Why remove your FSBO listing when you list with a broker?

[una]

Hello, I've already paid for StreetEasy and New York Times advertisements, and my listed is already on Zillow as a FSBO. Why do I need to remove them before listing with a broker via Hauseit? What if I want to keep them up even after signing up for your flat fee MLS listing?

[HauseitAdmin]

Hi Una,

Our partner brokers already syndicate listings automatically to sites like StreetEasy, Zillow, NY Times, Realtor.com and dozens more. Your FSBO listing would be duplicative, and can cause syndication errors and issues if it is still up when our partner brokers begin syndicating your listing.

Furthermore, many sites like StreetEasy have been known to take down listings as they'll only allow one party to list a property (i.e. exclusive listings only). In this case, the owner's listing may take precedent and could cause issues with the entire syndication process.

Lastly, one of the reasons you have signed up for an Agent Assisted FSBO (i.e. flat fee MLS listing) is to avoid broker solicitation and harassment. You will continue to get harassed if you keep your FSBO listing up. Furthermore, having a FSBO listing up at the same time will cause confusion with buyers' agents, who may even doubt that our partner brokers truly are the listing agents (i.e. have an exclusive listing agreement). It will also be highly embarrassing for our partner brokers if you insist on keeping your FSBO listing up, and we may not be able to find a partner broker who will agree to it.

Your listing will be uploaded at 5pm ET. To avoid disruptions with your new listing's syndication, can you kindly ensure that your existing listings across all sites including StreetEasy and Zillow are removed by 4 p.m. Eastern?

Kindly confirm with us no later than 4:30 p.m. that you have removed your existing listings.

Thank you!

[una]

I am confirming that I took down my StreetEasy. Zillow apparently is being fed by StreetEasy so that presumably should come down as well.

I am now off Zillow as well.

[aslan]

Hi Una, another reason why you need to remove your FSBO listing before any legitimate broker with any sort of reputation will agree to list your property (remember businesses aren't forced or required to serve anyone as long as it's not for a discriminatory reason, it's a free country), is because they won't have to deal with confused or trollish agents asking whether the listing is For Sale By Owner, and what commission they are offering buyers' agents.

That kind of trolling won't normally happen, but you bet it will if you have a FSBO listing up concurrently and it sure as hell will cause confusion if there are duplicate listings on public sites like the New York Times and StreetEasy. Furthermore, a lot of brokers make a living going through FSBO listings in order to poach new seller clients. As a result, if you have a FSBO listing up, that's bound to bring unnecessary conflict and confusion into the process.

If you have a FSBO listing up period, you're going to get a lot of brokers who literally call hundreds of FSBO seller "leads" a week. This will cause unnecessary friction with your sale process, which is supposed to look like a normal, traditional listing. After all, that's the reason presumably you signed up for an Agent Assisted FSBO right?

P.S. Note that many of these aforementioned public search websites will do periodic scans for duplicate listings. And they've been known before to prioritize the owner listing and remove the duplicate broker listing. If that happens, that's bound to cause massive confusion with buyers' agents. Do you really want that for your sale process?