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You property will appear on our board's MLS® System within one business day of receiving your completed listing package by our office. It usually takes an additional 24-hour period for the MLS® listing to appear on REALTOR.ca website.

In the publicly visible general description section on the MLS® System and affiliated websites, we direct visitors to visit the REALTOR® Website to find more information about your property. Under the MLS® Rules, we cannot specify the nature of such additional information directly in the MLS® listing and we cannot post a link to your website. However, when a visitor clicks on REALTOR® Website link, a separate web page appears which contains your contact information and a link to your private website.

We also post your contact information in the Broker-only remarks section of the MLS® System, with instructions on how interested Brokers can contact you directly.

According to an agreement between the Competition Bureau and the Canadian Real Estate Association, a listing REALTOR®/Brokerage must act as agent for the seller to post, amend or remove a property listing in a board's MLS® System. However, the nature of any additional services to be provided by the listing REALTOR®/Brokerage to the seller is determined by agreement between the listing REALTOR®/Brokerage and the seller.

This means that you can now opt for a Flat Fee Mere Posting service with Times Realty.  Under Mere Posting you simply use our service to list your property and create an advertising page on REALTOR.ca, but you do not wish to purchase and receive any other services that REALTORS® typically provide, and you do not want us to represent your interests in dealing with any prospective buyers, other agents, or in any transaction that may result from your MLS® listing.

With Mere Posting service we will direct all enquiries from other Brokerages and Buyers to contact you directly for showings, offers, commissions and for all other matters dealing with your property.

When a Mere Posting is uploaded on the board's MLS® System, buyers and Real Estate agents will contact the Seller directly to book all appointments to view the property, or to present offers, or for any other enquiries. The Sellers will respond to all appointment requests and schedule these appointments at their own convenience. Occasionally, an agent or a buyer may contact the listing brokerage. If that happens, we provide them with information on how to contact the Seller directly.

When we set up your MLS® listing, we allow you the flexibility to choose any term between 60 and 180 days. Depending on your service package, we may charge a small fee for extension. Extension fee is much lower than a new listing fee.

REALTOR.ca typically takes a day or two to update any posted information as well as changes. However, the Local Board MLS® System accessible to REALTORS® displays the new listing and any changes in real time.

Different REALTORS® may offer different ways of presenting your property in the MLS® listing. Some REALTORS® would offer a Mere Posting for a flat fee, but will make it look indistinguishable from Full-Service MLS® Listings. Sellers agreeing to this type of Mere Posting service are cautioned that Buyers not knowing the difference will have to contact the Listing Realtor® for questions, showings, and offers. As a result, REALTORS® may benefit by generating buyer leads for themselves, and if there is an offer on the listed property, then Listing REALTOR® may ask the Seller for the buyer broker commission.

The other alternative can be offered to Sellers who wish a true sale by owner experience and to remain in full control of their selling process, while still taking full advantage of the MLS® exposure. In this case, the MLS® Listing may contain only the mandatory information about the property, but not the full detailed description.

By now, the phrase Please Visit REALTOR® Website For More Information has become widely recognized to indicate a Mere Posting or FSBO listing. When Buyers see this key phrase in the MLS® listing, they readily go to REALTOR® Website where they expect to find further details about the property including Seller's contact information.

It is our policy to point all interested parties to the Seller's private (FSBO) website and to make it very clear to Buyers and Buyer Brokers that they should contact the Seller directly. This way, we deliberately exclude opportunities for Buyers to contact us, but instead, all Buyers leads go directly to the Seller.

To help Buyers find your FSBO webpage as quickly as possible, we have the most user-friendly option available. Under the recent Consent Agreement with the Competition Bureau, the MLS® Rules still prohibit posting any internet links or email links in the Client Remarks, or in the Virtual Tour (View Multimedia) of the MLS® listing. However, we are allowed to ask Buyers to visit REALTOR® website for more information about the property.

This phrase For More Information Please Visit REALTOR® Website has become widely recognized to indicate a Mere Posting or FSBO listing. When Buyers go to REALTOR® Website, they immediately get access to Seller's contact information. The link to REALTOR® website is clearly visible in REALTOR® contact information on the right side of the screen, and points directly to a webpage where Seller's contact information and a link to FSBO webpage is displayed.

