Flat-Fee Mere Posting MLS Listing Service, Ontario

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Mere Posting is a service offered by real estate brokerages to Property Owners who are not interested to enlist the services of a full-service REALTOR® in Canada, preferring instead to go with a process very similar to the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) and manage the selling process on their own while benefiting from the wide exposure REALTOR.ca Website provide their property’s listing for a small flat fee paid in advance to the listing brokerage as opposed to thousands of dollars in commission or fees that is paid to the listing brokerage on closing of the sale.

According to the new Real estate rules and regulations a listing Brokerage must act as an agent for the seller to post, amend or remove a property listing in a real estate’s board MLS® System. However, any additional services to be provided by the listing agent to the seller is determined by the agreement between the listing Brokerage and the seller. It means that the seller has the option to use a Flat Fee Mere Posting service to list their property with our Brokerage. Under Mere Posting you as the seller use our service to merely list and advertise your property on REALTOR.ca and sell it yourself without being obligated to purchase other services that REALTORS® would provide under the traditional Full-Service System, such as representing you in dealing with prospective buyers, other agents, or in any transaction that may result from your MLS® listing which entails higher fees paid on closing of the sale to the listing brokerage. However as an added bonus our brokerage will provide support by supplying the required Paperwork and Sale Forms and fill them out with information and necessary clauses and conditions on your behalf when requested. You are able to pick and choose what services you are interested to have from our brokerage pertaining sale forms and consult and all is included in the Flat-Fee with no added charge.

MLS Listing is a great advertising tool that gives your property listing broad and extensive exposure across online platform such as Realtor.ca and syndicated websites that has Data Distribution Facility (DDF) agreement with Realtor.ca. Within two business days of our office receiving your order and us filling the application and paperwork and receiving the fee payment the listing will go on Realtor.ca website. Once listed on Realtor.ca your property listing will be accessed by Real estate agents and public anywhere in Canada and around the world. It will also be advertised on the affiliated websites of Realtor.ca via Data Distribution Facility (DDF) agreement as mentioned above.

Examples of DDF Sites: ovlix.com, point2homes.com, realestatebook.com, real estate wire (rew.ca), redfin.ca, rentals.ca, zolo.ca, zoocasa.com, homefinder.com and many others.

With Mere Posting Service the listing will direct visitors, whether brokers or private buyers, to contact you directly to book all appointments to view the property at your own convenience or for any other enquiries or to present offers directly to you where you will be in full control of the sale process. All enquiries will be forwarded to contact you directly for showings, offers, and all other matters pertaining to dealing with your property or to negotiate a fee with other brokers in case you agree to pay them for finding a buyer to your property which is fully your decision to follow this route or to deal instead with unrepresented private buyers directly and in such case you won’t need to pay a fee for other brokers.

Kijiji and Craigslist website are available for advertising by For Sale By Owner (FSBO) property. They are free and the seller has control of the content of their ad. But every time a new ad is posted, the older ones drop lower until it is no longer visible on the first page. Unless the seller pays to bump their ad to the top spot or for featured ad on Kijiji, the seller will have to post a new ad several times a day. Search by map is not available and not possible to view all listings in one specific area. REALTOR.ca (MLS.ca) on the other hand is the central listing network for properties where buyer brokers and unrepresented serious buyers always visit. Buyers can easily search a particular area with the map and focus on specific criteria such as price range, property type, size, number of bed / bathrooms, beachfront, etc.

According to the MLS® Rules the Listing Brokerage is obligated to offer commission to the Cooperating Buyer Broker on the MLS listing and therefore we offer a small commission of $0.01 paid by our brokerage. However, the Buyer Broker may contact you to discuss their commission before they show your property to their buyers. According to the MLS® Rules, the Seller has no obligation to pay commission to a Buyer Broker. So, it is entirely up to you whether you wish to pay commission and the amount you would be willing to pay. You can negotiate it freely with the Buyer Broker for finding a buyer for your property or deal with a private unrepresented buyer with no payment of fees involved.

There are no additional fees for changes to your MLS® Listing such as extensions, suspension, cancellation, or reinstatement. If you need to make changes just send us an email about the desired change and we will take care of implementing the change or amendment to the listing with no added charge.

With the traditional Full-Service MLS listing the seller pays a fee whether percentage or flat fee or a combination of both to the listing brokerage who would split it with the Cooperating Broker on closing of the sale, and this fee could amount to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the value of the property. However with Mere Posting you only pay in advance to the listing broker an agreed upon Flat-Fee that is not depended on the property’s value ($699 + HST in our case). If you decide to pay a Buyer Broker for finding a buyer for your property the fee would be reduced to the amount you are willing to pay them. Bear in mind you are not obligated to cooperate with a buyer broker for bringing a buyer to your property and you may accept offers from unrepresented buyers and pay no fees.

REALTORS® have a legal and ethical duty to discover and disclose to potential buyers all material facts affecting the value of the property whether the buyer is a client or not. The list of material facts includes structural defects, building code violations, unlawful use of the property such as unregistered basement apartments, environmental hazards such as UFFI, Asbestos, underground oil tanks, and Stigmatized Properties. Examples of Stigma include properties that have been used to grow or manufacture illegal substances such as marijuana, history of serious crimes or incidents such as suicide, murder, arson or burglary, and properties that are believed to be haunted. The Listing Agreement includes sellers’ consent to collection and disclosure of such information to potential buyers which means sellers have a contractual obligation to provide complete and truthful disclosures. It’s recommended that sellers should obtain independent legal advice regarding any disclosures that they may be obligated to make when listing their property for sale.

MLS® Rules requires reporting of sold and conditionally sold properties within 24 hours and to comply with the rules you are required as soon as you accept a conditional or firm offer on your property to send us an online copy of your sales agreement together with any other broker cooperation forms, and any amendments and waivers. There is no charge for reporting sold property on MLS® System.

Listing period is for a maximum of six months.