Two other things that I noticed were: That after I fixed whatever problem the transaction had & the deal closed these same agents were collecting pretty good-sized commission checks. Secondly that the size of these checks wasn't commensurate with the amount of work that went into the transaction. Why was the commission for selling a $200,000 home twice what the commission for selling a $100,000 home was? Selling the $200,000.00 home usually wasn't any harder than selling the $100,000 home. As a matter of fact, it usually required less work.

So, these were some of the thoughts that were running through my head that night. Why was real estate sales structured the way that it was? Why did that certain large St. Louis real estate company have so many agents & so many offices? What were the economics of St. Louis real estate sales? What were the current cost structures of St. Louis real estate sales? Where were the inefficiencies? Where could St. Louis real estate sales be improved?

My conclusions, which I came to after several months of investigation, were that, not only could St. Louis real estate sales be done better but that they could be done at much less expense to the home-seller. With these conclusions in mind I decided to form ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc., as a St Louis discount real estate company.

ValueList incorporated in November of 1995 & opened our doors shortly thereafter. ValueList is built around the concept of the flat-fee listing arrangement. The Flat-fee listing differs from a conventional listing where the homeseller pays the real estate company a percentage commission (generally in the 6 ' 7 percent range). In the ValueList 'flat-fee' listing the home seller only pays ValueList a 'flat-fee' for the listing side of the real estate sales commission. If another agency sells the home, then the home seller pays that agency what would normally be the 'selling side' of the commission (generally around 2.7 - 3%).

Comparing the ValueList 'Flat-fee' commission structure to a conventional Saint Louis real estate percentage commission structure, ValueList generally comes out to be around 35 to 55 percent less expensive.

Now in the event where the real estate company both lists & sells the property (an event that happens relatively infrequently) a conventional company would still charge the agreed to percentage. That is, even if the conventional real estate company doesn't have to split the commission with a cooperating agency, they still charge the home seller the full 6 to 7 percent. With the ValueList 'Flat-fee' commission structure, ValueList only charges the 'flat-fee' for the listing side of the transaction and a 'sales commission' equal to the listing fee. In this scenario ValueList is an even better deal!

Click Here To Go To About ValueList Continued (Next)

Click Here To Return To Main Page

Click Here To Contact Us