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The Silliest Realtor Game In Town

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage

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.

Posted by

Native Idahoan and Boise Idaho Real Estate specialist serving Boise, Meridian Eagle, Nampa, Caldwell and the surrounding Treasure valley area of southwest Idaho. Specializing in residential, investment, land and commercial real estate. Search thousands of MLS listings at Boise Homes for sale and learn all about Idaho by visiting Search Idaho Homes

Comments (105)

James Downing - Metro DC Houses Team REALTORSĀ®, CRS, GRI, ABR,MRP, MilRes
Real Living | At Home - Washington, DC
When Looking to Buy or Sell - Make the Right Move

This issue has been a HUGE issue on the DC market.  Our MLS is linked directly to the Tax ID # / so agents would have to put in the address in a different way...  Instead of 100 1st St NW (the actual address) they would enter 100 1stNW Street - or something similar.

It was a common practice to several agents and a couple of brokerages.  Agents would get caught and happily pay the $50 fine for the 2nd offence and $100 for the 3rd (1st offence is a warning).

That is until the MLS increased the fine for the 2nd violtion to $1000 and the 3rd offence is a $3000 fine and a 30-day suspension.

Needless to say; agents have stopped this deception.  If the home doesn't sell; it must be off the market for 6 months for the DOM to reset to zero.  Switching to a different agent/brokerage doesn't make a difference.

I think this is a great system - it's too bad so many agents like to use deception as a marketing ploy.

 

Aug 23, 2007 07:49 AM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate

Thanks again to all that have commented.  I wish I had the time to respond to each of you individually but unfortunately I am too busy with showing, selling and closing homes which is a great problem!  This became a much hotter topic that I had envisioned but as you can read, I am very passionate abount honesty and integrity when dealing with our clients.  I will not do anything that borders even on the grey area. 

Thanks again and God bless you all.

Aug 23, 2007 09:34 AM
Denise Gentile
Coldwell Banker Associated Brokers Realty - Menifee, CA
REALTOR , Riverside County
George- I am really glad you brought this up.  This practice of churning a listing happens all the time.  I really don't know who is more to blame for doing this.  Is it the listing agent or the seller who suggests this type of deceptive marketing on our local MLS?  We abide by a strict code of ethics, and I feel we should not do anything to violate them. Great post!
Aug 23, 2007 10:04 AM
Joe Bartolotta Florida's Upfront Mortgage Broker
Fidelity Mortgage Services - Altamonte Springs, FL
George - I think it borders on deception as well.  It just doesn't sound like good business.
Aug 23, 2007 12:46 PM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

What is NAR's position on this practice?

I see my local MLS making changes after a NAR audit recently.

Does NAR sanction this type of manipulation of data?

Aug 23, 2007 01:27 PM
Teresa Johnson
RE/MAX Greater Atlanta - Dawsonville, GA
Teresa johnson and Associates

The DOM is not the way to make an offer. An agent needs to seek the SOLD's and ACTIVE's in the neighborhood and make a logical offer.

Teresa Johnson

Aug 23, 2007 01:39 PM
Kay Van Kampen
RE/MAX Broker, RE/MAX - Springfield, MO
RealtorĀ®, Springfield Mo Real Estate
George, I actually do this.  However, I cancel and relist them so the listing hits the "hotsheet" in MLS, especially if I can get a reduced price.  I have found it really does sell a home.  All realtors have access to the history of the home.  No deception intended.
Aug 23, 2007 02:16 PM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Kay-

Price your listings right in the first place.  It IS deceptive.

Aug 23, 2007 02:25 PM
#93
Anonymous
Robert
Wow an agent that admits she does this?  Its agents like this that give realtors a bad name.  She should lose her license!
Aug 23, 2007 02:26 PM
#94
Drew & Christine Morgan
RE/MAX Star Properties - Belmont, CA
Belmont California Real Estate

I believe that different regions may have varying standards and what is traditional and acceptable in one region may not be in another.

Our MLS system in Belmont (San Mateo County) decided this year to disallow the practice of re-listing a home (effectively re-setting the DOM stat) since consumers thought it was a deceptive practice-and to some degree I suppose some agents employed this practice inappropriately.

One of the first questions we receive at an open house from prospective buyers is how long a home has been on the market; and of course we tell them from the date it was originally listed; and we also tell them how long it has been on the market after any price reductions. Home buyers judge in our area if a home is overpriced if it's still on the market after 21 days. Clearly more and more buyers are relying on this statistic and the Internet for information to help them in buying a home.

When the MLS systems decided to share our proprietary database with the public over the Internet, we applauded that move as a way to reach more prospective buyers. To some degree however the public now perceives this iinformation as their right to view and are beginning to demand if not try and dictate what information should be made available. We've even received consumer complaints about erroneous advertising of third party web sites which extract the MLS information and misrepresent it when they launch it on their web page; this is can probably be traced back to their spiders getting iinformation and simply displaying it incorrectly.

In the Bay Area agents used to put a home in as a new listing when the seller would make a price reduction not in an effort to fool the public-but in an effort to get more agents to see the home. Remember, before the Internet the public never had access to that information unless it was filtered through an agent. And of course agents are duty bound to tell their prospective buyer the listing's history-just as they would divulge the sales history.

