Multiple Listing Service

A Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a tool of cooperation among real estate agents. They provide participating agents with fast, accurate and reliable access to property information. These systems allow participating agents to view the details of your property, show it to their clients and sell your property even when listed with another participating agent. Listing your home in a Multiple Listing Service in CT allows your home to be marketed to over 100,000 real estate agents and their clients. Many potential buyers will already be working with their own buyer agent at the time you list your home. NAR data shows that 38% of buyers found their new home through their buyer agents. Therefore, this step should never be overlooked.

Modern Edge Realty participates in the following Multiple Listing Services in CT:
1. Greater Fairfield County CMLS, which covers all towns in Fairfield County plus adjacent towns in New Haven and Litchfield Counties.
2. Connecticut Statewide MLS, which covers the counties of New Haven, Litchfield, Hartford, Middlesex, New London, Tolland and Windham.
3. Greenwich MLS, which covers the town of Greenwich

No matter where in CT your home is located, Modern Edge Realty belongs to the local MLS and can market your home to local agents and their clients.

Photography

Photographs are a critical marketing tool that can greatly impact how quickly your home will sell. If potential buyers don't like the photos of your home, they may not go see it in person. In order to get buyers through the door your home should be presented in a professional way. It's important that rooms look spacious and bright. Your home's best features should be emphasized while imperfections should be minimized.

Modern Edge Realty will capture as many photos of your home as needed. We will strategically edit and improve the photos to maximize their impact and appeal.

"For Sale" Sign

According to the National Association of Realtors, roughly 11% of buyers found their new home through yard signs. Buyers always notice a sign while driving by a desired neighborhood. At times, they are referred by friends and family who live or drive by a specific neighborhood and see the signs.

If permitted, Modern Edge Realty can install a "For Sale" sign in front of your property. The sign will indicate your home is for sale. It will include our company name, phone number and website address. Your agent may also install a rider with their name and cell phone number. This sign will allow potential buyers to easily reach us, get answers to their questions and schedule showings.

Local regulations vary and some municipalities may not permit signs. If your home is part of an association, your home owner's association may also impose restrictions. Please consult your agent for details.

Supra iBox

Once your home is listed in a Multiple Listing System (MLS), participating agents can show it to their clients. Allowing these agents easy access to your home can facilitate the process and expedite a deal. Modern Edge Realty can install a Supra iBox at your home providing buyer agents with a convenient and reliable way to show your home. A Supra iBox can be adjusted to open only during certain hours of the day. More importantly, only participating agents with electronic key access to the Supra iBox can open them. They are required to enter their password in their electronic keys before doing so. Furthermore, their electronic keys must be updated daily by connecting to the Supra iBox system. In case their electronic key is lost, it won't be updated and therefore will no longer work. Showings are recorded and your listing agent will be notified of every showing. These email notifications will include the date and time of showing, the buyer agent's name, email address and phone number. This allows your listing agent to follow up and get feedback for every showing.

Extensive Online Marketing

These days over 90% of buyers nationally search for homes online. This number could be even higher in CT where buyers are more sophisticated. Modern Edge Realty will provide your home with an extensive online marketing campaign. Your home will be featured in the most popular real estate websites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, Yahoo Real Estate, MSN Real Estate, AOL Real Estate and many more. Modern Edge Realty will place ads on online classified websites such as Craigslist. We will work to ensure links to your home rank high in major search engines such as Yahoo, MSN and Google. We will also include your property information in our email newsletters to prospect buyers. Promoting your home online allows you to reach the widest audience of home buyers and gives you a better chance of finding a buyer who can meet your terms, price and desired closing date.

Realtor.com

Realtor.com is one of the largest real estate websites in the US. Modern Edge Realty can make your home stand out as a featured listing with custom description, headlines, open house dates, virtual tours and additional photos. We place our contact information and website address throughout so that potential buyers can easily reach us with questions and showing requests.

