Your listing contract should specify whether or not the house will be listed with the local MLS (multiple listing service). It is definitely in your interest to have the house listed. This is because your sales force is automatically multiplied by however many agents are members of the local MLS. If your house is not listed, then you only have one agent working for you instead of many.

This is where selling "by owner" generally fails.

Owners see that an agent puts a sign in the yard, prepares brochures, holds open houses, advertises in the paper and on the internet, and they think this is how houses are sold.  It is easy to understand why owners believe that, but it just isn't so.

Listing agents do those things for three main reasons.  First, because the owners expect them to.  Second, because it shows other sellers how much they do to market a home, and it gets more listings.  Third, because it brings in clients who want to buy "some" house - though it probably will not be yours.

Practically no one buys the house in the ad or a home they visit during an open house.  Think about your own experiences when you bought the house you are now selling.  How did you find it?  Probably through your agent, who found it in the Multiple Listing Service.

The MLS is a huge network and practically every local agent is a member -- and those agents have clients looking to buy a home.  That network is what sells your house.

copyright 2006 by Terry Light and RealEstate ABC, revised 2002