Canada's Housing Bubble

Apr 10, 2010 torontosun.com

Discount realty web site plans to roll out services across Canada

One Flat Fee, a ground-breaking website aiming to provide realtor services to homeowners at heavily discounted prices, in light of the recent Multiple Listing Service (MLS) changes by the Canadian Real Estate industry, has announced that it is open for business.

Sellers in British Columbia can list their property on the Canadian Real Estate Association’s (CREA) widely used Multiple Listing Service (MLS) through OneFlatFee.ca and have the potential buyers forwarded to them for as little as $ 649 per listing. That compares to the standard five per cent realtor commission rate that has seen Canadians pay almost $7.5 billion in fees last year alone, the company says. OneFlatFee.ca enters the market following the recent disagreement between the CREA and the Competition Bureau, who have filed a complaint with the Competition Tribunal claiming the CREA’s practices are anti-competitive. As a result, the CREA has agreed to allow discount agents to post entries on the MLS for a flat fee, and to enable consumers to pick and choose how much interaction — and services — they receive from realtors. “This is an extremely exciting and historic period for home sellers,” explains One Flat Fee founder, Mayur Arora. “There are huge savings to be had from using a service such as One Flat Fee rather than using the old and traditional realtor selling model. “The savings, combined with the added transparency and control that sellers have when conducting transactions themselves, will significantly affect the future of property exchange in the coming years. We hope to expand across the country shortly after our launch.” The four packages available at OneFlatFee.ca provide a range of options. The basic service for $649 includes a listing of the home on MLS, promotion of the property on other listing websites such as Kijiji, and the forwarding of all prospective buyer details to the customer. At $4,999, the most comprehensive package includes MLS and other website advertising, the handling of all paperwork and negotiations, a buying and selling consultation, legal coordination and sale completion. “The advantages of using a discount site such as One Flat Fee are numerous. To start, the savings are considerable. With an average realtor fee of five per cent, a homeowner selling for $200,000 will save around 93 per cent in fees,” Arora states. In addition, the development of One Flat Fee also taps into an increasing trend: consumers want to be in control of their financial and legal dealings. Established in March 2010, One Flat Fee provides an inexpensive option for homeowners wanting to sell their property through MLS without committing to full realtor services and higher commission rates.