TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hendel,Igal
AU  - Nevo,Aviv
AU  - Ortalo-Magné,François
TI  - The Relative Performance of Real Estate Marketing Platforms: MLS versus FSBOMadison.com
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13360
PY  - 2007
Y2  - September 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13360
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13360.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Igal Hendel
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
Tel: 847/491-8226
Fax: 847/491-7001
E-Mail: igal@northwestern.edu

Aviv Nevo
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-2600
Tel: 847/491-8212
Fax: 847/491-7001
E-Mail: nevo@northwestern.edu

Francois Ortalo-Magné
School of Business
University of Wisconsin, Madison
5259 Grainger Hall
975 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706-1323
E-Mail: fom@bus.wisc.edu
AB  - We compare outcomes obtained by sellers who listed their home on a newly developed For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) web site versus those who used an agent and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). We do not find support for the hypothesis that listing on the MLS helps sellers obtain a significantly higher sale price. Listing on the MLS shortens the time it takes to sell a house. The diffusion of the new FSBO platform was quick, with the market share stabilizing after 2 years, suggesting it managed to gain a critical mass necessary to compete with the MLS. However, the lower effectiveness of FSBO (in terms of time to sell and probability of a sale) suggests that the increasing returns to network size are not fully exploited at its current size. We discuss the welfare implications of our findings.
ER  -