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MLS information - is it current?

A lot of Real Estate Agents do regular market reports of the areas they work in order to inform their customers and consumers of pricing, amount of inventory and current market trends. I can speak for myself when I say that I get this information directly from my area's Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

It has been common knowledge that some of the information on the MLS is not properly updated by listing MLS agents, but what I have found lately is pretty frustrating. In South Florida, it is the responsibility of each listing agent to keep this information updated, but Brokers should be monitoring this activity and making sure their agents comply with the rules.

Because of the difficult buyers' market that we are currently experiencing, it seems that a lot of real estate agents are avoiding pulling their listings from the MLS and keep them there as "Active". In the last week alone, when making appointments to show properties, I have encountered that more than 30% of the listings my customer's have been interested in have been under contract and still appear as Active. When I asked each agent why they had not changed the status of their listing, here were some of their responses.

"the contract is not too strong and wanted to keep doors open"
"it's a new contract and I am waiting for inspections until I change it to pending"
"oh....really......I wasn't aware, I will make the change"
"the contract has a contingency and wanted to keep it active until the contingency is met"
"you know how the market is....better safe than sorry"
"I wasn't willing to pull it off the market yet knowing how difficult it was to sell it in the first place"
"that house is about to close, I'll pull it out when it does"

PEOPLE!!! What's wrong with this picture??!!!

Does this mean that we don't have as much inventory as it appears? We are doing our own industry a disservice by not pulling these listings! If an agent wants a back-up offer, most MLS systems will allow for them to place it on "back-up contract" and this keeps the property on the market but the consumer and other agents know that there is a contract.

When I call an agent about their listing I don't want to hear, "there's a contract on that property, but you can show it anyway", because I DON'T....I don't want to show properties under contract. I don't want my customers to fall in love with a property that they may not be able to purchase, I'd rather concentrate on properties that are available and they can buy. And for those buyers who are willing to work with backup contracts, I will go to those listings requesting back-up contracts, and in some cases, will call about listings that are "pending" to ask how strong the contract is.

It would be great if we would keep the MLS system updated, it would be great if Brokers would enforce the MLS rules, It would be better if we could all cooperate and work with the system.

Posted by Rick & Ines - Miami Beach Real Estate on 05/14/2007 12:49 PM

Comments (83)

mls, buyers, real estate, project blogger

Originally posted at: Miami Real Estate Blog: MLS information - is it current?

83 Comments on MLS information - is it current?

MAY

2007

Wow! Report them to the MLS and the board. That is just wrong. They are not doing themselves or their clients any good.

Rick and Ines,

Isn't that the truth!!!! It sure would be great...and something all the Realtors our there should strive for.

All the best,

Beth

I agree, I ran into that 3x last week, VERY frustrating to say the least specially for my clients. 1 home we were at the home and the Realtor finally called me back to let me know it was under contract but...

This is a problem that we experience here as well. It was the same in the Seller's market 2 years ago. In my opinion agents keep listings active just to get leads on them and to take the buyer's elsewhere.

At least they told you it was under contract before you started to write on it. Our MLS has a lot of fixing to do.

This is also a big problem in Connecticut and extremely frustrating. Personally I'm disgusted that I have to pay board dues to support a group that cannot be bothered to enforce their own rules. Pictures are another annoyance with new listings, if the rule is to get a picture up within 48 hours they should monitor the system and fine all the non-conforming agents.

Rick & Ines

You might want to look at other sources and use multiple ranks and ratings for your analsys. As I'm sure you know just looking the inventory number alone won't give you the true picture no matter if its right on or off by 30%. looking at the trending numbers of inventory/vacancy, weekly price changes, migration and absorption rates should give a better picture of your market.

If you want information to these sources, check my home page here on Active Rain

Wow! How unethical some people can be! That's a shame... Yes, it does seem that you don't have as much inventory as what appears. Wow.

Seems to be a problem in all areas. More of us need to report the violators and stiffer fines need to be imposed. Nothing makes me angrier than wasting my time and money because of any agent's dishonesty.

This is outrageous. We get fined if our listings are not updated within 24 hours. And when I mean fined ... this applies to under contract/pending changes as well as sold stats. We DO have the option to put "Active First Right of Refusal" which means that there is a weak offer that has been accepted - but we know that walking into the deal. This sneaky grey-area stuff is rediculous. I am afraid I would be knocking heads - and I'm not a violent person.

