I\u2019ve written recently about our attempt to sell our home without a realtor using Iggyshouse.com. We used them because we got a free MLS listing and a place to upload a ton of description and pictures. Their site was down for a disturbingly long time in June and part of July but is back up for now. The only reason I\u2019m not blasting them is that our MLS listing stayed up the whole time. Still, proceed with caution.<\/p>\n
There was some confusion about the MLS listings caused mostly by the way MLS operates. As a member of the general public, you can search MLS to your heart\u2019s content, but you cannot directly contact the sellers. MLS does not list the contact information on any publicly available view of MLS, only on the version that you have to pay for. This is how MLS maintains its monopoly position and forces people to use realtors. In fact, one of the warnings from Iggyshouse is that it is against MLS rules to use pictures that have any contact info on them (because then you wouldn\u2019t need a paying subscriber to get a phone number). So, your picture can\u2019t have your phone number at the top. It can\u2019t even show the sign in front of your house if there is a name or number on it.<\/p>\n
Part of MLS’s settlement with regulators was to open up some but not all<\/em> of their information and this is one of the areas where MLS won. So, if you know a realtor you can have them look at the professional\u2019s view that they get and that will have your contact information. <\/p>\n This is why you have to post on some other sites if you want to get buyers who don’t have a realtor. Craigslist is popular for this, but if you do use it, make sure and put a watermark on your pictures with the address, the sale price, the words \u201cfor sale\u201d, and your phone number. Keep it simple. Just something like:<\/p>\n 3273 Main St \u2013 For Sale – $450,000 \u2013 555-555-2395<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Scammers like to take the photos and descriptions from legitimate for sale ads and turn them into bogus for rent ads to trick people out of their money. The watermark should keep them from bothering, or keep people from falling for it. <\/p>\n Also, update your information on Zillow, and on any other free real estate sites you can find. I’m experimenting with a site called Postlets which supposedly pushes out what you put on their site to multiple real estate sites. I\u2019ll let you know how that goes.<\/p>\n Good luck.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n I\u2019ve written recently about our attempt to sell our home without a realtor using Iggyshouse.com. We used them because we got a free MLS listing and a place to upload a ton of description and pictures. Their site was down for a disturbingly long time in June and part of July but is back up for now. The only reason I\u2019m not blasting them is that our MLS listing stayed up the whole time. Still, proceed with caution. There was some confusion about the MLS listings caused mostly by the way MLS operates. As a member of the general public, you can search MLS to your heart\u2019s content, but you cannot directly contact the sellers. MLS does not list the contact information on any publicly available view of MLS, only on the version that you have to pay for. This is how MLS maintains its monopoly position and forces people to use realtors. In fact, one of the warnings from Iggyshouse is that it is against MLS rules to use pictures that have any contact info on them (because then you wouldn\u2019t need a paying subscriber to get a phone number). So, your picture can\u2019t have your phone number at … <\/p>\nList on More Than Just MLS<\/h3>\n
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