HISTORY - In 1998 the Greater Cedar Rapids Area Home Builders Association mailed a questionnaire to all builder members in the Association asking if there was any interest in starting a listing service for new home construction. The response was good and interest was generated so a committee was formed to visit the Northern Illinois HBA who had already formed a listing service for their members. After visiting with this HBA, the Board of Directors made the decision to go ahead and form our own Listing Service for our builder members.

WHAT MAY BE LISTED? - Builder members of the Greater Cedar Rapids Area Home Builders Association may list single detached family homes and single family attached homes (town homes & condo's).  The home(s) may be completed and ready for occupancy, under construction at the time of listing, or proposed construction or a build to order on a specified lot.  Only Builder members of the Cedar Rapids HBA may list homes with Home Builders Realty, Inc., and only homes that have not been previously occupied as a residence may be listed.  Homes that have been a model or the office of a builder may be listed as well as new commercial contruction.

WHAT DOES IT COST TO LIST WITH HOME BUILDERS REALTY? - You pay a non-refundable $500 listing fee to Home Builders Realty, Inc. for each home to be listed at the time you submit your listing contract and property information form for each home.  You specify what commission you are willing to pay to a cooperating Realtor from the MLS who sells your home.  We strongly suggest the 3 ½% normal selling commission or more to encourage a quick sale!  If you or your sales staff sell the home without the assistance of a cooperating broker from the MLS, you pay no commission.  You may renew your listings at no extra charge.  There is no extra charge for making changes to the listing information (e.g., price, features, remarks, selling instructions, etc.)

WHAT WILL HOME BUILDERS REALTY DO WITH THE LISTING? - We will place your listed property in the Multiple Listing Service of the Cedar Rapids Board of Realtors.  If your home is completed and ready for showing, you may obtain a lockbox for the front door or use a garage code so that Realtors may show your home to their clients. Your listing will also be placed on this website and in the monthly HBA newsletter, the Threshold. 

Unlike a full-service brokerage office, Home Builders Realty will not show or advertise your homes or negotiate with the buyer or the buyer's agent.  The MLS instructions will direct buyer's agents to contact the builder directly for any necessary information and for negotiations.  In this way, you retain complete control over the sale.

WHAT ABOUT THE BROKER'S COMMISSION? - When you list your home with Home Builders Realty, you pay a flat fee of $500 per home to have us place the listing in the MLS books.  At the time you list your home with us, you will indicate what you will pay to a cooperating broker if he/she procures a buyer for your home.  You may offer as compensation to a cooperating broker whatever you wish, however, we highly recommend the normal 3 1/2% selling commission or higher to encourage a quick sale.  The MLS regulations require that the compensation paid to the selling broker be clearly indicated as either a definite dollar amount (e.g. $2,500) or a percentage of the selling price.    Since you will sign an exclusive agency listing agreement with Home Builders Realty, Inc., you retain the right for you or your sales staff to sell the property without liability for a commission if a cooperating broker is not involved in the transaction.  If a cooperating broker is involved in the transaction, you will pay the commission you agreed to in the listing contract.  This is paid at closing, just as it traditionally is.

CAN A BUILDER BE NOTIFIED OF ALL SHOWINGS? - If you wish, we can include special instructions in the MLS information requiring the Realtor to contact the Home Builders Realty office prior to any showing.  We will then email or call you with the information for the Realtor and showing time or you can have us call you for aproval and get back with the Realtor.   If you do not wish to have a lock box on the home, we could instruct the Realtors to use a garage code, pick up a key to your home at your office or model home, or have you meet the Realtor and buyers at your home.  We can include any special showing instructions you wish, but remember, the more inconvenient it is for the Realtor to show a home, the less likely he or she will show it.

HOW LONG IS THE LISTING PERIOD? - There is no set length of time, but a listing contract may never exceed one year in duration. If your home is not sold by the expiration of the listing period, Home Builders Realty, Inc. will renew with no additional listing fee.

HOW DO BUILDERS LIST THEIR HOMES WITH HOME BUILDERS REALTY? - Only Builder members of the Greater Cedar Rapids HBA may list their homes with Home Builders Realty.  If you would like to list your new construction residential or commercial property or a lot, please contact the Home Builders Realty office and we can send you a listing packet or stop by and pick one up.

WHEN DO YOU USE THE STATUS CHANGE FORM? - The MLS requires that the listing office (Home Builders Realty, Inc.) report certain changes in information.  In order for us to send these changes in the MLS, the Builder MUST report the changes as soon as they occur.  These are the MLS regulations, and the MLS will fine this office $100 for each failure to report the required information.  If Home Builders Realty is fined for failure to report the information because the builder failed to report the information, the builder will be billed for the full amount of the fine.  All the changes below must be reported to this office within 24 hours of when the change occurs.

The changes may be faxed to the office or called in.  The Status Change Form is used to report:

1)         Change in listing price

2)         The date a contract was accepted for the sale of the property, with an indication of any contingencies

3)         The date the sale closed, selling price, financing contingencies, selling office and the selling agent.

4)         The cancellation of a listing

5)         The renewal of a listing and the new expiration date of the listing

The builder is responsible for submitting these changes to the Home Builders Realty office who will then fax them into the Board of Realtors.

CAN HOME BUILDERS REALTY ADVERTISE YOUR HOME? - Not at this time.  Home Builders Realty has available, for a small deposit, large metal yard signs that you may put your contact info inside for use when the office is closed.  You as the property owner always have the right to advertise your own property.  You may advertise your listed home in any way you wish as long as the terms of the sale are the same as those included in the listing agreement (e.g., advertised sale price must be the same as the listing price).