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Had to choose between a real estate agent and a flat-fee MLS listing service | Late-Night Hustle Chat - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

emma_jones•2mo ago

Had to choose between a real estate agent and a flat-fee MLS listing service

I was selling my duplex after working on it for 2 years between freelance gigs, and the agent wanted 6% which would have been $9,000 out of my pocket. The flat-fee service cost me $399 total and I just had to take my own photos and handle the showing texts at 2 AM when buyers wanted to see it. Has anyone else here tried the DIY route on a big sale like this and found it worth the extra hustle?

3 comments

3 Comments

owens.laura1mo ago

oh man the 2 AM texts thing really hits home. i did the flat fee thing with my dad's old pickup truck last year and i ended up texting with this guy at 3 AM who wanted to see it the next morning. turns out he was a night shift nurse and that was his only free time. we met at a gas station parking lot at 6 AM with my dog in the passenger seat barking at him the whole time. he bought it on the spot. but the weirdest part was i had to clean out the glovebox and found a 15 year old mcdonald's gift card with like three bucks left on it. i kept it as a souvenir. anyways the DIY route is definitely a mixed bag but sometimes you get these little stories out of it that make the hassle worth it.

danielowens2mo ago

The thing nobody seems to talk about is how the flat fee route forces you to actually learn your own property's flaws. When I sold my mom's old house last year using a flat fee service, I had to stage the living room myself and realized the couch blocked a radiator. An agent would have just told me to move it, but catching that myself saved me from a buyer's inspection flagging it later. Plus taking your own photos means you can crop out the weird stuff like the neighbor's junk car that's always in the driveway. The 2 AM texts are annoying but honestly, those are the people who are serious enough to buy.

kevinw942mo ago

had a buddy who used flat fee last year and @danielowens you're spot on about learning the flaws, he found a mold spot behind the fridge no agent would've caught.