Open Door Vs Neo Real Estate Marketing

Open Door has been quite successful in the Raleigh Real Estate market. They’ve done advertising like no other firm and they have a product that is very compelling. How does it compare to using a flat fee firm that helps for sale by owners?

A Case for Open Door

The main draw to Open Door is the ease of use. You click some buttons on their website, they connect with you, share numbers, set up appointments, have you sign some papers and then you walk away.

That’s an oversimplified version of what actually happens, but that’s the basic premise. Open Door is great idea for sellers that don’t want to work with agents but also want an easy process, however, most home owners will trade a lot of their home’s value for the convenience.

FSBO

The next best option for these homeowners is to FSBO. As a FSBO you can list your home at the absolute max value and more easily achieve that value thanks to advanced marketing tools and the exposure of the internet. The only part that doesn’t beat services like Open Door is the convenience.

Through FSBO, you’re likely to encounter a few situations where you wonder what comes next or how to handle a issue. As long as you don’t mind taking a few extra calls, emails, and signing your own papers, you’ll get a great deal in the form of saving on fees that Open Door would charge.

Speaking of fees, Zillow even offers to list your home for free, however this is also not without its downfalls. Zillow’s FSBO section is separate from the main search, and it’s ONLY on Zillow. Therefore by listing through Zillow you’d only be advertising to a mere fraction of the buyers that would see your home otherwise.

Why Flat Fee MLS Entry?

The local MLS is the single most effective marketing tool for homes. Period.

I listed a home that was previously on Zillow underpriced after only getting 1 offer and the same home in the MLS received 10 offers at a higher price. I’ve also seen homes listed on Zillow for 40+ days with no offers and then getting 2 or 3 on the first day in the MLS. Success isn’t guaranteed on the MLS, but it has the highest chances of selling more than any other platform - part of the reason for this is because the MLS transfers the information to ALL other platforms available. From my perspective, it’s safe to say that the MLS has a proven advantage when it comes to selling homes.

If you list with a traditional listing agent, they’ll put your home in the MLS and also represent you through the transaction for a percentage of the sales price (6% is a common price for this). However, if you want to list your home without representation, that’s where flat fee MLS entry only comes in.