Hey Ines... Unfortunately, I know more about this than I would like. Going back in MLS history, when an agent did a listing search actives and backup requested used to show up in any search. When the MLS' merged, they eliminated this option (board politics rears its ugly head). Since we have so many as is contracts and the fall through rate is so high, many agents, at the request of their seller are knowingly breaking the rules but feel justified in doing so because they have a duty to show the property until the contract is steady. Now there is fairkly wide spread abuse. Mariana's comments show a similar option, which we no longer have. I am not saying that leaving it active is correct, but there is no way in our system to serve the seller on a shaky contract. We could eliminate the problem and prosecute the offenders if we include a pending status which will show with an active search. I tried to last wage this battle 3 years ago and lost - that made 3 strikes and I'm out. Maybe the SEFLS would be more open now.

Ines...

I have a smart mouth remark for this...

They don't change them because they only have those two listings and want them both to come up as active :)

Okay. I do have more to say. As I sat as a Director on our local MLS board it was my experience that they do not enforce the rules. Someone above me mentioned politics...Hit the nail on the head with that one.

You're right that this messes with the numbers. Always has, and I wish I did not have to say, always will :)

TLW...ROAR!

Rick & Ines:

I hope you are informing the MLS in EACH of these occassions!! I keep a list of the same myself and put listings by these agents on the bottom of my showing lists.

We are having a problem with DOMM/DOMP counts here. The MLS is trying to fight it, raised the fines; but this does not seem to do much either.

Hi Ines, this aggravates me too!!! When I create my market reports I know that, unfortunately, there are listings showing as "Active" that are actually "Pending". When I call about showing property, too many times, they tell me that it's really under contract already (of course, Agents who do this KNOW they're in violation, but continue to do so). Of course, there's the "Backup Contract-Call LA" category, but apparently not many use it--probably because they know that most Agents will only search the "Active" category when searching for property. I just searched MLS and for Broward County Single Family Homes, only 249 homes appeared in that category (now, in our market I'm sure there are WAY more homes than that allowing Backup Contracts, but anyway....)

Our board requires that status changes be made within 24 hours. The difficulty with policing this is that unless you call about each listing (and the agent is honest) there's no way to know. A much stiffer penalty would encourage agents to be more timely with their updates, and possibly discourage many unethical agents from knowingly misrepresenting the status.

Amen, sista Ines. I place mine pending as soon as all the paperwork is complete and the escrow is recieved. Why? Well for one it's in my MLS rules and secondly I want accurate DOMs so when I whip out my pages of my recent sales to my potential sellers they can see how quick my properties sell(in theory). I agree completely that our MLS data needs to be correct and current.

Rick & Ines

Good post, unfortunately we as Brokers / Agents have little or no recourse in this situation, we can always call and complain to the local boards but is that something that will help us or hurt us? The MLS needs to police these agents better and make the Broker responsible.

What`s new in South Florida?

There seems to be a group of Realtors down here that play by a diffrent set of rules!

Truthfully, I always wonder if many know how to read and write...

I won`t mention certain brds, but they need to police more often..I`ll give you a hint, it`s in your neck of the woods..:)

Michelle - those brokers should be reported for not motitoring their listings - unfortunally I don't have time to report all this offenders, I think it would be a full time job on its own.

Beth - it's back to the basic, simple things we can do for the industry.

Krisy - I think it is most frustrating for educated buyers out there trying to do some research - the information is not accurate.

Diane - that's exactly right and it's very sad.

Greg - LOL! You're right, it could be worse!

Dan C.- I know different brokerages that make it a rule to have a certain number of photos in the MLS by a certain date or pull their listings from the MLS or fine their agents - the same should be done for non-active listings.

Dan M. - thanks for the info. I will definitely check on those stats.

Karen - I am guessing that I can reduce the number of active listings by at least 25% in my area....that's a real shame.

Greg - although I agree that we must report the offenders....it is very time consuming. I think the local board should have fines for those agents that don't update the information.

Mariana - there are fines here also, but they need to be reported first. One instance that shows total disservice to the seller is a listing I called about last month that appeared active and was under contract. Another customer wanted to see it 2 weeks later and I told them it was not available. Today I found out that the contract fell through and now the agent wants everyone to assume that it IS active this time. It IS ridiculous!