Some agents tend to show recently listed homes for sale and forget about the ones which have been on the market awhile and this was a good way to get their attention--it was a "tool" to get your seller's listing back in front of agents, not trick the public. Any savvy agent would see the new listing show up on their hot sheet and realize it was a home they'd already seen but it got the listing back in front of the agents at a new price; agents who had never seen the home often did so after it was re-listed (perhaps simply because it now fell within their buyer's price range). It was the way our board chose to handle it at the time and it was an acceptable and provided for practice--back  then.

Anecdotal case in point; we were recently asked to take over a listing in Belmont from another agent when the seller was dissatisfied with the service they were receiving. That agent had the home on the market for 14 days. When we re-listed the home (at effectively the same price), because it was with a different broker, the Days on Market stat reset automatically. Even though our board now tracks and reports CDOM (publicly) our first agent tour came along and about 50 agents showed up (that's a lot in our area)-only one mentioned that they had seen it before.

The way in which the days-on-market stat was recorded was an not an intentionally misleading practice in and of itself, but one can see how the public-which has come to rely on Internet as their source for home information-would miss the true facts without the guidance of an agent.

Say, another good reason to work with an agent...

Aug 23, 2007 03:11 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Wow - You are all just blowing me away!  I had no idea the response would be so great.  It is interesting to read the diverse opinions and the MLS rules that vary across the country.  Thank you all for your valuable comments and for taking the time to share.
Aug 23, 2007 03:55 PM
Vicente A. Martinez
Prudential Douglas Elliman Licensed Real Estate Salesperson - Woodhaven, NY
Realtor, Brooklyn - Long Island - Queens Homes
I agree the practice is borderline deception... it also sound that the realtor had their own best interest at heart. We work for the seller and that responsibilty is one that should not be taken lightly. Anyhow, that's how I feel about the matter.
Aug 23, 2007 04:52 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Thank you Vincent and everyone else for your valuable opinions.  I appreciate each and everyone of you.
Aug 24, 2007 03:18 AM
Joddie Roberts
Mountain Real Estate and Property Management - Spokane, WA
Your Spokane Realtor - Spokane, WA

George - forgive me, I'm a newer agent and have done this myself and also recommended it to other agents.  However, my purpose is just to make it fresh in the minds of the agents, not to deceive potential buyers.  With so many listings on the market even the best ones can get lost. 

I've seen a lot of homes sell right after a re-list; I never thought that an agent representing a buyer wasn't looking at the property history because I do that all the time for my buyers.  I purposefully worked 2 years in the Real Estate industry before I got my license so I could learn as much as I could and the practice of releasing and re-listing was very common.  I just thought it's what you do, but I certainly can see from your perspective what it might look like from another angle.  Thanks for sharing your opinion ~ it's given me a whole new way of thinking.

Aug 24, 2007 03:52 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Joddie - Thank you for your input.  If you read a lot of the comments on this post you will see it is a HOT BUTTON and more than I ever thought.  You will read that several MLS's have banned the practice and others have adopted a DOM category and a CDOM (Cumulative Days On Market) as well to give the true picture of how long a property has been on the market.  Good luck to you Joddie and have a great weekend.
Aug 24, 2007 04:00 PM
Ryan Hukill - Edmond
405home @ ERA Courtyard - Edmond, OK
Realtor, Team Lead
George, if I may add to that, not only is it deceiving, it skews the entire DOM statistic for both local and national markets. This was mentioned above, but I think it's an important point to emphasize.
Aug 24, 2007 04:07 PM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Ryan - I totally undersand.  Have a great weekend.
Aug 24, 2007 04:13 PM
Bill Gillhespy
16 Sunview Blvd - Fort Myers Beach, FL
Fort Myers Beach Realtor, Fort Myers Beach Agent - Homes & Condos
I agree with those seeong this as a deceptive practise.  Until the local boards attach a significant penalty to this practise it will continue. Right ?
Aug 27, 2007 03:11 AM
George Tallabas
RE/MAX Advantage - Nampa, ID
Idaho Real Estate
Bill - Very true.  I have sent a copy of this post and associated comments to my MLS in hopes something will be done to stop this practice.  Thanks for your comment and have a wonderful day.
Aug 27, 2007 03:17 AM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Gaming the MLS, How about this, I know a broker who games the MLS by hiding comps for his own personal portfolio.  He buys a piece of property (either death in the family or elderly couple) at a low price (and he gets the, usually the elderly, to sign an exclusive right to sell) pays cash but never performs as an agent on the Exclusive Right to Sell on behalf of the elderly).  He then turns around and lists (sets up a second exclusive right to sell) the property.  But he hides the first sale (the lower comp) until he sells the property at a much higher price.  He games the system by using legal terms like A-L and A-1 for the exact piece of property.  In some instances he has waited 3 to 4 weeks before entering the lower comp into the system.  He says its legal and EVERYONE DOES IT.  He does it for DOUBLE DIPPING.

Sep 20, 2008 08:53 AM
#105