Manipulation of the MLS

Perhaps this will be my redeeming post? You guys be the judge.

Inman news posted yesterday about manipulation of the MLS, and the data there in. They did not say whether it was a practice they agree with, or not. Instead they left it open for agents to comment, and comment they did!

I was appalled by some of the comments from agents that not only thought this was okay, but admitted to the practice. I can not speak for every MLS, but here in Maryland we use MRIS, and most of the things Inman talked about, and were posted on the comments are violations of the policy here. Many of them are fineable offenses. As don't use these practices in my business I don't know how MRIS is on enforcement? It does seem to me that as the market has shifted there tends to be more and more manipulation of the data in our MLS.

The most common is for an agent to relist a property with a new MLS number, and not insert the tax record. This essentially resets the DOM to zero. I'm not sure who these agents think they are fooling? Most agents watch the MLS for market updates, and will see the new listing, and the withdrawn listing in the same day. Buyers watch the MLS through VOW, and IDX systems which provide a property address, so buyer's know what's going on. This practice only serves to increase the agents personal stats. The agent can now say my average DOM is 10, but the local market is 60, so list with me! Yet it detracts greatly from the data we use to track the state of our local market.

Maybe these agents don't realize that the MLS is underfire from lead aggregators, lenders, the DOJ, and real estate agents that are not REALTORs? Perhaps they don't realize that the more manipulated the data is the less value the MLS has making it easier for these groups to promote their agendas? Maybe they just don't care and are only interested in personal gain?

I remember months ago a seller called me wanting me to get her agent to put a second listing in for her property. She sat on a corner lot, and thought if we put in 2 listings with the two different streets she would double her exposure. Apparently she met an agent that said that is what he would do, and it would get sold. Instead we released her from the listing, she relisted, and the house eventually came off the market without selling. In her case manipulating the data did not work.

I met with an appraiser yesterday about one of my listings. We discussed the MLS, and the data there in as I had just read the above post at Inman. He no longer relies on the information in the MLS, he verifies everything through public records, and completely ignores seller subsidy data entered in the MLS. He has found far to many errors to deem the information reliable. Like me he has noticed that it is the same agents over and over again defrauding the public, and their fellow REALTORs. He even pointed one listing from last year entered as sold with no transfer in the public records. His thought, the seller decided not to sell, took the home off the market, and the agent entered the property as sold to prop up their own stats.

Bottom line, the practice is unethical, a violation of the MLS rules, and misleading. I for one DO report such violations when I find them. MRIS makes it easy with a link right at the bottom of the page on each and every listing. I encourage other agents, and appraisers that care about honesty, and integrity to do the same. It does not matter if you are a member of MRIS, or some other MLS you can do the same. I have never heard of a consumer reporting it, but I am sure the MLS systems would not mind. If the data is inaccurate they have little to no value, and they are in business to make a profit!