Beth- I do find a lot of flaws with our local MLS system and there are a lot of features that need to be implemented but in my opinion, even if you have a weak contract, it is wrong to keep it active. It's very easy for me to do searches to include "B"'s (back up requested) listings if that's what my buyer customers want. I appreciate your feedback.

TLW - you are very right - not only do they keep their only listing active but we have seen something even worse at it goes like this....."that one just went under contract but I can e-mail or fax you a list of other listings we have available" ......that one really upsets me...there's a couple of agents in my market using that strategy.

Politics, politics - everywhere you turn there are politics!

Ahhh...

Now you're delving into "Pocket Listings" aka "In House Listings" that are "NOT" in the MLS. This happens a lot around here too.

More so in a Buyer's market like the one we have now.

Geez Ines. Everyone has me actually discussing Real Estate today. What's up with that anyway? LOL.

TLW...ROAR!

Robert - to tell you the truth, I don't report them but maybe I should - I have called brokers a couple of times to inform them and all they say is "thank you, we'll keep an eye on that" - but nothing happens. If there was a system of on-line, automated reporting....I would use it.

Vickie- there are only 11 pending sales appearing in Miami Shores right now - according to my experiences this past week alone there are really 18 sales - talk about skewed numbers!!

John - whatever it takes! but they need to do something!

Bryant - How am I not surprised that you do that! What's even worse is that these agents are creating a reputation for themselves. Now I know that if I see a listing by agent "X", it may not be correct and may skip it all together. I've even had buyer customers ask "why doesn't X ever update his listings? why would anyone hire them to sell their house?"

Gary - I totally agree, as an agent in a small market, the last thing I want to do is burn bridges with other agents, it is not my job to police them.

Scott - you don't even have to tell me.....I know perfectly what you mean - all the offenders that I described in the post above were from the same brokerage company.

TLW - maybe today is your real estate day! I had one guy call me back today right before showing his listing (customers in the car with me), to tell me that his sellers had accepted an offer and had the "pelotas" to ask what my customers were looking for because he had another listing! can you believe that?

Ines - you are so right. Other's highlighted many of the unprofessional things we've seen here too. I am always amazed when real estate agents put there own best interests above the clients they're serving.

Hey Innes, You are sooo right girl! Sorry to say this is commonplace on many mls systems. Our MLS has adopted a fairly tough fining system, based on two tiers. $500 the first time, $1,000 after that (if a person is truly in violation). It seems like hitting those who violate the system in the pocketbook is the only way to clean up our data. As Realtors if we find what appears to be a violation we just send off and email to the mls police and they follow up. Obviously it's not fool proof, yet it has helped. Our MLS, SoCalMls is one of the largest in the country. And every now and then we have a MLS (different from ethics and arbitrations) hearing, not often but they do happen. Keep up the great work.

You are so correct! And I can understand your frustration. It happens in the Indianapolis Market as well. Fines don't seem to be enough of a deterient to keep people from "pending" properties. Heck sometimes they come expired only to find out later the property was actually sold. Important post and good reminder.

What I'm finding frustratingis the 'solds' on our MLS. We can check on the Assessors site for solds as well. They never, ever, ever even come close to matching up. OK, not every property sold goes thru the MLS. But you would think at some point you would find some that match up. OK ~ I feel better now.

We can call our board and turn in agents that don't do what they are supposed to but its a pain in the behind. Our board also monitors the listings but thats hard to do also with so many going in each day.

This has always been a problem in my area.

Fact is, with IDX, as long as the listing is "ACTIVE", it makes the phone ring.

Nice article. Needs to be read.

Yes, it would be great if our board actually took action against reported violations. They don't. We have stopped reporting violations. (No, I have no intentions to run for office on the board to "make a difference.")

It is a growing problem in my market area as well. The slap on the wrist by the MLS system is meaningless, so I don't bother to report it any more. The MLS systems need to fine Realtors who are caught doing this. I had one listing that I kept trying to make appointments for for a month before the agent told me not only was it under deposit, but it had already gone to contract and was just a few weeks away from closing! In another instance, I had a buyer who had put a deposit on a listing and another potential buyer (an agent at my office) was led to believe the listing was available and took time out from her busy schedule to see it. Of course, my client was well qualified and the deal closed. I felt very bad for the other agent in my office as I know how little time she has and I reamed out the other agent, but I have to admit I didn't report it because I know MLS will do nothing.