When it comes to MLS® listings as Mere Postings, serving to add exposure for those who sell by owner, we suggest that Less IS More. MLS® Listing loaded with details, appears on REALTOR.ca like a standard REALTOR's® listing. A Buyer will either contact the listing REALTOR®, or click Next. That's not what you want. As a Private Seller, your MLS® listing should serve only one purpose, which is to drive traffic to your FSBO webpage; and for that reason, it should contain only a message to “Visit REALTOR® Website”.

Also, keep in mind, that the, Realtor.ca and other MLS® website take up to two or three days to update changes, and it can only be done through the Listing REALTOR®, Your FSBO webpage updates your information in real time and you have full control and direct personal access to unlimited changes and revisions.

Our policy is to keep MLS® mere postings as simple as possible with instructions for buyers to visit the REALTOR® website for more information. We do not add and we do not recommend detailed property descriptions and additional photographs in the MLS® system for two reasons: the Legal reason and the Marketing reason.  The Legal reason is that we, as listing brokerage remain responsible for all information that is entered in the MLS® System, so we do not enter any unverified information.

The Marketing and more practical reason has been discussed and explained in the previous articles and in the YouTube Video. You do not want buyers to contact the Listing REALTOR® or to click Next. You want your buyers to learn that this is a FSBO listing as soon as possible, and to contact you directly. For this reason, the listing description should contain only one message - “For More Information Please Visit REALTOR® Website”. This key phrase has become widely recognized to indicate a Mere Posting or FSBO listing. When Buyers see this key phrase in the MLS® listing, they readily go to REALTOR® Website where they expect to find further details about the property including Seller's contact information.

Your main listing is your FSBO webpage that displays your contact information and allows you to make any updates any time and in real time. The only purpose of the MLS® listing is to give you an additional exposure and to drive traffic to your FSBO webpage.

However, if creating a fully descriptive MLS® listing is important to you, and if you would like Buyers to see as much detail in your MLS® listing as on your FSBO webpage, then please ask us for a VIP Package.   Currently this package is available in the Greater Toronto Area, and is designed to allow you to utilize every field and feature of the MLS® System.

Under the MLS® Rules the Listing Brokerage has the obligation to offer commission to the co-operating broker (or Buyer Broker) for finding a buyer and that commission may not be zero. To comply with the MLS® Rules, we offer a co-operating commission of $2. If Buyer Broker accepts this offer of co-operation, we will pay them from the listing fee that we received from you. However, in most cases the Buyer Broker will contact you to discuss their commission before they show your property to prospective buyers.

Under the MLS® Rules, the Seller does not have an obligation to pay commission to a Buyer Broker. It is entirely up to you whether you wish to pay commission and how much commission you choose to pay. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a “standard” or “fixed” commission rate, you can negotiate it freely with the Buyer Broker directly.

Under the MLS® Rules, the Listing Brokerage but not the Seller, is responsible to pay commission to the cooperating brokerages. Any commission stated in the listing becomes the contractual commitment for the listing brokerage and must come out of total commission or fee paid to the listing brokerage by the Seller, and is guaranteed by the Listing Agreement. Unless the listing brokerage has a commission agreement with the Seller, it cannot guarantee that any commission will be paid to the cooperating brokerage. With our Standard Flat Fee package, we offer a flat fee of $2 to the cooperating brokerage from the fee that we received from the Seller.

However, if attracting agents with Buyers is important to you, then please ask us for a VIP Buyer Broker package. Currently this package is available in the Greater Toronto Area and in British Columbia, and is designed specifically to include your offer of Buyer Broker commission in your MLS® listing.

MLS® System is managed by local Real Estate Associations and Real Estate Boards.  This means that there may be some differences in how listings will be handled in different jurisdictions.  Some Real Estate Boards charge separate fees for posting listing and for processing completed transactions.  At this point in time, all our listings except British Columbia, are posted through Toronto Real Estate Board, the largest Real Estate Board in Canada, and there are no additional board fees.  However, in British Columbia, and soon in other Provinces, we could use local brokerages in the ListMeNow Network to post each listing on their local Real Estate Boards to maximize exposure to local brokers.  Local boards in British Columbia will charge additional fees for listing and for closing transactions.  At this time, all listing fees are included in our Flat Fee rate, but customers opting for local board posting in British Columbia (MLXchange®) will also be responsible for closing fees.

