Flat-fee MLS in Vermont

What you save, and what you take on

On a $450,000 sale in Vermont, a 2.5% listing commission is $11,250. A flat-fee Multiple Listing Service (MLS) package typically runs a few hundred dollars. That difference, $10,800, is the entire financial case for selling this way.

In exchange you inherit the listing agent’s job. Pricing it right, getting decent photographs, writing the thing, answering the phone, standing in the kitchen every Saturday, and then negotiating a contract with someone who may do this for a living.

Whether that is a good trade depends on what your time is worth and whether haggling over a six-figure number sounds tolerable or awful. Both answers are legitimate.

What Vermont charges no matter who sells the house

Vermont's property transfer tax is customarily paid by the buyer, so it does not come out of your proceeds. It runs 0.5% on the first $100,000 and 1.25% above that for a primary residence.

Who pays the owner's title policy here is set by local custom and is commonly the buyer, so it is left out of the seller's column. Confirm locally.

Vermont closings customarily involve an attorney. Budget around $1,000 for a residential closing. This is not a cost you avoid by skipping the agent, and it is money well spent when you are handling the contract yourself.