Russo Realty Group

Real Estate FAQs

The MLS and Realtor.com

What is the MLS and the Realtor.com?
Tell me more about Realtor.com?
Why is Realtor.com important?
Will my property be seen by local Realtors?
What is the local MLS?
Can I change the look of my listing?

Listing with Russo Realty Group

Can I sell my property myself?
Do I have to pay a commission if a Realtor® sells my home?
If I list with you, will Realtors show my home?
How long before my property is listed in the MLS?
Who does the paperwork involved in selling my home?
I know very little about financing. Won't this prevent me from selling my home?
If I list with you, who is in charge of selling my home?
Do I need a lock box?
Do I need a new insurance policy?
I still have questions - how do I contact you?

What is the MLS and Realtor.com?

MLS is the acronym for Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is a database of homes and properties for sale. The information is viewed on a website. There are many MLS listing websites. Most of these MLS websites are for local real estate agents and are private. The information stored in these MLS websites cannot be seen by the public. Local MLS sites across the nation upload their listing information to the national listing site which is called Realtors.com. Russo Realty Group lists your property on Realtors.com. at no additional fee to you. Realtors.com is "The Official Site of the National Association of REALTORS®". This is the largest real estate website as it gets 5.6 million unique visitors each month. No other real estate website gets anywhere near that amount of exposure. The information displayed on the Realtor.com website is public and therefore, available to everyone. Only a member of the National Association of REALTORS® can place your property on this website. Agents know when they find a buyer for properties listed on this website, they will receive a commission for their efforts. Because of all of these reasons, Realtor.com is used by agents across the nation.

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Tell me more about Realtor.com?

Realtor.com, where the world shops for real estate online , is the official web site of the National Association of Realtors. Ranked as the No. 1 homes-for-sale site, Realtor.com currently offers potential home buyers more than 2 million Realtor-listed homes for sale as well as the most brokers and agents to contact. The site also provides home sellers with the Internet's largest marketplace to reach a monthly average of more than 5.6 million unique visitors. Visitors spend more time on Realtor.com than on other real estate sites**. Each visitor spends an average of 52 minutes per month on the Realtor.com Web site. 75% of all consumers who visit the Realtor.com Web site are looking to move within 50 miles of their home. If you plan to sell your home, Realtor.com is where your home should be listed and will be listed by Russo Realty Group

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Why is Realtor.com important?

The most important benefit of listing your home in Realtor.com, is EXPOSURE. Being listed on Realtor.com enables you to take advantage of the power of thousands of REALTORS® in your area and thousands of potential buyers who are looking for their next home. Realtors.com is "The Official Site of the National Association of REALTORS®". Realtor.com currently gets 5 million visits each month. Buyers everywhere use Realtor.com to help them locate a home. Your home may be the dream home they've been searching for. Help them find you by listing your home on Realtor.com.

Agents primarily only look at sources where they know they will receive a commission for their service. As a result, agents across the nation look at a local MLS, Realtor.com and newspapers to find homes for their buyers. Many local MLS sites contain a link directly to Realtor.com to make it easier to search national listings. Realtor.com targets the buying public and agents across the nation. Home buyers, not associated with a real estate agent, use Realtor.com when they search the internet for homes looking for an ideal match. Realtor.com provides the biggest marketing advantage in selling and buying homes. Search engines and well-published websites such as: AOL, MSN.com, Netscape.com, Excite.com and HomeStore.com all use Realtor.com as their source for visitors who click on "real estate" searching for a home. Realtor.com currently gets 5 million visits each month. This kind of exposure to buyers is not available anywhere else. The home seller maximizes their chances of selling their home more quickly and at a better price when it is listed in Realtor.com. Searching the national listings on Realtor.com is, without a doubt, the best marketing tool available to sell property.

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Will my property be seen by local Realtors?

Yes. Russo Realty Group will place your property into the local MLS. The information stored on the local MLS website is not available for viewing to the general public. You must be a licensed Broker or Agent to gain access to the MLS site.

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What is the local MLS?

The MLS was started by the Realtor associations many years ago as a way for Realtors to share information about properties available for sale in a specific geographic area. Later, when computers became popular, the Realtor associations created internet sites to store the same information. Local agents who were members of the local MLS were able to place information into the database and also see what other properties were available for sale. A problem with this method soon appeared as agents who belonged to one local MLS could not see properties that were listed for sale from other local MLS associations unless the agent was a member of that MLS as well. There is also a lot of expense involved as agents are required to pay a hefty application fee and quarterly dues for each MLS they join. To resolve this problem, the National Association of Realtors created a newer, better way to ensure that agents everywhere know what properties are available for sale in all geographical areas. The Realtor association created the website "Realtor.com". Properties from the local MLS across the nation upload to this website.

