Home Avenue Flat Fee Realty

I had a terrible experience working with the owner Greg Lawrence. I chose the $3,500 full service flat fee representation and felt that I basically paid for an MLS listing which is thousands less. Greg was difficult to get in touch with, he showed little motivation to sell our home as his commission is guaranteed as long as you sell the house within the next year (using him or someone else), he didn't show up for our closing nor did he even notify us, he showed minimal knowledge after 30 years of experience as we appeared to know the market better than he did, we had to continuously ask for showing feedback and follow through, he mistakenly took the wrong counter offer back to a potential buyer, and he provided nothing more than a useful app that scheduled listings for us. I'd never recommend him to anyone or use him ever again. Go with a different fee for service company, there are plenty out there that are much better.

We used Jim Herrmann in 2019 to purchase a new home and to sell our existing home. First, Jim is just a great who worked very hard for us in a difficult market that was short on inventory. Since this was to be our last home purchase, we were very particular on the features and location we desired. We relocated from Minnetonka to Forest Lake, so just the travel alone across the Twin Cities was a big time commitment for any realtor. Throughout the process, with each showing, Jim worked with us to refine our criteria and jump on new listings as they came up. When we found "the one," Jim moved fast to secure our dream home. And he didn't just throw money at the seller, he helped us to craft the right offer. On the sale of our existing home, Jim gave us the right amount of input and direction to prepare our well-cared-for home for sale. He didn't ask us to overspend to make his job easier. He priced it fairly and it sold within a few weeks. After we closed on both properties, Jim (and Dory too!) stayed in touch and sewed up some loose ends after our purchase. These were details that, perhaps, others would not have bothered with since the closing was complete. We really had a great experience and Jim and The Herrmann Team went above and beyond in every aspect.

Working with Jim and Dory was nothing short of fabulous. Their guidance thru the process of selling our home was beyond our expectations. From the advice on marketing our home, professional photos, and great and responsive communication Jim and Dory came thru with flying colors. Our home sold in 2 days! When picking a realtor we were slightly skeptical of a flat rate fee but Jim and Dory put that notion to rest with their great full service at a substantial savings to us. Thanks Jim and Dory! Dale and Marcy Dugan

Our Home Avenue experience - We admit we were a little skeptical trying a different way to sell our home, it all sounded too good to be true, flat rate? We’ve sold three homes in the past 7 years and we were tired of watching all our proceeds go to the realtors. We had one home sell in 7 hours and the real estate company walked away with over $15K. ☹ Our recent sale we had two realtors tell us we couldn’t get more than $250K for our home, all based off comps. But wait, our home was different! We had all brand-new high-end appliances, gorgeous special-order front door, and more. Comps are a good base-line, but they shouldn’t be the only evaluation. Home Avenue sold our home and got us $258K. That’s eight-grand more!!! Not only do they charge a low flat rate, but when we found our new home, Home Avenue paid us $1500 at closing. They have this cool perk, they make money when selling/buying your home from the other realtor, and they share their proceeds - Say goodbye to Christmas wreaths or a bottle of wine – money talks! Jim and Dory are very easy to work with, and really had our best interest at heart. Highly recommend! Thanks guys! Dave & Ann Larsen

Jim and Dory at Home Avenue were the most amazing Team (The Herrmann Team) They go above and beyond to find you a home or help you sell your home. I was lucky to work with them on both sides and wouldn't have wanted to work with anyone else! Jim works tirelessly to find everything you need and Dory provides the support and information to make the signing and updating process seamless! You will not be sorry to work with Jim and Dory!

Great service. I used the full service option and the house sold fast. Great marketing plan. Greg was wonderful to work with. He knows his stuff. I don't know why anyone would use a full service realtor when service like this available at half the price. I have recommended them to all my friends and family.

Everyone at Home Avenue was prompt, friendly, and, professional. When we were busy with other aspects of moving, they sent gentle reminders of things we needed to do. They also sent out information on sales near by.

It went very well. This is the 2nd time we have used Home Avenue. The $700 was the fee we paid to Home Avenue and then we also had the 3% commission we paid to the selling agent. This was a rental property that we sold.

Home Avenue was a great company to work with. They made the process simple and quick. I could get my questions answers quickly and efficiently and felt like they were always there to help with whatever we needed.

We tried using a traditional broker a few years ago and I realized the primary advantage they bring is listing the property in the MLS. Five years of being a rental property owner, we listed with HomeAvenue. The first week, we had something like 10 showings. We ended up with 3 offers. Make sure to use a Counter Offer Addendum form when countering offers. Home Avenue should have a website page that outlines this process but I can not complain. All in all we saved thousands of dollars and had the house sold in less than 2 weeks. So grateful to be out of the rental business!

Jim and Dory Herrmann are THE reason to hire HomeAvenue, in our view. They are top-notch, high integrity real estate professionals that are service oriented and driven to get results for their clients. Jim did an excellent job representing our views and price expectations during negotiations with Buyers' agents. We give team Herrmann and HomeAvenue our highest recommendation.