Good post, Ines. This is one or my pet peeves as well, although it seems that people are fairly good about changing the status when the home goes under contract as it is required by MLS. Does it happen immediately? Nope.

The other thing that is misleading is that the MLS only reports data on the current contract (e.g., DOM) but if you do the research you find that many homes are on their 2nd contract, or worse, so DOM is distorted as well.

I also find that some homes close escrow but still appear as pending in the MLS, for months! I have actually sent notes to our MLS when I find these in my area - it's easy to check the public record - since sometimes the sold information is needed for a CMA. It is frustrating that so many do not abide by the rules. It's pretty simple stuff.

Jeff

You need big fines that catch people's attention.

We have a status "contingency other" for homes under contract but are pending inspection. But once you change the status, all the showings stop. If you are looking out for your seller's best interest, shouldn't you keep it active as long as possible?

Why is having accurate DOM data for other agents more important than giving your seller every advantage as possible? I'm mostly a buyer's agent and get frustrated at this also, but I do hate changing that status until I know the contract is really firm. That's why I also hardly ever put an under contract sign up on the house before closing. I like for the neighbors to see that I got it under contract but I think it's best for my sellers to keep attracting buyers for a possible back up contract.

Ines, talk about messing up the statistics and painting a falls picture of how the industry is doing. Thanks for bring this to light, I think I will look at these statistics a little differently in the future.

Cyndee - it's pretty sad but it's true.

Lynda - THAT's exactly what I am talking about - if it was easy to report the offenders, I think agents would be less prone to violate the rules - HECK, I would have reported 6 this week alone!

Cynthia - how abou the ones that appear active and sold a while back?

Dena - : ) LOL! please vent away!

Gene - some people have talked about a more efficient system to report offenders, I think that's the key.

Lenn - that's exactly right and it ticks me off!

Russ - I'm sorry to hear that, I at least had hopes that once reported the board would take action.

Gail - last month there's a "protected" agent in my office who once I showed the property and called him to tell him I was drawing up an offer proceeded to tell me the house was under contract - in my own office! At least I'm hoping my manager took care of that.

Jeff - there's one guy in my market that cancels his listings and relists under a different MLS number so that he can manipulate the DOM's - other agents have access to the home's history, but the consumer doesn't.

Tim - it's a double edge sword and Rick and I mostly work with sellers, but I can tell you that once all the documents are signed, that listing shows "pending" on the MLS. We keep advertising the listing and may place it as "back-up requested" - but if our seller customers decide to accept an offer, they have to be ready to take it off the market on the MLS....that's why we stress good solid offers.

We never use "under contract" riders on our signs and wait until closing to remove those signs. If someone calls about the listing, we disclose that there is a contract but accepting back-ups and still showing the property - it has to be the buyer's choice, not mine.

George- I think it give you a different perspective - instead of 206 listings - we probably have about 155 - tha's a huge difference. The other numbers that are skewed, and you know this being an LO is all the seller contributions and closing costs being covered by sellers which decreases the actual "sold price" when you are pulling comps.

Ines, good point about the Seller paid costs.

It is annoying. In my office as soon as the sales coordinator receives an pending contract, she pends. I think it is more systematic in the larger run RE companies. Smaller companies seem to make up their own rules as they go along. They have no office staff to answer to, I think that is part of the problem.

Rick and Ines, everyone needs to read this. I am on the V.P. of MLS committee and on the board of Directors for the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors. I am soooooooooooooooo sick of reporting people and NOTHING happens.

A house in under contract for weeks, still shows active.

Signs in the yards.

Today I fired off a letter to our IT guy and said, " I'm not reporting anymore, from now on I will have my RE/MAX signs in all my pictures and I will keep all my listings active."

MLS Rules are for the agents, if everyone doesn't follow them, they make a mockery out of the rules. This was a timely post for me. Thanks

I couldn't agree with you and some of the comments here...erroneous MLS info is a disservice to everyone and moreover could very well make a case for someone down the road to use against us as far as allowing MLS info to become even more readily available to the general public in the future...

