sleazy Los Angeles realtors - gaming the MLS (Santa Monica: days on market, for sale)

[Cinema Cat]

Do L.A. realtors game the MLS? It seems so based on the following.

Consider the listing for this Santa Monica townhouse: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Santa-Moni.../home/21926015

Its MLS listing says it just went on the market for $1,895, and that it hasn't been on the market since its most recent sale in 2013.

But here is another -- inactive -- listing for the SAME townhouse: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Santa-Moni.../home/26849311

This listing indicates that they tried to sell it earlier this year, but failed. (They tried to sell it for $1.999, I remember -- I went to the Open House, so I know it was for sale this summer.)

In the first listing, the townhouse is listed as #3, and in the second, it's listed as #103. Thus, by playing with the unit number, the agent managed to create a new listing for the townhouse, with a new history.

But now look at this THIRD listing for the same townhouse: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...35382698_zpid/

This one indicates that this townhouse most recently sold for $2 million last year. A sale that is absent from the first two listings.

Any opinions, or experiences, with realtors gaming the MLS?

[JustMike77]

Redfin & Zillow are NOT the MLS.

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by JustMike77

Redfin & Zillow are NOT the MLS.

I know that. But those sites pull their info from the MLS.

What this realtor seems to have done is create a new MLS listing for the townhouse. It's listed as Unit 103 in older listings, but as Unit 3 in a new listing.

If you can game the MLS, you've gamed all the sites that take their data from the MLS: Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com, Truilia, etc.

[oh come on!]

yes, some game the system.

I report them to the MLS when I find them.

Some tricks, for example- changing the APN number by one digit, resetting the DOM.

You can report them to their MLS.... TheMLS.com™ | The MLS of Choice™ Rated Number #1 in Customer Service



But in this case, you can't make assumptions without the full picture.

I just pulled up the tax records on this property.

Tax records officially list it as unit 103. But google street view shows mailbox as #3.

in 2013, a woman bought it for 1.399.
In 2018, this woman sold it to her relative of the same last name for 2M off market, probably for tax purposes.
that's why it's not listed anywhere.



The unit number difference is probably not intentional. It's a mess since the beginning.

But what is sleazy about this listing is that it was previously listed as a townhouse during the summer, and now it's listed as a condo and the unit number is changed, thereby resetting the DOM clock.

[forzalugano]

The MLS links them by APN # not so much the address. After a certain amount of time off the market it resets as a new listing, if its listed right after first number is current days on market and the second is the 'recent' days on market. Hence the word "recent".