Flat Fee MLS Listing in Westchester County NY

[velma]

Hi guys! My sister sold her apt with you last summer (Riverside Drive in the UWS in NYC). My mom is selling her house on Wolfs Hill Rd in Chappaqua, and her broker is doing a terrible job, and will let us out of the contract, so I’m considering listing it through you (but want to make this decision today as we want to do an open house this weekend).

The tax card says it’s a 2 bedroom, so I believe it needs to be listed on mls as a 2 bed. However, mls pushes to Zillow, and I need the Zillow to say what it says now, namely 3 bed (and 2 bed septic in description).

I can still control the pictures and I believe bedroom count on Zillow, but, if when yuh listed in mls, I couldn’t control the bedroom count, could you make this change for me in Zillow (change it from a 2 to a 3 bedroom)?

Also, how fast do you think the turn over could be? Can you just take over the listing from her, or does she have to release it from Zillow/take it down, and what will that look like (will it say off market? Will all of the views and saves reset?)

Hope you’re well!

[HauseitAdmin]

Great to hear from you! Do you have the rights / ownership to the photos? If so, we can turn it around pretty quickly, same day as soon as a listing agreement is signed. Otherwise there's unfortunately no chance to get it listed by this weekend, as we'd need to arrange for a professional photographer to come in.

The HGMLS which covers Westchester and much of the Hudson Valley is quite strict in terms of data accuracy. The HGMLS feeds data to third party sites such as Zillow, which we unfortunately have no control over. So I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to tweak what's listed on any single site, as the data feeds directly from the HGMLS. Also, there's a serious risk of fines from the HGMLS for data inaccuracy.

When you re-list with another broker, everything resets such as day count, views, saves etc. We do of course need your previous broker to de-list before our partner brokers can list your property.

Thank you!

[velma]

Thanks guys for the fast response as always. I do own photos so that’s not a problem. Do you think the Westchester NY market is as easy to sell by owner as the NYC market?

Anything in particular that I should watch out for?

Noted on the potential for fines. I already know that they require listing statuses like "in contract" and "sold" to be updated within 24 hours, or it's a $50 fine which understandably would be passed on to me as the owner (if I'm doing an Agent Assisted FSBO listing).

[HauseitAdmin]

Hi Teal! Ahh so she wants to do the flat fee listing service. She can learn more about the Hudson Gateway MLS (HGMLS) and our HGMLS flat fee listing service which does cover Westchester County NY in the link below.

Please make sure she thoroughly reads our Agent Assisted FSBO product page and FAQ, and when she's ready we have a specific sign up form for flat fee HGMLS listings: https://www.hauseit.com/list-fsbo-hgmls/

In terms of the market and selling via an Agent Assisted FSBO in Westchester, it's definitely doable up there in our humble opinion. In fact, it may be even easier since people use lockboxes and listing agents typically don't show up for viewings anyway. As a result, this type of self service product is even more normal in the suburbs.

Good luck!