Have you ever heard the term “exclusive” listing — it refers to a property that is not broadly marketed to the public, but instead offered by word of mouth or other very little marketing if any.

A seller may find this to be an option for a few reasons: 1. They think they won’t have to put up with the hassle of showing their home to a lot of people. Or they like the idea that they can enjoy privacy while their home is “quietly” almost invisibly marketed.

However, a biggest disadvantage is the lack of exposure to the full market.

Doesn’t it make sense that any home or condominium is more likely to sell, and at a better price and terms to the homeowner if the more people know about it?

The first step for broad exposure is getting a home into the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS). There are thousands of New Jersey real estate agents in the area with buyer clients and the GSMLS is the portal to thousands of brokers and agents. Even to their Web sites and to National and Regional real estate search portals. More than 92 percent of today’s buyers across all price ranges start their home search on the internet, so why wouldn’t a seller want to be there?

Many decades ago, the real estate industry, brokerages and agents created the MLS for the express purpose of sharing information. It was created to broaden the marketplace for the sale and leasing of homes condominiums, and most remarkably, established the rules of the road for real estate firms to cooperate with each other while still competing with each other in the marketplace of listing and selling Real Estate. The GSMLS service assists in the everyday business model and. most importantly, buyers and sellers alike have benefited from a form of marketplace that fosters the wide dissemination of information and the market-based transactions that flow from that.

Can there be situations where a seller needs to choose to go the “exclusive” route? Yes of course, but those situations are very few and far between. Every seller should know that no real estate firm has all the buyers, or even the majority of buyers. Anyone who says otherwise simply is wrong.

What’s important to note is actively marketing your home or condominium on the GSMLS will provide the marketing exposure to attract the best price and the best terms you are looking for. If it is not on the GSMLS most buyers will never know about your home that was on the market for sale and if being tagged as “exclusive” sellers missed out on all those buyers and buyers missed out on those homes.

SELLERS Think twice if you are a homeowner contemplating a “exclusive” listing agreement even if it’s for week or few days or 1 day. By marketing your home thru the GSMLS will provide Best Price and Terms maximum exposure with maximum results.

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