Flat fee MLS and FSBO questions

You pay a set fee and a licensed brokerage puts your home in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the database agents use to find homes for their buyers. You keep control of pricing, showings and negotiation. It’s still a sale by owner in practice, but buyers’ agents can actually see your home.

Homes in the Albuquerque area are listed on the Southwest MLS (SWMLS), owned by the Greater Albuquerque Association of REALTORS®. Its market covers Bernalillo, Sandoval, Valencia and Torrance counties and parts of Socorro and Santa Fe counties. Santa Fe and Las Cruces have their own MLSs.

No. Since August 2024, offers of buyer-agent compensation can’t be advertised on REALTOR® MLSs. You can still offer it outside the MLS, agree to it in an offer, or decline. Many buyers will ask, so decide on your answer before you list. See our buyer-agent compensation guide.

MLS listings are commonly shared with major home-search sites through MLS and broker data feeds. Each site decides what it displays and when, so nobody can guarantee placement on a specific portal. Your written terms will say which feeds your listing uses.

You do, unless you buy extra help. Buyers’ agents contact you directly to book showings and send offers. Under New Mexico rules, if the brokerage won’t present offers or help through closing, you agree to that limited service in writing first.

At minimum: a purchase agreement, a lead-based paint disclosure for most homes built before 1978, and a written property-tax estimate from the county assessor before you accept an offer. Most sellers also provide a property disclosure statement. See the New Mexico FSBO paperwork checklist.

New Mexico doesn’t have a state real estate transfer tax. You’ll still have closing costs, such as title insurance, closing fees, recording and any payoffs. Your title company will itemize them.

Cancellation and refund terms will be in your written listing agreement before you pay. Read them, along with any fee that applies at closing, before you sign anything.

No. Sending the form asks us to contact you. Nothing is agreed until you sign a written listing agreement that names the brokerage, the fee and what’s included.

Often, yes. Tell us the property type and whether a manufactured home is titled as real property. Land and manufactured homes have their own paperwork, so we’ll confirm what applies before you list.