We do not charge any additional fees for changes to your MLS® Listing. You may make changes by simply sending us an email. Price changes require a completed Listing Amendment form, which we can email to you upon request. Customers with VIP package do not pay any additional fees for any extensions, suspention or reinstatement. Customers with Standard Package can be charged small extension fees, reinstatement fees and early cancellation fees as detailed in the Fee Schedule of the Listing Agreement.

Under the MLS® Rules, only the Listing REALTOR® can access the listing to make any changes. Important changes such as listing price and possession date must to be submitted to us on a Listing Amendment form, which we can email to you upon request. Other changes such as photographs, or updated tax information etc., can be emailed to us. All changes will processed within one business day.

There is no charge for making changes to your MLS® listing.

MLS® Rules require reporting of sold and conditionally sold properties. You are responsible for sending us your accepted Offer within 24 hours, even if the Offer is conditional. This allows us to comply with the MLS® Rules. There is no charge for reporting your sold property on MLS® System. However, if you fail to report your sold listing, our brokerage may be subject to administrative and disciplinary penalties and we will have to bill you for our costs and expenses. As soon as you accept a conditional or firm offer on your property, you will need to send us a copy of your sales agreement along with any broker cooperation forms, and waivers and amendments.

REALTORS® have a legal and ethical duty to discover and disclose to potential buyers all material facts affecting the value of the property, even when buyer is not a client. The list of such facts can be vast and it includes information related to structural defects, building code violations, unlawful use of the property such as illegal basement apartments, potential environmental hazards such as UFFI, underground oil tanks and septic systems, and the so-called "Stigmatized Properties". Some examples of Stigma include properties with history of growth or manufacture of illegal substances (marijuana grow-ops), history of serious crimes or incidents such as murder, suicide, arson or burglary, and properties that are believed to be "haunted" even if the Seller denies or does not believe in such a thing.

While REALTORS® have a legal duty to discover and disclose material facts affecting the value of the property, the Listing Agreement includes Sellers' consent to collection and disclosure of such information to potential buyers. It is also our policy as the Listing Brokerage to require that Sellers cooperate and disclose all relevant information to us, which means that under our Listing Agreement, Sellers have a contractual obligation to provide complete and truthful disclosures.

In all cases, we recommend that Sellers should obtain independent legal advice regarding any disclosures that they may be obligated to make when listing their property for sale.

Under the MLS® Rules and under the Provincial Laws, it is REALTORS® who must take responsibility for the accuracy of information that they post on MLS® System. REALTORS® must make reasonable inquiries to discover and disclose material facts affecting the value of the property. However, this does not mean that they have to provide an absolute warranty for the accuracy of the information in all circumstances, and it certainly does not relieve the Sellers from their legal and contractual obligations to make true statements and honest disclosures.

To ensure compliance with these provisions, our Listing Agreement requires all Sellers to provide certain documents to support their marketing claims about the property and to personally certify and guarantee the truthfulness of information and all disclosures. Our policy is to make reasonable inquiries to verify pertinent information on a Listing, but we also rely on the Seller to make true statements and honest disclosures.

Surprisingly.... The answer is YES!  We offer reduced commission listing alternatives, and a competitive money back option for Sellers who wish to convert to our full listing service at any time during their initial Mere Posting.   If you consider full listing service as your “plan B” alternative, we allow you try the Flat Fee MLS® listing with absolutely no risk.  When we convert the flat-fee listing into our Full-Service listing, the fees you paid will be deducted from our commission on closing.

When you complete your registeration, you will be given a link to download your listing package forms and instructions. The Package contains detailed and user-friendly instructions on how to complete the forms and obtain required information. You can just follow step-by-step checklist and refer to sample images showing you exactly how to enter the information and where to sign. We recommend that scan your forms and supporting documents in compressed PDF format and email them to us as soon as completed. If not sure, give us a call or send an email. We are always happy to help.

Once we receive your listing package, we send you a confirmation email and the review of your listing package will begin. Our time commitment for the initial review is one business day.  If additional information is required, we will write you a detailed list of all missing information and a list of any discrepancies found in the documents within your listing package.  We are always available to answer any questions on required information and how to complete the forms.

As soon as your listing package is compete, you will receive a confirmation from us and we will post your MLS® listing within one business day.