Cheers,
Uzi Husain
Arizona Realtor, serving Goodyear & The Phoenix metropolitan area

Ines - from your lips (fingers) to their ears - oh how I wish this could happen in our MLS. When I was setting up showings for the last 2 buyers I had, I started off with a nice list to work from for showings, and ended up with more of them being under agreement than available for sale. You're right, this really is doing our industry a HUGE disservice....and in turn, the public and the media. The media, in most markets, works off these numbers as well.

Get with the program and get the updates to listings done when they should be!
Ann

Does your MLS have proper monitoring of listings? In our MLS, this would be seriously frowned upon.

Our MLS in AZ gives us up to 72 hours to update the records. That's enough for almost any circumstance and I've never gotten even close to that long before updating my records.

George - we get calls from appraisers all the time verifying our sales to use as comps, the latest favorite question is "any seller contributions?" when we say "no" they ask again.....it's insane.

Caroline - there's a big RE company in my market that does not monitor any MLS infor from their agents, I don't think it has to do with the size of the company.

Missy - it makes no sense that the board would not enforce once you report the offenders - it is a mockery and something needs to be done - fine the agent and fine the brokerage.

Uzi - you may be right about that.

Ines, you are so calm. I would be positively "wild eyed".

Ann - irony at its best - the media working from numbers that we are responsible to update and then we complain that we get such bad press.

Diane - our MLS does have monitoring but it is an automated system that checks for errors like wrong zone or discrepancies in information - whether or not a property is changed from active to pending is very difficult to verify.

Don - it's the way it should be.

@ Caroline--same thing in our office...we have to turn in Contracts to an office staff person and she changes the status to "pending" (of course, any of us could go in and change it back, but if any of us were to do that, we would be in big trouble with our Broker)

Mary - I guess when you study the alternative - calm is good. Today some agent asked my customers what their search criteria was (right in front of me!!!) - I can assure you that I was not calm then...but that's for another post - my clients found it very entertaining.

Rick & Ines my friends...great post and very true. Our office prints out MLS copies on every new listing and hands it to the agents for corrections. Unfortunately, few agents get them back to the office secretary and weeks or months later you can imagine what most MLS listings look like and how accurate the information is. When it comes down to it....we are no better than the person looking back at us in the mirror.

George - if your office takes the time to make MLS corrections, they should take the time to follow up with those agents that need to make them. In my office there is a listing coordinator that makes sure all listings are up to date and with correct information...and your analogy is right on...scary.....but right on.

Doesn't your MLS have a system in place to fine the misbehaving agents? We have a little icon of a policeman at the top of each listing. If any information on that listing is incorrect, you click on the policeman and send an e-mail to the Association. The listing agent then has 48 hours to correct the problem, or they receive a fine. The fine gets larger with each violation.

MAY

2007

Lisa - we don't have such a feature, but it would be ideal! Maybe I'll forward this post to our local board to see what agents from other states have to say.

dont get me started on MLS issues, lack of updating, incorrect or missing info.. etc.

i just called on a rental for a friend. listed as ACTIVE.. -'oh, that one is gone', -(me) 'its showing as active',..

-'they haven't moved in yet'.. (me) -'ACTIVE means available, its not available.' click.

I know we have better things to do with our time, but a few MLS complaint sheets should alwyas be handy. I'm going to start using them more often. Agents don't care until they have to pay for violations.

Nick - it's definitely frustrating, sometimes I feel like some agents don't really want to cooperate.

Hi guys, I don't experience this a lot here but have come across it from time to time and it is very frustrating. Locally, we have rules about the accuracy of the listings and can be called on the carpet for infractions. That doesn't stop everyone, but it does seem to keep it straight most of the time.

Ryan - what part of heaven do you live in?

Haha! Far from heaven, BELIEVE ME! While this one particular thing may not be a big issue for me, there are many others that make me want to pull my hair out some days. I really wish the local associations would do a better job of enforcing the rules and keeping agents in line. We have to raise the bar across the country in order to stay competitive and counter the Redfin stories of our world.

Oh! TG Ryan - I thought I was dreaming there for a minute! You do not need to counter any Redfin stories....there's room for different business models in every market.....but that's another story.

Same thing happens here in Orlando. I report em with just a simple click now. On our MLS, on the bottom left corner when viewing a MLS listing, Click on report data error and our MLS now fines the agent.

