There have been posts on AR about Quirky MLS remarks and how truthful they are. To name a couple...
Steve Crossland's post Does Typing "Hurry" in MLS Remarks Result in Faster Sale? Discusses a home that was on the market almost 300 days. Doesn't look like using HURRY in the MLS remarks got that one sold any faster. However, Steve found that using the word "hurry", "won't last", "priced to sell" in the remarks actually decreased the overall average time a home was on the market in his area.
Jeff Dowler's post My MLS is Good for a Laugh. Is Yours? Introduces us to some comments in the MLS that I'm sure we've all come across a time or two. MLS...the new form of comedy.
My point is, how does what you put in the MLS remarks effect getting your listing sold?
Bob Hunt of RealtyTimes wrote an article on this very question.
According to some social scientists, a study was conducted from about 1994-2002. One scientist studied Texas, one looked at Canada and the other from Illinois. After evaluating almost 200,000 listings, they did come up a few conclusions.
No real surprise here, but they found that listings with positive comments such as "near lake", "golf course", and "updated", sold for higher than average prices. On the contrary, listings with negative comments such as "needs repairs", "foreclosures," had lower selling prices.
However, other findings were not so clear. Without a good explanation for the results, they found that listings with comments with "seller motivated," actually stayed on the market longer by about 15-30%. Using "well maintained" also brought a lower sales price.
Another unexplained finding is that homes described as "in good condition" and "beautiful", sold faster and at a higher price. Whereas, homes described as "charming" and "fantastic" sold for less than the average comparables.
Share your experiences, findings and secret MLS codes with the rest of us.
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