MLS listing = Big help!

We started off with our house being listed only on militarybyowner.com. The listing has gotten quite a bit of traffic and we've even had a few contacts...but no showings resulted.

Then I listed the house on Craigslist. Again, a couple of contacts...no showings.

The showings we had in April were as a result of people driving by and seeing our sign in the yard. Local people...whom we've never heard from again. Bah.

We had this idea that we could purchase an MLS listing but still remain FSBO. The MLS listing makes you visible when buyers (and realtors) search the listings on websites like Remax.com or Realtor.com.

We found a company who markets themselves to sellers in this fashion. What we didn't know was that they don't (can't) put your personal contact info on the listing. They find a realtor willing to list your house on the MLS for $100. What they don't tell you is that they tell the realtor to put their contact info on the listing and anyone who wants to see the house must go through them...essentially guaranteeing themselves the role of 'buyer's agent'.

The problem with this is that if Joe Blow wants to see our house and make an offer without having to use a realtor, he can't. He is forced to go through this realtor.

Not what we had in mind. The realtor involved agreed to void the contract since we, nor she, knew this was how things were marketed.

So...hubs found a co-worker who had purchased an MLS listing through someone else and it appeared that it would work much better.

I'll say.

This very nice guy, on the other end of the state, got it done...all via email/fax. He set it all up a week ago. Our first call from this new listing was Sunday; scheduled a Monday showing.

Tuesday, we got a call for a Wednesday morning showing.

Wednesday morning, we got a call for a Wednesday afternoon showing.

Wednesday afternoon, we got a call for a Saturday morning showing.

Boom boom boom!

Awesome!

The Monday Showing went well. They like the house the best of what they had seen so far, and they were supposed to get back with their realtor sometime Tuesday. We haven't heard back from them, but we don't feel that the door has been closed as of yet.

The Wednesday morning showing went great. Apparently it was a young wife (and maybe a friend) who came to see it. She loved it and didn't even want to go in the available house across the street. She said that her husband would be back in town this weekend...so it's possible that they will come for a second showing then. (turns out the showing realtor is a girl from our church - and she told me that our house shows very well...and the one across the street has NOTHING on us. She was very encouraging!)

The Wednesday afternoon showing went well, also. The lady liked the house, but was concerned about the size of our master bedroom because she has a big bed. Well...we have a king-size bed and all the matching pieces in there...so she said "at least I know it will fit". Not positive this door is closed, either.

We'll see what today and tomorrow bring, but Saturday will bring a fourth potential buyer for the week...and possibly a second showing for the young couple.

The way traffic has hit so far, we may very well show the house today and tomorrow, too.

Our chins are up!!

Very happy we invested in the MLS!