Lofty goal: do away with listing commissions
Real estate broker, Frank Llosa is known not just for his wacky business card antics but for his FranklyMLS.com website that features the wikiMLS which he designed as an effort to be the most comprehensive data source in his Virginia/DC/MD market. Llosa says his site is “data heavy and thus sellers use it to research what to sell their home for.”
This week, Llosa launched in “a very beta format” a tool they have dubbed “Frankly I Wish” where buyers can place ads on hyper-local areas through their buyer’s agent in an effort to attract a seller before the seller puts their home in the MLS. Llosa says this is a win for buyers because they can save on the listing commission.
Within the first day, Llosa reports 20 ads were placed, showing market interest and enthusiasm. He notes that the tool is “very beta” and has launched prior to the full design, so he acknowledges that the aesthetics are very raw.
It is a simple concept that appears to be the reverse of pocket listings, a concept already well understood in the real estate industry. Buyer’s agents have fewer opportunities to promote their buyer’s interests, so it is interesting for an agent to be able to say “Client looking for a two bedroom on this street” and have it appear above search results for that street (or subdivision, area, or so on). This could be helpful for buyer’s agents working with clients with extremely unique requirements or lofty dreams with no rush to close.
sfvrealestate
September 15, 2011 at 1:37 pm
…Like, for example, a house that comes with a unicorn and rainbow? Sign me up!
sfvrealestate
September 15, 2011 at 1:39 pm
…Or better yet, a house that comes with Ol' Yeller as my pet and Justin Bieber as my boyfriend! Plus a time machine that makes me Justin Bieber's age!
Tina Fine
September 15, 2011 at 3:31 pm
I think it is a great idea for buyers to post about what they are looking for. Matches will be more likely made when both buyers and sellers actively participate in the real estate information market.
A.G
September 16, 2011 at 1:06 am
…So, who is looking out for the sellers best interest? Sure, they save 3% in commission, but they get robbed for another 5% on sales price by the buyers agent…
Manhattan Beach Realtor
September 16, 2011 at 9:37 am
Llosa's efforts are commendable, even though they will chip away at listing agent income. Any innovation in this market to lower consumer costs is a good thing.
Frank
September 16, 2011 at 11:35 am
Hey Agent Genius, thanks for the mention. Your graphic is better than mine. I didn't want to waste my programmers time designing this (they have a long list of cool stuff) so I used my old school html knowledge to make it live in a day.
Hey Manhattan, it won't really chip away at any listing agent's pockets. Just think of it like those postcards that a buyer's agent might send out that says "We have a buyer for your listing, contact me directly." Same thing, just digital. You wouldn't run into a FSBO and say "I have a buyer for your place, go get a listing agent" would you?
Hey A.G., you are right. Can't have it both ways. You bet I'm going to represent my buyer and try and get them the lowest price. I represent THEM, not the seller. What would you do? Tell the seller to go hire a listing agent so your buyer can't pay more? I would be the first to tell a seller they shouldn't do this, but many prefer the FSBO route and think listing agents are useless. Their ignorance is profit for my client.
Fred Romano
September 16, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Completely amazed that anyone would use this website, looks like it was built in the late 80's and totally not user friendly. Google likes it though with a page rank of 4, so I guess hes got something there!
Mike
September 25, 2011 at 7:06 am
FranklyMLS enables consumers to easily access important data that no other site allows, is fast and very user friendly. Graphics are nice, but are eye candy and have little to do with functionality or usefulness. Google dominates the world but has always utilized extremely basic graphics.
Morgan
September 18, 2011 at 11:36 pm
Hey Fred, I agree, it's not the prettiest site, but I disagree – I think it's very user- friendly! I used it to buy my house in '09, to sell my house and get comps, and then I used the site to buy a tear-down a couple of weeks ago. When I was looking for houses, it's so much easier to sort by DOM so I can see what was recently added, then move my mouse over the mls# to get a pop-up pic. If I know I don't like a listing, I click on X to never see it again or I can create a list of my faves to keep an eye out on them. Also, there was one time, I was click-happy and somehow created a search for $3M or up homes in Ashburn (which is not what I wanted!) and Frank himself emailed me to make sure that was correct. When I told him it was my mistake, he even offered up some other neighborhoods that I should probably look into. As you can tell, I'm a big fan of the site. Makes my home-searching so much easier! Now I'm going to be watching these want ads so I can sell my home…