The MLS database is a private database. It is not available to the general public and can only be accessed by agents who are members of the private service. These websites target local realtors NOT local buyers because the websites are not open to the public. This is the "old, traditional" way of selling real estate. We at Russo Realty Group believe there is a huge "void" created by qualified buyers that are not affiliated with an agent, and do not have access to the MLS database. We have filled that void by placing our listings on the Internet super highway by way of Realtor.com in conjunction with the MLS. Realtor.com is a national listing real estate website and is open to the public for viewing. Listing your property on Realtor.com will be seen by the world. Realtor.com is "where the world shops for real estate online."

Search engines and well-published websites such as: AOL, MSN.com, Netscape.com and Excite.com all use Realtor.com as their source for visitors who click on "real estate" searching for a home. Buyers today are mobile. Many move 50 or more miles from their present home. This is often out of the target area of many local MLS sites. They do not have the market exposure that Realtor.com provides owners. Buyers everywhere know that all they need to do on Realtor.com is type the city and state, or zip code for the area they want to see and VOILA! a list of " local" properties magically appears. Sadly, there are agents in some areas who are slow to abandon, old retired ways of doing business and continue to focus on one main source, a local MLS, to find properties for their clients. But the good news is that this trend is changing. Agents are seeing the benefits of the newer, improved way of locating properties and are using the Realtor.com website to see all of the properties available for sale in a geographical area.

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Can I change the look of my listing?

No. Your listing will look like all the other listings in the Realtor® MLS

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Can I sell my property myself?

Yes, you can. But in today's world, we strongly advise against it. New laws and mandatory disclosure notices are being enacted everyday. Let our highly trained professionals at Russo Realty Group ease your mind of those liabilities.

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Do I have to pay a commission if a Realtor® sells my home?

Yes. When you fill out and sign our "Exclusive Right To Sell Agency Agreement," you are asked how much commission you'll pay to the listing Broker. Traditionally, in the real estate business, if a cooperating Broker produces a buyer, that commission amount is "split" between the listing Broker and the Selling Broker. There is no additional cost to the seller. Most Brokers offer a commission of three percent of the property's purchase price to the cooperating Broker who produces a ready, willing and able buyer. If you are willing to pay a commission, this will be an incentive for agents to help locate a buyer for you because they know they will be compensated for their service. Russo Realty Group encourages our clients to accept help from all sources. Offering the buyer's agent a commission, will motivate an agent to locate a buyer for you. And finding a buyer is, after all, your ultimate goal.

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If I list with you, will Realtors show my home?

Yes. Agents primarily only look at sources where they know they will receive a commission for their service. As a result, agents across the nation look at a local MLS, Realtor.com and newspapers to find homes for their buyers. Realtors have incentive to show your property and help you find a buyer if they are being paid. Seldom will a buyer pay a realtor to find them a home. So, if you want a Realtor to help you find a buyer, you must be willing to pay them a commission for the service. The usual commission is 3% to the listing Broker and 3% to the selling Broker, for a total of 6% of the property's purchase price.

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How long before my property is listed in the MLS?

Usually within 24 hours after you have signed the listing agreement, your property is entered into the MLS and Realtor.com system.

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Who does the paperwork involved in selling my home?

Russo Realty Group is a FULL SERVICE Company. Our sales associates will be with you every step of the way. We will provide, explain and handle all of those details for you, our client.

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I know very little about financing. Won't this prevent me from selling my home?

You do not need to know or understand anything concerning financing. Leave that to Russo Realty Group and mortgage professionals. Don't concern yourself with how much the buyer makes, when they became employed, their credit rating, debt ratios or other particulars. Many buyers today are market savvy and know how much they can afford and what to expect for a monthly payment. Many buyers will "pre-qualify" before they enter into negotiations to purchase a home. The mortgage industry is forever changing. Specific loans available today may not be available tomorrow. For this reason, Russo Realty Group agents also refer buyers to mortgage professionals as they, too, cannot keep up with the ever-changing mortgage industry.

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If I list with you, who is in charge of selling my home?

You will be required to sign an "Exclusive Right To Sell Agency Agreement". The agreement allows Russo Realty Group to list your home in the MLS, which will make your house available to thousands of real estate agents. Those agents will not be calling you, instead, they will coordinate through Russo Realty Group. We handle all of the hassles for you. What we've learned from our experiences is that homes often sell themselves. If you attractively present your home, price it fairly and consistent within your area, then you will be in an excellent position to sell your home. However, Russo Realty G roup cannot guarantee that your home will sell. No one can.

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Do I need a lock box?

No. A lock box is for the convenience of real estate agents. Agents want access to your home at all times. They may have a buyer that is anxious to see your home. The agent will want to be able to show it to them on a moment's notice. If you do not want an agent to show your home when you are not there, then you do not need a lock box. We recommend that a lock box be present on all of our listings, but there are exceptions to the rule.