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Short Sale Field added to the Ann Arbor Area MLS

Find short sale in the MLS The short sale field has bee added to the Ann Arbor Area MLS as of today. As Chair of the MLS Committee last year and Director Liason this past year we have been working on this for 2 years.

Seems like it would have been easy to offer a way to search when a client called and asked for help in purchasing a short sale or foreclosure but....there was a lot to debate. You know how committees are?

If a home is being sold "short" or is a "foreclosure" this is now a required field in the MLS. Right now each listing agent has to go change it to reflect the new field. We did all our our listings today that are selling short.

I welcome this field as it will be so much easier and quicker to get the data to our clients who call and say that is what they want to purchase. I did a brief search tonight and so far this is all the short sales and foreclosures in the MLS that came up. I am sure more data will be changed in the days ahead.

Professional who understand short sales In Ann Arbor it is critical to work with an agent that understands the short sale process. Whether you are buying or selling a home short, experience counts. I learn something from every short sale I do.

One of the best sites that I love, love, love is the Short Sale network that Wendy Rulnick and Bryant Tutas started: "Short Sale Superstars".

I visit there everyday and suggest that if you want more help this is the place to go and join.

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Posted by Missy Caulk-Ann Arbor- Realtor(R)- Ann Arbor Real Estate on 09/24/2009 07:37 PM

Comments (67)

Ann Arbor Area MLS Addes Short Sale Search in the Home Buying Channel

short sales, ann arbor area mls

Originally posted at: Ann Arbor Undressed : Short Sale Field added to the Ann Arbor Area MLS

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67 Comments on Short Sale Field added to the Ann Arbor Area MLS

SEP

Our MLS has a field for foreclosures, but I would love to see one added for short sales. Now the only way you know is if it is mentioned in the notes, and often times it is not.

We've had those fields to check off for while...and agents still fail to mark it as it would weed those out when searching for non short sales/foreclosures. They put it in the agent remarks or public remarks....but it still brings em in. Arghhhh

Well Sally, I hope our board has the courage to institute fines. So far we have none, but this is next on our agenda.

So what your saying is that your little government wasn't any faster than the big government? Just teasing. As a LO, I find the variations in MLS interesting. And I like Sally's remark - as I am often looking at MLS's to pre-approved someone, so many agents DO forget/fail to share all the info (HOA fees, bed count . . . heck I don't have to tell you.)

Cool stuff Missy. It's neat to see this. It's a positive add on. Good for the buyer to know. BTW...I was in Ann Arbor today. I may be heading back up. If I do....can I buy you a coffee, tea or whatever? Be good to hook. Haven't been there in years, but may be up a lot b/t now and end of the year on the way to Detroit.

Short sale confusion can breed some mean hostility between parties where we often get caught up in between them,

Hi Missy... I love to see progress like this. I have been begging for the same type of field here in North Texas for years! I am hoping decisions like the one in Ann Arbor are noticed locally! I'm certainly going to make sure that the folks at NTREIS are aware of it. :)

Missy,

We do not have Short Sale field, and we have an optional Foreclosure field.

We have some REO agents who mark Foreclosures "NO" in an attempt to hide them from searches and get both sides of the transaction commission.

I guess the board is working on it, but how can there be question as to the ethics of THAT behavior.

I would love to have a short sale field! LOL. Ok, well it's needed! ~Rita

Oh, forgot to say that we do have a field that you are supposed to click to say lender owned but here too occasionally it is not filled in!!!! Just sayin' ~Rita

Missy - We have a short sale field in our MLS but not for foreclosures. There is no uniformity though with it being used. Some listings have it and so many others don't. When I'm searching for short sales, foreclosures or bank owned properties, I use a variety of phrases in the remarks section (public & agent to agent) so I don't miss out on any properties for my buyers.

Hi Missy - We have had a field for REOs for quite awhile, but short sales are in the status area, so when you enter a listing, one of the first things you have to say is whether it is active or active short sale, and when the status changes, it may go to short sale contingent (you have an accepted offer but waiting for the bank's approval), pending (in escrow), or sold (escrow has closed). There are also some other categories of active for sales requiring court approval or other contingencies.

This is very helpful when searching for a buyer client who has specific needs or wants. For example, someone looking now for a home to get the first time homebuyer credit should not consider short sales, because they are unlikely to close escrow before November 30.

As for homes that are in foreclosure but not yet bank-owned, there aren't search fields, but each listing has a link to the assessor info which is flagged if a notice of default has been recorded or other foreclosure activity has occurred. So with an extra click, that info is available.

Misty - Congratulations on that accomplishment. If it is something that is going to make our searches easier it seems to me that it would be a no brainer, but I guess that is why we need committees, right? Are you always as happy as you look in that picture?

Hi Missy, Very good. It is always good to keep the MLS search criteria as up to current standards as possible. And the new fields definitely reflect a solid aspect of our industry today and the nature of the both the possible sale.