Social Networking

Modern Edge Realty uses social networking as a non-intrusive way to keep potential buyers apprised of your listing. Potential buyers follow us on social networking sites like Facebook, where we publish market updates, local real estate facts, neighborhood developments, etc. We also post all our listings with links to more information. These followers can then easily share your listing with their own contacts, who can then share with their contacts, taking advantage of a whole network of potential buyers.

Brochures

A professionally designed and printed property brochure can be a great tool to promote your home and leave a long lasting impression on prospect buyers. These brochures will feature large images, eye catching colors, and inspiring home description. They can be sent to active buyers and local buyer agents. They can be left inside your home for prospect buyers to take during showings. They can also be distributed during open houses.

After seeing several homes on the same day, buyers tend to forget the details of a home. These beautifully designed materials will serve as a constant reminder of your home's best features.

Open House

After researching homes online, some buyers will attend public Open Houses on their own before they start working with a real estate agent. These provide your agent with opportunities for face-to-face interactions with prospect buyers. It allows them to upsell your home's strongest features and address buyer's objections. Even when an open house doesn't produce a buyer, it allows for important feedback that can be incorporated into future marketing strategies, from staging recommendations to price adjustments.

Besides public Open Houses, your real estate agent may also conduct broker Open Houses, where we invite local agents to preview your home. These produce important feedback from local professionals. But most importantly, it allows us to present your home to agents who may be working with prospect buyers today or in the near future.

MYTH: Buyer agents won't show a home if seller pays a lower commission.

FACT: When listings are entered into a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), listing agents offer a portion of their commission to the buyer agents. Although there is no set number, the average buyer agent commission in CT is 2.5% of the final sale price. The buyer agent is not informed of how much seller is actually paying. They are only informed of how much they will earn if they represent the buyer in the transaction.

It is unethical for an agent not to show a home simply based on the buyer agent commission offered. An agent has a duty to their clients and should always put their clients' interest ahead of their own.

Nonetheless, Modern Edge Realty offers buyer agents the average 2.5% commission for all our listings. This is the same commission they can expect on average from other listings. There is no difference for a buyer agent between selling your home or another listing. Your home will never be in disadvantage.

MYTH: Brokers that charge a lower commission are discount brokers.

FACT: All discount brokers charge a lower commission. But not all brokers that charge a lower commission are discount brokers. Modern Edge Realty is a full service broker, not a discount broker, even though our seller commission rate is much lower than our competitors'. We offer sellers all high quality real estate brokerage services they expect from a full service broker, from extensive marketing to deal negotiations. Our low commission rate is a reflection of our operational efficiencies, our use of technology, and most importantly, our success rate.

MYTH: Listing a home with a larger company is better because they have more agents.

FACT: When marketing your home for sale, Modern Edge Realty will list it in the appropriate Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in CT based on your home's location. These Multiple Listing Service (MLS) systems allow any participating real estate agent to show and sell your home. Even participating agents who belong to other companies can show and sell your home. Therefore, in practical terms, when Modern Edge Realty lists your home for sale in a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), over 100,000 real estate agents may have access to your home and may sell it to their clients. There is no differentiation between a listing from a large company and a listing from a small company. The quality of a listing will depend on the details entered in the system and the quality of the marketing materials provided by your agent. Modern Edge Realty will make your listing stand out with detailed and accurate property information, exciting marketing text and high quality images.

It is best to list your home with a company that can better market your home for sale regardless of size. Carefully evaluate a company's services, the quality of their marketing materials, their success rate and previous clients' satisfaction.

MYTH: Newspaper ads attract buyers.

FACT: According to the National Association of Realtors only 2% of buyers found their new home in a newspaper ad. Regardless of what other people may say, newspaper ads only help the newspaper companies. Buyers these days have other preferred choices of property information. Marketing your home on the internet will expose it to a much greater audience of buyers then a newspaper could ever reach. This online data will always be available, whenever buyers need it, unlike a newspaper that may be tossed at the end of the day. Online data is also more comprehensive. It allows for more images and videos. Plus buyers can easily contact an agent for more information.