tell me what is different & what to do

regards

Tim

Is there no MLS in Germany? If there is and there are cooperating brokers, then why on earth would a seller get ONE agent to find a buyer when a seller could contract with a listing broker to advertise and market the property to ALL sellling agents participating in that particular MLS? It doesn't make good sense to send one agent out to find a needle in a haystack (i.e., the right buyer) when thousands of buyer's agents who might be participating could cut the costs, time, and aggravation and ultimately find the seller the best price and terms because you are generating buyers from a much larger pool.

I went on my site where I have World Properties and came up with only ONE active lisitng in Germany. This can NOT be accurate?! How does your industry survive?

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Irene Morales Ward, Realtor
Northern Virginia Real Estate
RE/MAX Absolute

Sounds like you don't have a "multiple listing service" like we do here in the states and Canada. When a seller hires one of us we put the listing into our local multiple listing service, which is a database of all brokerage listings.

Most agents with buyers put in a saved search that lets them know whenever a new listing matching their buyers requirements comes up, on a daily basis. If the buyer is interested in the property they go take a look as soon as they can.

We've had low interest rates here in the past 3 years & I've sold several homes in one day. Many sellers were able to choose from multiple offers. There were more buyers out looking than properties available for sale. Things are slowing down a bit & in my area it seems like there is a bit more inventory than buyers now. This is the kind of market I'm more used to working in.

When I purchased my first house many years ago it was before our multiple listing service & I had to basically go from real estate agency to the next & look over their inventory, much like buying a car but with many different makes, models & years to choose from. I'm sure back then it did take much longer to sell properties and newspaper advertising was about the only way to go besides for sale signs.

I guess I just thought everyone used some kind of multiple listing service. I can't imagine working without it.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

So the MLS sounds for me like the Key for these differences. So i take the chance and ask a bit more.

1. How do the US brokers get paid? From the seller or the buyer?
2. How do you divide the earned money between the involved brokers (the one who acquired the estate and the one who sold it)?
3. How much does the MLS cost?
4. Is there only one MLS or big and small ones?
5. Is the Listing of Property the only service the MLS companies offer?

regards & thanks for your answers

Tim

Tim,

1. In most instances the commission comes from the seller's proceeds. Some areas have Buyer's Agents where the buyers sometimes pay the broker's fee out of pocket. I think that only happens if the commission is for some reason not coming from the seller's proceeds at closing (maybe a for sale by owner). This is not popular in my area so I'm not really sure how it works.

2. Brokers split the commission (a 6% listing is becoming more rare in my area) & then they split those commissions (listing agent/selling agent) between their agents however they have agreed. So on a 6% listing the selling broker would typically get 3% & the listing broker 3%. Then the actual agent would get whatever portion of that 3% has been agreed upon between the agent & broker.

3. MLS fees vary among the services. I pay $400.00 a year here in Northern Illinois. If I want to offer a search on my web site I pay an addtional $300-$600 annually.

4. There are many different MLS's throughout the United States. Our Northern Illinois Multiple Listing Service is one of the largest in the U.S. I'm not sure how Canada's is set up; seems like one big MLS but maybe I'm wrong.

5. Our MLS is mainly for listing properties. We can also perform a Comparative Market Analysis for properties that has a built-in program for a presentation. We also have a tax database which gives us different information on each property including who owns the property, taxes due & paid and sometimes financing info. We can check our own or competitors listing & selling data. We can check older, archived listings. We can "map" properties and set showings based on locations with directions from one to the next property. It also provides us with a database of all agents and brokerages in our MLS with all contact info. We can set up and save specific searches and we can e-mail results to clients. We can set up an automatic search for our buyer prospects and do a reverse search for our seller prosepects.

As I said in my last post, I am surprised that not everyone uses an MLS today!

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

Thank you judyo for this very clear up post,

i just wonder what the MLS does for their 400$ fee? Do the brokers list the properties in the database or the MLS company?

regards

Tim

At least in the Minneapolis, MN market, the MLS is owned and run by the local Realtor board(s) (4 boards in the case of my MLS). In our market the MLS website is only for agents... all property searches are done on the individual broker's web site.

So for our MLS fee, we get the right to unlimited listings, access to all listing data going back to 1992, and the web interface to search the system and email prospective properties to clients. The web interface is called Matrix by Terasoft.

Not only does the MLS provide great networking, it is an excellent research tool. I think the biggest reason for its success is the fact that for each property listed, the agent who has a buyer for that property knows that they will be compensated for bringing that buyer to that listing... the commission rate is noted right on the listing. Without the pre-agreed compensation, each broker would show and sell only properties listed by them.

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Aaron

Minneapolis Real Estate | Twin Cities Real Estate | Edina Realty Agent

Just some Info for Germany:

The usual commission is 3% + 16% VAT (19% in 2007) which brings it to 3,48% (3,57% in 2007).

It is paid by the buyer on top of the selling price, so the sellers can list "for free".

There is no MLS and usual commission split like in the US.

But there are some internet platforms which are used by individuals as well as by Realtors.

If you have further questions about the European market just let me know.

Thanks Suffi