With the inventory of homes for sale increasing in many areas of the country a high number of Realtors and consumers are constantly looking at new ideas to compete with the competition of homes that are out there.
One of my recent buyers asked me to investigate a new town home she was very interested in. I gave her a consumer MLS printout of the property and she was curious why the listing said "20" DOM or Days on the Market. She went on to tell me that she was sure she had seen that very town home for sale a year earlier at a higher price.
With my curiosity up I decided to investigate the history of this listing and was totally shocked at what I saw. The first listing went into the MLS almost 2 years to the day of the day I printed out the current MLS information. The MLS showed 9 different listings on this property over those two years. For 11 months in a row the Realtor cancelled the listing 4 different times and re-listed the property for the very same price. Is this a good way to take care of a seller?
The reason Realtors are doing this of course is because they want the public to think the property has not been on the market long and make it look like a new listing.
Rather than look at this as "Smart Marketing" I think the practice borders on "Deception"
Because of this new found information my buyer made an offer much lower than she may have normally made and ended up purchasing the property for a considerable reduction from the last asking price.
In this case the Realtor shot himself in the foot and no favors were done for his seller.
Pricing a home properly to begin with and "Staging" the home inside and out is a much smarter and more professional move.
In addition, a good CMA and ABSORPTION RATES presented to the seller on a MONTHLY basis will detect any trends in the market and allow a seller to make adjustments accordingly.
Just because a buyer finds a listing on the internet doesn't mean that they won't find out all the MLS history of a property.
I would rather wear a hat of professionalism than one of GAMES and take care of my clients the way a professional does.
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