A link to a very informative article from the Wall Street Journal below. Starting in July 2024 the MLS will no longer allow commission being offered to a buyers agent to be listed there. All commissions are to be negotiated outside of the MLS.
The MLS was started so that realtors can share each others listings. By doing this the members of the MLS had a competitive advantage over non members. Further to that any homes listed on the MLS requires an offer of commission to the buyers realtor. Starting in July 2024 that all ends.
Today almost all buyers find their home by searching online, and the one that gets the most visitors by a lot is Zillow Trulia etc. No consumer goes to the local mls website to search for homes. Besides for not being as engaging as a Zillow it is limited to the listings of the its members. Zillow has everyone’s listings.
Yes if you list your home on the MLS your listing will be broadcast all over the internet. But the problem is the contact information for the realtor that listed the home on the MLS their gets put all over the internet not yours. Any buyers are calling a realtor before getting to you the homeowner. Are they going to work for free? Are they going to pass on a perfectly qualified buyer without trying to sell them a home that pays some commission? You know the answer is the realtor is using your home being sold without a realtor to make money.
You don’t need the MLS. Notice all the realtors are leaving the MLS because they no longer offer any value. Many realtors in this low inventory environment don’t need Zillow to sell a listing. They can post it in a number of websites and get plenty of traffic. So can you. And the best part is you can do it without paying any commission at all.
