I have another pet peeve Ed Silva agents who have an agreement of sale it is pending but they are waiting for a mortgage commitment to make it pending in the Multiple listing service . They are marking it what is called active Other /Off or active with a contingency .. Our multiple is cracking down on it but it takes agents to report it . 

Ed, it is so true that not all the information on the internet is valid. Although, a buyer from Nevada call about one of my listings and wanted to know if it sold as it is not on the Internet.  I said sellers decided to take the listing off the market to fix a problem and yes it is still for sale. I was amazed and happy to hear that Zillow/Trulia and other sites had removed it from their page.

I have seen closed homes still showing active on third party websites like z.

Ed, great post in my market the MLS gives you a $250 fine if you do not report the listing status... let's be real on a $2m plus sale the listing agent does not care if he or she gets fined.... then to go a step further the Z's & T's of this world need to show inventory...why would they want to show Pending or Sold it does not help them in generating traffic....Endre

Yes, this can be frustrating for buyers and sellers alike. In my area, the status doesn't get changed until the house is under contract, which could be WEEKS after an accepted offer. Argh.

I get so many calls for homes they see on sites like Zillow or Trulia and nearly every time, they are al pending, some even already closed Ed Silva 

Well, if someone truly wants to know if a home is active or not after seeing it on the web, they should call their trusted Realtor right away.

Ed another great reason why Buyers and Sellers need to work with a Realtor so that they can get correct and updated information, and not be stressed out my missing information on websites.

Great post and the reason we need to educate our clients. I was working with a buyer who constantly searched on the most-searched site. Almost daily she would bring a listing to my attention. When I looked in the MLS, it had already sold, often times a few years prior. She finally understood that those sites aren't always up-to-date. 

It seems that the MLS rules about updating a listing status will vary, from MLS to MLS. In the Chicago metro area, our MLS rules allow 72 hours for a listing agent to effect a status change in the MLS: "active" to "under contract", or from "under contract" to "pending." And the definition of pending here means that all the contract contingencies have been retired: mortgage, attorney review, home inspection, whatever. It is always eye-opening for me to read posts and comments from other Realtors around the country, and learn that the rules of the road can vary quite a lot, depending where you are working as a Realtor. No local MLS has it "right" while all the others are "wrong," just different.

Good morning Ed.  There's a lot of poor information out there on the world wide web.  That's why we're here.

Hi Ed

You've shared some excellent points here sp buyers can better understand what happens on the Internet with listings. The data are often not correct, and on a number of sites unless someone personally corrects it, the property will still show as active for a long time. We all know sites where that happens!!

Jeff

Hi Ed, Yes educating our clients to how things work out there on the Internet is a part of our job.  Something that will keep us in business. A signed contract still over rides what may be out there on the MLS and other sites.

Hi Ed -  I can see that happening all the time with the other sites.  I just saw it on the house my daughter and her husband bought.

Keeping the consumer calm is important. I talk about the internet postings when I make a Listing presentation.

Good information, Thanks

I get calls asking this very question. The syndicators don't undate like they should and confuse the public. At least they call us for the facts and we get an opportunity to provide other solutions.

I honestly believe in most cases it's done intentionally to show more listings and therefore generate more iquiries. Years ago, before Z & T, I mostly listed & sold REO. There were lots of subscription sites, pay $39.95 a month (or whatever) to get all the foreclosure listings. I'd get so many calls from subscribers to those sites on listings that had sold & closed, sometimes years before. I once got a call on one listed on one site that had sold more than six years before. When I told the caller they got angry with me. I told them you should be angry with the people charging you $40 a month for outdated listings.

Hi Ed... because we are a due diligence state and a property is not considered totally pending until the due diligence date passes, our properties show as active on these portals until past the due diligence date arrives even though the home is actually in contract. In our mls it's noted as under contract/show which tells us it's in due diligence. But as soon as we change the property to under contract/no show, it drops out of the portals as an active. Also, our mls gives us 72 hours to change status... I think the time frame varies from one mls to another.

Good morning Ed. This is an excellent post. In the areas I worked often agents left the status as active to simply get more calls. What a waste of time for everyone else. I would report this after I made a call only to be told it was actually under contract.

Hi Ed!  We have that same status change rule here in Charlotte but, we have 48 hours to make the change. And despite the change in MLS, people will phone about those pending homes!

They show on the syndicated sites as 'pending offer' but, people miss that totally - heck, even agents don't see it! I get these calls all the time about listings that have even Closed!  Regardless of the actual MLS status, the syndicated sites are rarely accurate. 

It's FAR better to use MLS or a system that is a DIRECT feed from there.

Here's an example of one of my listing that is classified as Under Contract - Show (meaning we're still in our Due Diligence period).  Regardless of the noted 'pending' status, I still get calls from buyers and agents alike, swearing the listing is still active!

Ed Silva - this happens too often on few of the sites! They sure have a way to attract people to visit them.

With lots of incorrect data on these sites should help us, should we share what you did in this post.