John - that's exactly what we need here with our MLS system - I hope they come up with something quickly because it's getting OLD.

R&I, I agree. It's not necessarily Redfin that I want to counter, just not happy about the biased advertisement of them that 60 minutes did. I like John's fix to the problem. We need that here too. It'd be so much easier to call attention to the offenders.

MAY

2007

Ryan - according to the responses to this post, a lot of MLS systems across the nation use an easy to use policing feature where reporting is quick and painless - it definitely gives us something to think about.

It took me 3 years to find out about the link to report data errors in our MLS, your MLS may already have it too!

MAY

2007

John - that would be AMAZING!!! I wish I would have missed it....but don't think I would be so lucky.

Hi Ines,
I can only tell you that i just had a contract fall through after giving the buyers 3 extensions and it was in back up the entire time. The seller lost more than 60 days off the market and also money as they moved out and the lender lied and the buyers backed out and we received the escrow to the seller.
I understand your frustration but this is one of the first times I actually did not do what you say you have to deal with..but you have to look at the selling side...most listings in back are still technically off the market as they rarely get calls. In the meantime I have the sellers sign an addendum giving me authority to keep it active but notify the agent we are still in contract but will take back ups. In any market regardless of what the selling agent thinks when they call to get the bad news the seller should have some protection as well and it is more aces-sable to be shown in case an offer does come in and the other deal is really just buying time. So I think back up status is worthless...we might as well put it in pending because the chances are slim that they get shown. I know this from experience...we save time on one when we did get another offer and we did a kickout clause on the 3rd extension and the 2nd position purchased the home.
Just my opinion. But understand you frustration..it is your choice to show it and sometimes buyer will say to show it to them anyway. But to be fair you need to understand my side too. Good Post and discusssion.
Again ..in no way am I telling people what is right and what is wrong but there are too many sellers losing time and money and I have the proof..but because this time I did the right thing it hurt my seller.

Neal - thanks for explaining the logical part of breaking the rules but here's my take and I want to know what you think.

Just this past week I did not show 2 different listings because when I called the listing agents, they had told me that they were under contract. If the contracts were to fall through (which one of them did), there would be no way for me to know that it was no longer pending. That agent lost a potential sale with that strategy which IMO, is a disservice to the seller.

As for kick-out-clauses - I do think that is a legitimate reason to keep it active, as long as the listing agent discloses that to all potential buyers before showing the property, and as long as you get an addendum signed, as you stated.

Thanks for your perspective!

Ines,

The kick out clause really is when the seller has a deal..and another deal comes that is similar or the same they have the option of entertaining the deal as long as they go back to the first position to make sure they can match it but as far as pending or back ups..do they make sense? They are intmidating clauses.Quite frankly the MLS is pretty screwed up as is...there are more listings that have sold years ago that still show open..those are the ones they should clean up first...all I can tell you is pending only protects the buyer not the seller...sellers lose valuable time when the deal falls through and it is going to get worse with all the deals that are falling through at the last minute due to lenders that promise things they cannot keep. I know it is a pain for the Realtor to call just to find out it is pending and it happens to me as well its but not really pending...but is it ok for a seller to have the expectation of a closing and offereing multiple extensions just to have moved out of the house ...carry the place...lose more potential buyers then to take it off and hope it closes? My question is if you were the seller and you really needed to sell...would you put it in pending and then the deal falls through and you just wasted all this time...how would you feel in their place? The lender tells you they are approved and the deal still falls through and you waste time. I just wanted your perspective as the seller not the realtor for the buyer.

some things seem clear.

-the MLS is not enforcing the listings enough.

-there is not a clear cut guideline (a standard) as to what the MLS status should be in certain scenarios. i think most people will not call on CTG (contingent) properties, etc.

There is too much open to individual interpretation, rather than a standard that is set forth and part of Realtor(R) training, etc. it should be mandatory so everyone is on the SAME page.

Neal - remember you are preaching to the choir - Rick and I deal mostly with listings and only work with a select number of buyers. All I can tell you is that if the offer is not strong enough, the seller should reconsider or counter with a shorter closing date. You cannot have your cake and eat it too and I don't see the benefit of keeping a pending offer in "active" status, if most agents will not want to show it anyway. There are a lot more disadvantages to the seller by keeping them active than not.