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When deciding to sell our home, we did significant research regarding leading real estate agents, real estate commissions, and FIBO (for sale by owner) options. We decided to sell our home by ourselves in 2013 and engaged with Jim Herrmann at Home Avenue to help us with the MLS listing as well as do the closing paperwork. Jim and his assistant Dory worked with us to provide signing, establish the initial listing and make adjustments to the MLS detail such as open house days/times and listing price. When we accepted an offer, the process was quick and very much organized - title work, closing documents, etc... Because of our great experience with Jim, we decided to use him again in the search for our next home. Given the real estate market in our specific area, this unfortunately was an exhausting process lasting over a year. Jim stood by our side in showing us numerous homes and making numerous offers. Jim was ALWAYS prompt and forthcoming about his schedule, and was accommodating to meeting ours too. We recently made an offer on a home and made a counter offer based on the inspection, and Jim was able to negotiate a lower purchase price based on that inspection report. He arranged for the inspection, title company and all paperwork that was required for the purchase. We cannot make a better recommendation!

We think he did a great job, especially since our house sold in less than three weeks! Norm has been a great help selling our house. I would highly recommend him to anyone trying to sell their house.

Home Avenue had my MLS listing up within a day of completing the paperwork, and the sign was installed quickly too (following all rules for locating utilities, etc.) I was skeptical that agents would be willing to show my home, especially since the signage provided was fairly worn and said "For Sale By Owner". Fresh, clean signs with the Home Avenue logo (and downplaying the FSBO aspect) would have been more visually appealing. But I got about 25 showings during the first month and received an acceptable offer after about 5 weeks on the market - not too bad. I had no trouble getting showings from agents with Edina Realty, Remax, Coldwell Banker, Prudential, etc. as well as some smaller companies. Offering a reasonable commission to the buyer's agent was important, and having a clue and using the correct terminology when fielding questions probably helped too. Not sure it was worth putting out flyers in the winter, especially in a cul-de-sac. Very few were taken. Most leads came from the MLS listing. I held two Sunday afternoon open houses in the winter, and these attracted mostly casual lookers. Open houses might have been more effective in more pleasant weather. The serious leads all came from buyers or their agents finding the home on MLS. Home Avenue is flexible on the terms of their packages and will customize them to match your needs. I dropped some options and substituted others, such as adding additional photos, captions and supplements to the MLS listing, adjusting the term of the listing, etc. Our representative (Kris) was helpful and responsive. Listing updates were handled within a couple of hours in most cases. Although the cost to get listed on MLS is steep, I would absolutely recommend it. I listed the home on Zillow and Craigslist as well, figuring it couldn't hurt, but the only calls we got from those listings were from agents wanting us to list with them, "investors" making sketchy proposals, questionable out-of-state search firms, and nutjobs asking about rental or contract-for-deed arrangements despite our listing only offering the property for traditional sale. There are a couple of Twin Cities companies offering flat-fee MLS listing services to DIYers. I did my research and found Home Avenue to be the most impressive of the lot. I figured a local firm would better know the ins and outs of our regional MLS compared to the out-of-state companies which also offer such services. I would gladly use Home Avenue again if I'm in a similar situation of needing to sell a home and having the time to personally deal with all of the details and legwork. If you're familiar with standard real estate contracts, our state's disclosure requirements, etc. and feel comfortable evaluating and negotiating such a big transaction yourself, the savings can be substantial. Home Avenue does offer a la carte services to help with such aspects, if needed.

Home Avenue called MN call before U dig and our yard was checked and marked for utilities and lines. Then a beautiful new white vinyl sale sign was installed where I requested it to be. There was my cell phone number placed on it with a Home Avenue id#. There was even a box for the full color brochures that come with the help-u-sell package. I also received four neighborhood directional signs to place outside of our neighborhood. After the sale and right before closing it only took a phone call to arrange for the removal of all the signs. We had control over how our house was listed on the MLS during the sales process. Every aspect of the sales process was simple, easy and straightforward with the Home Avenue team.Member Comments: We first me Greg Lawrence six plus years ago, when we bought our home, as it was listed as a For-Sale-By-Owner with Home Avenue. Greg was personally involved during key points of the transaction, was very professional and helped the process maintain a smooth track. So naturally when time came to sell this past fall, we decided to save money and hire Greg's Home Avenue "For-Sale-By-Owner + MLS Package". We interviewed several local Realtors from various agencies who specifically knew Plymouth and the western burbs. The pricing advice and marketing strategies ranged from sensible to the absurd. But they all wanted 6% to list our home with them. First we tried marketing our home on Zillow for a month prior with the only results being annoying phone calls from agents looking to get our listing. However, when we signed up for Home Avenue's For-Sale-By-Owner + MLS Package, we had a professionally installed vinyl sign, color brochures, all the legal documents, four neighborhood signs and the all-important MLS listing. We had access to Greg via phone throughout the sales process regarding advice on key issues with MN real estate law and customary procedures. Greg's advice and expertise steered us clear of any road bumps and kept us on track every time. In the end we sold our home for 99.7% of our original listing price and saved $10,470 by not paying a listing agent their 3%. This all took place from 1,000 miles away on the East Coast and we were grateful to have Greg and his team help and guide us along the way. We recommend the Home Avenue team for selling your home on your own with peace of mind and serious savings!

Home Avenue was very responsive to emails and calls and helped me out along the way. They installed a professional for sale sign in my yard and gave me the forms I would need to sell my house on my own. In most cases, I think for-sale-by-owner is the way to go and Home Avenue makes it easy.