Now that just about every real estate broker and agent has a website, there are many “virtual” listings out there that are no longer on the market but have not been removed or updated as sold, leased, withdrawn, expired, etc. Many of these listings I imagine are left out there as lead-generators. “Oh, I’m sorry, that one is no longer available but we’ve got plenty of others to sell you.”
These “junk listings” can provide many leads for agents but, it’s a bait and switch tactic that does a disservice to the consumer as well as other agents. I get calls on these from clients occasionally and have to do the research on them. Our MLS has strict rules about updating the status on a property when that status changes. “All listings with an executed contract must be changed to “pending” status within two business days, with the exception of Right of First Refusal.” This essentially removes the property from the market and makes it no longer visible on public search sites like Realtor.com.
But what about all of the other places on the web where we go to place listings? Should each of those listings be updated as well? The National Association of Realtors has a code of ethics and states specifically that “REALTORS® shall be careful at all times to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public.” As Realtors, we know that the MLS should provide the correct information, but you cannot rely on the MLS to even be correct.
So is it ethical to leave these “listings” that are no longer available for purchase, out there on the web? Not in my opinion. Have I been guilty of it? Yes. It is difficult and time consuming to go to many websites to change the status or remove the listing. And many of us are guilty of this infraction. The inventory of “junk listings” will continue to grow.
But as a few websites begin to pull away from the rest of the pack and become the “go-to” sites for consumer home searches, this problem will hopefully go away. The popular home search sites are very fragmented at this time and we really have to go to many sites to assure that our clients’ listings are getting adequate and maximum exposure. The day when 1 or 2 sites have 99% of the home search business is probably not too far off.
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