We've only lost one sale this year, and the seller kept $15,000 - not bad for the time he lost off the market. If you know you have a weak offer, make sure you counter accordingly.

Slick Nick - I think the bottom line is consistency - some agents think it is necessary, some others don't. Our reputation with other agents is also important to our sellers, and having a reputation of not updating your listings is not a good one.

I agree on both points, consistency and out personal reputations.
IMHO, Consistency (among agents playing by the same set of rules) has to be done via standards. It shouldn't be open to so much interpretation... which contradicts a system for consistent results via a certain procedure or standard.

the MLS doesn't teach it and the REALTORS(R) association doesn't either. they just point fingers at each other by doing nothing. I spend to much wasted time in the MLS with cr@pdata and inconsistent updates. no excuse for the 'professionalism' that everyone wants to claim. the few bad apples are ruining it for everyone...and i would argue that in the long run, incorrect MLS data (whether missing, incorrect or inaccurate status) hurts the valuation process, buyers looking at props and seller's pricing strategy.. so overall it affects the market.

Nick - you are right on - just today we put an offer for a condo unit where the seller was an agent - nowhere on that MLS did it read owner-agent, the whole MLS sheet was incorrect, including the maintenace fees and the only reason I know is because I've had listings in the same building. I can only imagine how frustrating that can be for an appraiser - and yes....it does hurt market reports, valuation and ultimately the market in general.

MAY

2007

Ines,

When the offer is strong and the closing date is short and the credit scores for both are in the high 7's and the income is high and the appraisal comes in well above since it is priced below market.. all according to what the LO says is a slam dunk deal...would you consider that a strong deal? Well I did and so did my client...we did put it in back up..yet after 3 chances of extensions we still could not close and the seller retained the deposit..but he lost 60 days of market time because no Realtor would show it in back up and now he faces to make 2 payments. I really think the LO's should pay for what they are causing here..not everyone of them ..just the liars and stallers.

I am just saying there is not enough protection for sellers..aren't they considered the public too. I too beleive in full disclosure but all situations are different.

We just got an updated FAR 9sales contract. I have not read it yet but from what I am told it caters more towards protecting the sellers and easier to retain the deposits. Maybe that will alleviate the MLS status changes..we shall see.

I have not detailed the FAR9 yet either, although Rick has....I will ask him.

Overall Neal - repeated offenders are the ones that do a disservice to their sellers because they do get a reputation with the rest of the industry....ie....The last 3 properties I showed from Jane Smith had contracts and she failed to change the MLS and to disclose that, you obviously can't trust her and dealing with her may end up being a problem.

That's the scenario you need to avoid. All closings are different (thank GOD!) and all situations require different strategies, but making a habit of not changing the MLS cannot benefit anyone.

MAY

2007

Ines,

I agree with you..as I stated I hate that too...If you disclose up front or in writing it is better than not at all..some agents won't even tell you until after you show it and then say there is a deal..that I do not do..of course sometimes deals are in the works but have not been fully executed and then another comes in and that could just be bad timing or just buying time. I agree that the MLS needs to really spend more time..but i have received calls in the past because someone there who has no knowledge of what classification is was debating me on a piece of land and that it was not in the right category..it turned out I was right and spoke to the president of the board and he had a talk with that person...I think this guy had nothing better to do than to check my listing and should have researched it better..or he should have been looking for things that you mentioned instead of stuff that was not even right. No mater what the MLS will never be perfect unless they hire a person to sit there all day and go through them.

Do you know I sold a home in Davie back in Sept. and the agent who owned the home never closed it with my name..it took me 6 moths to track her down and finally just called the broker to get it closed and they told me she left the company..yet they still did not close it..I told them it was in their best interest to do so or did they want to be fined 100..they finally closed it with my credit.

Neal - the things we go through...talk about wasting energy. Thanks for the discussion....it gives a lot of food for thought.

Ines,

LOL!! :)

MAY

2007

With Matrix here in Southern California, now there is a button on each listing where you can report any violation that you have seen on the listings. Any violation is a fine-able offense!

MAY

2007

Sandra - that's it, I'm forwarding over to our board - it seems like a lot of states have systems in place and propably worth it for our board to look into them. Thanks!

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