Missy - congratulations on that achievement. I wish our MLS were there. Of course then you have the problem of compliance, unless it is a mandatory field that MUST be completed. While we have some new fields agents are supposed to use they often do not. It creates quite a mess and there seems to be no accountability. Yes, you can mark it as a violation but the follow-up seems to be lacking. Things have not shifted quickly enough to cope with the new market...that is not so new.

Jeff

SEP

Hi Missy,

Good for you, we've had that here in SoCalMLS (over 40,000 users) for a while now. It's now a mandatory field to enter a listing. For the most part it's worked, yet every now and then it someone selects the wrong reponse, however it has helped. For us it's a matter of continual education with our members.

Btw, I've served as MLS chair myself and I know what an undertaking that can be! Keep up the great work.

Good for you. We've had that feature in our MLS for some months. It's very helpful. Buyers who need a quick closing for occupancy need not look at short sales.

Listing agents can select:

Potential
Short Sale:

No Undisclosed Yes

OrNot

Selling agents will know:

Foreclosure: No

Auction: No

Potential Short Sale: Yes

With the plethora of Short Sales across the country, I'm surprised it took some MLSs so long.

Missy we have had a short sale field for a long time. Now it sounds like we are going backwards. We are dropping Solid Earth to go to Rapitonni and they don't have that field. Ours was required now we won't have it at all. I persnally am not happy about it at all but understand why they are working toward regionalization.

Our MLS didn't even make noise when they added short sale...didn't even know it was there...duh....it is a great help ...MLS's everywhere have a mandate or should to educate the users as to what is available. Wend is a great gal pal in shorts....working together we will educate, alleviate and sell one short at a time..have a prosperous weekend !

We have the short sale and "lender own" field and it definately helps the search.

Our MLS made thr change about 3 months ago. I think it is a smart move and easier to disclose.

Wow. What a sign of the times. We use the short sale & foreclosure in our MLS search. And the Short Sale Superstars website is great. Thanks Missy.

Missy, we were lucky enough to get that field a few months ago. Sellers do have the option not to disclose though...I am glad they did this. This will make your job much easier to search!

Missy, Our MLS has been set up for short sales for quite a while. The only problem was they had too many choices. They recently narrowed it down to three Short sale. foreclosure, none of the above. This change has certainly made things easier.

And thanks for the plug for ShortSaleSuperStars.com did we mention it is FREE?

Our MLS has a short sale field, but as far as foreclosure it is buried in feature codes as bank owned property and many agents miss the box to check because it is not obvious. It is frustrating for those of us doing BPOs and looking for REO comps.

Our MLS added it about three weeks ago. This will save you a bunch of time.

Once you enter the Short Sale you can then click another arrow down and say:

Private Owned

Bank Owned

Government Owned or

Other

If it is other you can describe it in the remarks.

Larry, YES please I would love to have coffee with you, just call, email or txt.

BB, YES it is FREE and wonderful, kudos to you and Wendy...I love it!!

We've had that field in ours for a long time as well as the REO field. We must diclose it in ours.

I can't believe you all waited this long. . . these people don;t watch the news?

Missy...

It seems like such a simple thing ... I wonder why it took so long? I know that our MLS is working on it now.

Recently we had an incident where the listing agent advertised a short sale, but, did not mention such in confidential or public comments. The only indication was "variable commision" was marked as "yes". That's just too vague, and our agent did not notice it. Needless to say, when the commision agreement for the closing attorney was signed, the listing agent took a shortage.

We have had this field for about 9 months. Definitely helps with buyer search requests for REO properties.

Hi Missy -- A good step in the right direction. I would like to see all MLSs have much more detailed info -- age of roof, furnace, h2o, carpeting, etc. Perhaps some do, ours doesn't. It could be a huge time saver.

Hi Missy,

The northern Illinois MLS added the short-sale/foreclosure/court-approved fields earlier this year. It is most helpful and something they should of done last year.

Linda Metallo, Re/max Impact, Lockport, Il.

Wish we would get it!

Hey, Missy -

Our Chicago MLS has had this requirement for over a year now, and I'm a bit conflicted here.

As a listing agent, I find that the "Short Sale" flag actually scares away some showings, and forces lower pricing to compensate. However, as a buyer's agent, I used to hate it when "short sale" was sprung on me, and we found that the house of my client's dreams wouldn't close for months, likely - if at all.

Let me know how folks in your board respond to the change.

And, Missy, if you're ever in Chicago, let us know - and we'll buy you and your family some pizza and beer!

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Our MLS has had the short sale and bank owned fields for quite awhile. Of course we are one of the leaders in short sale inventory unfortunately. Now...if we can just get all the agents to check the right box!

Missy We have it in our MLS for short sales and foreclosures - it helps everyone analyze the listings when searching for a client Karen

Missy - This is a great field that we've been fortunate enough to have for a long time now, it really does make a difference.

We've had shorties as fields in our MLS for a couple of years now.

As a regional MLS director and former tech committee chair and association director, I can appreciate how slowly the wheels can turn! AND how long it can take to scrub and make data complete when a changeover is made.

Commendations for gettin 'r done!

