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Is there no way to buy/sell a house without a realtor in the US? Here in Canada we have a couple of companies that charge a flat fee (from a couple hundred to a

Is there no way to buy/sell a house without a realtor in the US? Here in Canada we have a couple of companies that charge a flat fee (from a couple hundred to a couple thousands depending on what you choose) in exchange of professional photographic service, listing and DIY documents to facilitate the selling. There's no commission to pay at the end so prices are usually a bit lower than houses sold with a realtor. Of course a lot of people are still using realtors, some of them because of a lack of time and others for the sense of security it brings.

Finnucane 9y ago
About 15 percent of residential sales in the US are managed without a realtor. A homeowner is perfectly free to sell a house without one (such listings are generally referred to as FSBO, for sale by owner). A FSBO doesn't get access to MLS listings or any other promotional effort a realtor might provide, but also they don't pay any commission. So Zillow is free to act as an intermediary on whatever terms are acceptable to the parties involved. On the other hand, Zillow's ability to act as an intermediary is greatly enhanced by access to MLS data. So if the NAR pulled Zillow's access to the MLS, a buyer would have a much harder time searching for houses to buy without a realtor.
- paulie_a 9y ago
  There is no one MLS, it isn't a cohesive database, it is made up of a ton of tiny independent services with fairly obnoxious policies and inconsistent data formats. Zillow gets their data generally from the various MLS around the country and aggregate data with public records
prostoalex 9y ago
> in exchange of professional photographic service, listing and DIY documents to facilitate the selling. You are pretty much describing what a realtor does in the US. Whether it's a person whose beautiful smile adorns every local paper, a discount broker prmising to "SELL YOUR HOUSE FOR 2% FLAT FEE, GUARANTEED" or an online broker like Redfin, they're all bundled under realtor umbrella. But to answer your question, Craigslist FSBO, yard signs offering FSBO or even Zillow "Make Me Move" self-generated listings are all doable, they just don't bring in as many leads.
fosco 9y ago
In New York I used a lawyer who represented me and the seller had no agent. Price was lower than 'market' and I think everyone was happy. No Agents involved. (2016 purchase date)

Finnucane 9y ago

About 15 percent of residential sales in the US are managed without a realtor. A homeowner is perfectly free to sell a house without one (such listings are generally referred to as FSBO, for sale by owner). A FSBO doesn't get access to MLS listings or any other promotional effort a realtor might provide, but also they don't pay any commission. So Zillow is free to act as an intermediary on whatever terms are acceptable to the parties involved. On the other hand, Zillow's ability to act as an intermediary is greatly enhanced by access to MLS data. So if the NAR pulled Zillow's access to the MLS, a buyer would have a much harder time searching for houses to buy without a realtor.

paulie_a 9y ago
There is no one MLS, it isn't a cohesive database, it is made up of a ton of tiny independent services with fairly obnoxious policies and inconsistent data formats. Zillow gets their data generally from the various MLS around the country and aggregate data with public records

prostoalex 9y ago

> in exchange of professional photographic service, listing and DIY documents to facilitate the selling. You are pretty much describing what a realtor does in the US. Whether it's a person whose beautiful smile adorns every local paper, a discount broker prmising to "SELL YOUR HOUSE FOR 2% FLAT FEE, GUARANTEED" or an online broker like Redfin, they're all bundled under realtor umbrella. But to answer your question, Craigslist FSBO, yard signs offering FSBO or even Zillow "Make Me Move" self-generated listings are all doable, they just don't bring in as many leads.

fosco 9y ago

In New York I used a lawyer who represented me and the seller had no agent. Price was lower than 'market' and I think everyone was happy. No Agents involved. (2016 purchase date)