WE'RE NOT A FLAT FEE COMPANY & DO NOT CHARGE AN UPFRONT FEE!

In 2009, Homeowners Concept switched from being a flat fee company to charging just 1.5% of sales price. Our flat fee before was around 1.5% anyhow as it was a tiered fee, so there is very little impact to any of our clients. The primary reason behind the switch though, was the fact that we HAD to disassociate ourselves from the other Flat Fee/Limited Service companies which have popped up in the last few years and are now showing histories of very low success rates (60-70% of their listings DO NOT sell) while charging the sellers a hefty upfront fee of around $500. Most of these outfits are doing just MLS data entry, and they could care less whether the home sells (they got paid upfront!). They do not provide marketing or any professional and ongoing expertise. The sellers that list with flat fee companies are pretty much on their own. Thousands of sellers have fallen victim to paying the hundreds of dollars upfront, wasting months or years on the market and having to turn to another broker (or to Homeowners Concept) to eventually sell.

Homeowners Concept on the other hand is a FULL service company which offers more marketing and more experience for less commission due to innovative and efficient systems and has been around since 1984. We have a vested interest in making sure the home gets maximum exposure (percentage wise we spend the most amount of money advertising properties of any company) and bringing expertise to get the home sold. That entails advice on staging, getting feedback from buyers, properly negotiating the contract and subsequent issues with inspection, financing, closing, occupancy, etc. We have also earned an A+ BBB rating - one of only two large companies to have this! We actually work very hard for the money and we DO want the homes to sell.

The flat fee outfits are usually one or two person shops because it is such easy money for little work with NO pressure to sell the homes. The proliferation of these is reminiscent of the online FSBO websites that were started as internet became mainstream. Hundreds of them have shut down in recent years as consumers wised up that spending hundreds of dollars upfront to be on "somebody's" website that received virtually no hits, was indeed useless. We feel the same fate awaits the MLS only/limited service companies.