We're working on getting commercial integrations, data fields up to speed and when the commercial market begins to upswing again, we'll be ready. :)

WE've had the short sale field in our area for more than a year, but it's still not consistent. There are about 12 boards in the general area that cooperate/share data. Our board REQUIRES a listing to be marked PSLA (Pending Subject to Lender Approval) when an offer goes in to the bank. Other boards, don't so their listings remain Active in our shared data and through MLS Alliance. What a mess!

Missy...

Short Sales have become our bread and butter. If we hadn't changed our biz model to include them, bread and butter would have become our normal diet :)

I also thank you for guiding The Members over to where they can locate the answers they seek. SS Superstars is a busy site. I'm actually getting ready to open a separate email for it. I can only handle so many emails per day :)

TLW...ROAR!

Dean that was the delima here, there are two sides to the coin. We finally compromised and left out requiring relo houses. Yes, I would love to have pizza and bear with you in Chicago some time.

Candice, thank your for serving your members, it is quite time consuming, isn't it?

TLW, I love that site...yes there are a lot of emails, and that is a good idea. But, I am always afraid I will miss something critical from a member on a certain bank.

It took time because it was discussed, and tweeked and voted on. Then it went to the board of directors after MLS had come up with a plan, then discussed and tweeked there. Then you have to have the vendor do the upgrade and programming.

Earlier this year we added fields for:

Short Sales
REO's
In Foreclosure

For the agents that are not disclosing the fact the homes are subject to short sale, it is only a matter of time before a Realtor with a ready willing and able client sues the listing agent for not being able to clear title due to lender not approving the short sale.

Personally, I didn't agree with adding the REO field since many buyers try to beat up the seller when they know it is bank owned, so I was against giving the buyer essentially free boxing gloves.

Missy - We also have this field and it was just recently added. They added a Special Conditions field and we can select (1) BO - Bank Owned, (2) SS - Short Sale, (3) SCA - Subject to Court Approval, (4) NON - None, (5) REL - Relocation and (6) OTH - Yes-Other.

The only deceiving thing about these is that (a) when there are no special conditions, agents aren't noting it. Instead they leave the field blank which doesn't help, and (b) agents are using OTH for Freddie Mac properties, which are truly BO's.

Good work. I just got our leaders to agree that a new pending category needs to be added to our MLS to reflect pending but with lender approval. You need backups in short sales becasue of the high % of primary buyers that drop out. We have to go with the changing market conditions.

Missy,

Congrats on the feature!~ Thanks for the birthday e-card.

Mike in Tucson

Hi Missy: In Sacramento's MetroList, that MLS has gone even one step further. Not only have we had "short sale" status for a while, but it has also added a status for "active short contingent," meaning the seller has accepted an offer. We have problems with this status, though. For one, some agents don't know what it means. For another, it's abbreviated as "active short cont." Causes even more confusion. But at least it's a field that I can uncheck when I send new listings to my buyers.

I wonder why there was debate to it? This could be very beneficial to everyone involved. Congrats!

Hi Missy! Congratulations on getting that approved through the committee. I can only imagine the debates that went on during the process.

Jason

I was so glad when they did that here - I argued for it for over a year!

Hi Missy. Fortunately the Pinellas Realtor ® Organization in the Tampa Bay area added a preforeclosure/foreclosure Y or N? field which really helps.

YOU WILL LOVE THIS MISSY! What a gift ;) I wouldn't be here if it weren't for those fields in ours!

That is great! I wish we had that on our MLS as well. Always great to read your posts, Missy!

I was so grateful when our MLS added a field that states whether ir's an REO, short sale, etc. It's made a big difference.

Wow-I'm surprised that so many MLS systems do not have a field to indicate short sale or lender ownded. These are just two of the possible choices for our MLS's Special listing conditions field.

SEP

Interesting! Our local MLS system has no such field.... yet.

Missy: Seems like that took quite a long time. It'll be great for all, not just buyers!

Missy- Our MLS has had this for some time. Realtors complain that when they list homes as Short Sale the showings are reduced?

My reply is "Don't have me show a home that ios a short sale without knowing it!".

We have a short sale addendum that is attached and is available for download by the buyer's agent. It works well in our market.

Missy - Our Emerald Coast of Florida MLS has a fields for short sale, reo, even ""seized, etc! It is a good idea. Thanks for the link to Short Sale Superstars, too! Glad you like it :)

Missy, our MLS added the short sale field over a year ago. What I find helpful is that following the short sale field is the field that asks Short Sale Approved, yes or no.

Answering yes or no makes a big difference as to whether I show that property or not.

SEP

WOW - I can't imagine not having that field in the MLS - I believe it has been in the local SoCal MLS for over a year now...it is a great way to un-select data from our searches. Heck, even when I do my market reports I analyze the market with and without short sales...

Ugh. My how times have changed.

SEP

Hi Missy, That certainly is a feature that comes in handy. I have a buyer right now that cannot buy a short sale due to time constraints. Nice to exclude short sales, so they are not bothered by getting those listings.

SEP

Missy - Well, this should help clear up a lot of things for your agents. I couldn't imagine not being able to search by short sale, foreclosure, etc.

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