Agents How old is your oldest listing (RE agent, contracts, closing) - City-Data Forum

the painter · 05-12-2009, 07:55 PM

What is your oldest or most stale listing and how do you go about making it new? Have you ever just gave up and told the seller to go else where?

Asheville Native · 05-12-2009, 09:15 PM

This indicates nothing, as all that has to be done, and is done very frequently is take a home off the market for 30 seconds, then re-list it under a new MLS#, then advertise it as a "new listing".

I've watched a house down the street sit empty for over 4 years, yet it has been listed under a number of MLS numbers. It is over sized, over priced and on a tiny very steep lot. The price has not budged one cent, and now they have been trying to rent it for about 7 - 8 months, and it is still empty.

It has a "for sale" and a "for rent" sign on the edge of the street (there is NO yard, which might be part of the problem).

middle-aged mom · 05-12-2009, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

This indicates nothing, as all that has to be done, and is done very frequently is take a home off the market for 30 seconds, then re-list it under a new MLS#, then advertise it as a "new listing".

I've watched a house down the street sit empty for over 4 years, yet it has been listed under a number of MLS numbers.

In most MLS, the history remains with the listing, under the hood. These rejuvinated stale donuts fool no one.

A better trick is to "ooops" the PIN and lose the historical data. Funny how certain agents in local markets make a lot of data entry errors.

smartygurl · 05-13-2009, 01:58 AM

I'm not a re agent but last year, the first house that I tried to buy and made an offer on (The seller rejected the offer.) is still for sale and that was over a year ago. I wonder how many other offers the seller just plain rejected (no counteroffers). I know it has been listed on the MLS twice. I check up on it occassionally just to see if it has sold yet, and if it did, what it finally sold for.

eric#1 · 05-13-2009, 06:29 AM

I had a challenging listing that I just closed on. It was close to 900 days on market. Most of the challenges were posed by city planning/zoning/historical guidelines. The sellers were kind, understanding, patient - the sign was in a high visibility area and generated several buyers for other properties. I have dropped several listings with unrealistic sellers, usually after 6 months, but in this case it was worth every penny/hour to keep the listing. Sellers never hinted to "jumping ship" nor did they blame me for days on market.

gentlearts · 05-13-2009, 06:36 AM

We've just past the two year mark. Our agent had to go back a whole year to find ONE sold comp in our price range. No lookers, no buyers around here except for first time buyers and starter homes.

the painter · 05-13-2009, 06:55 AM

Well I dont blame the agent here although I know he is tired of it and I told him if he wanted to drop the listing it was okay. But there has been only 1 house sold or closed in this area since OCT 2008, it was a small cookie cutter starter house. Before anyone jumps to the price, we are the lowest priced and the largest house. I am just curious why I keep reading about buyers and agents not considering "stale" listings, other than they assume it is price, local, ect. If they haven't view the house than what is the explaination? I have been following the listings in the area I want to move to and the older listings will be the first ones I check out, I would think if their is no financial restraints they maybe easier to agree on.

Brandon Hoffman · 05-13-2009, 08:48 AM

I just closed one of mine that was 280 days. I had one in 07 that took longer. New pictures as the season changes. Change condition and description if necessary.

Dee2e · 05-14-2009, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asheville Native

This indicates nothing, as all that has to be done, and is done very frequently is take a home off the market for 30 seconds, then re-list it under a new MLS#, then advertise it as a "new listing".

I've watched a house down the street sit empty for over 4 years, yet it has been listed under a number of MLS numbers. It is over sized, over priced and on a tiny very steep lot. The price has not budged one cent, and now they have been trying to rent it for about 7 - 8 months, and it is still empty.

It has a "for sale" and a "for rent" sign on the edge of the street (there is NO yard, which might be part of the problem).

In my board, that doesn't do it. We have a field called Continuous Days On Market (CDOM) which adds the first listing days to the second.

My oldest is 250 days, it was listing higher than it should have been and is an ocean front Key West property. The price has dropped considerable...finallly and it's getting traffic. It's still slightly overpriced but the seller is a relative so it is what it is. Most average 125 days to close this year but they are short sales. The older short sale listings are a pain.

I do have a pending that was listed 286 days ago. It's had more contracts than I can count, buyers either lost a job, lender didn't approve loan for another reason, one even falsified their application which was uncovered when the lender got their tax returns from the IRS directly. The current contract is in trouble because the property appraised $5000 below the contract price. The lender initially took way too long for the first contract to be negotiated, now the values are continuing to drop. The funny thing is that the current contract was submitted, the lender countered the offer, the buyer accepted. It took the lender 35 days for the lender to send the paperwork causing a delay in the closing and the prices are still dropping. We requested a new price due to the appraisal, the lender says they will discuss it with management. Who knows how long that will take!

Some short sales are like that but most have been pretty smooth.

middle-aged mom · 05-17-2009, 09:18 AM

In my market, there are many agents who "collect" listings. DOM > 365 is a drop in the ole bucket, for them. Several of these agents have their own homes perpetually for sale, too.

This strategy served them well, in appreciating markets whereby the longer a home remained on the market, the more likely it was going to get a better offer than if it had sold, chop-chop.

In this market, these listings eventually tend to sell 25-35% off the original "Twilight Zone" asking price. The combination of seller/agent meant the owners usually get substantially less than they could have, if they priced it right, from the very begining. Instead, it becomes a long journey chasing the market down.