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Crooked REALTORs have forced NAR's hand, and REALTOR-owned MLSs are looking at a potential major restriction on this sort of scamming.
Rob Hahn is opinionated, but he also often is squarely on point.
Regardless of his input, anyone who has ever felt burned by a listing that "SOLD IN 0 DAYS" may want to read the Scribd document.
That's started here, or at least I just started noticing it. A sign goes up as "Coming Soon" then a couple weeks later up goes the "Sold" or "Under Contract" sign goes up.
As someone not involved in real estate I do question it. It reminds of the practices 30 or so years ago where agents would contact friends/investors when they got a listing and the house would never go on the market. That and never being able to present an offer to the seller because the "schedules didn't synch" and an insider would get the house. And yes, that happened to me. And a complaint was filed.
That's started here, or at least I just started noticing it. A sign goes up as "Coming Soon" then a couple weeks later up goes the "Sold" or "Under Contract" sign goes up.
As someone not involved in real estate I do question it. It reminds of the practices 30 or so years ago where agents would contact friends/investors when they got a listing and the house would never go on the market. That and never being able to present an offer to the seller because the "schedules didn't synch" and an insider would get the house. And yes, that happened to me. And a complaint was filed.
It has been common here for several years.
There is a good rationale for using "Coming Soon" as a listing agent.
I have one now. Sign in the yard. Building marketing material, website, craigslist, etc, but photos can't get done until Thursday. Hoping to be on the market, "Active" for the weekend.
All legit. NO Showings.
Agents using "Coming Soon" to pocket the listing, sell it in their own firm, pimping it to get dual agency and buyer calls, all self-serving, have worked to take that utility away from me.
Our MLS also lets us do a "Delayed Marketing Date," for similar reasons, but absolutely no promotion or advertising or showings allowed.
The scammers will mess that up next, I am sure.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I have noticed it in my area (mid-Atlantic region), too.
I don't know if this is related, but I've noticed something going on with open houses. I follow agents on social media. An agent will post on Friday an open house will be held the next day (Saturday) for a new listing. Then I see a post stating the open house is cancelled because the house is under contract.
All of this happens pretty quickly. I didn't realize how quickly this was happening until my friend (who's trying to buy) pointed it out to me.
I get the outrage that Coming Soon ruins the system in place.
But isn't that how markets work? Not everyone uses "the system." Black markets exist, or shadow markets, like we have here. Not every single sale is going to be forced to conform to the Realtor (trademark) format.
Maybe the home you're getting ready to list doesn't need to be prepped in order to sell. The market may be so hot that people are circling and ready to pounce. They'll say, "Stop! Don't waste time and money on photos or clean-up. I'll take it..."
As a buyer, I don't like it. It makes the process harder for me, so I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it is. Seems to me he's mad because there really are competing goals at work here. Realtors want to get paid. But sellers just want to sell.
As a seller, I would want my property to be sold to the highest bidder and there's no way of telling this if the property is not available to the wider audience.
I had someone approach me with a good offer for land and just as I was about to accept the offer, I decided to put it up for sale. I got 30% more than they had offered.
Crooked REALTORs have forced NAR's hand, and REALTOR-owned MLSs are looking at a potential major restriction on this sort of scamming.
Rob Hahn is opinionated, but he also often is squarely on point.
Regardless of his input, anyone who has ever felt burned by a listing that "SOLD IN 0 DAYS" may want to read the Scribd document.
We had one buyer follow the sign installer truck until he found one he liked and bought it.
Some sellers are paralyzed with fear of preparing for and having showings. That’s the initial message of the ibuyer model, right?
We use coming soon to increase our buyer pool. Predictive Marketing, they contact us on a three bedroom two story, they probably will buy a two story. We market to our interested buyers as soon as the listing agreement is signed. We offer a special happy hour open house for them and the neighbors.
We don’t do dual agency in Colorado. We do transaction brokerage, if agency agreement with both.
Isn’t our job to help buyers buy and sellers sell? And isn’t it their decision to make or accept an offer?
I regularly see the "coming soon" signs. I assume this means that they are getting the house ready for photos and the MLS listing.
I've read the document, but I'm at a loss at how this is scamming the system.
Is it because it makes it more difficult for realtors outside that agency to show and sell the house before i shows up on MLS?
Scam? That and worse, actually.
Well, the MLS membership pledges cooperation with other brokers. In my local MLS, that includes access to listings.
In return, they get to use MLS privileges, including distributing listings, calculating comparable sales, showing other agents' listings, and bragging about MLS data confirming their closing performance.
When a Coming Soon sign is out for a month, and there is traffic, and suddenly the agent puffs about selling in "0 Days," there is usually a breach of that pledge and abuse of the privilege.
Outlawing dual and designated dual agency would take a lot of motivation out of the abuse.
The MLSs have another concern. They may be seen as enabling pocket listing distribution and advertising for scam agents who use the "NO SHOWINGS/Coming Soon" abuse to abridge Fair Housing Law, to limit ethnic groups, LGBTQ, disabled folks, and other protected classes' fair access to the housing market.
And, as consumers, it may be worth considering:
If an agent will willfully lie to their MLS Colleagues, and willfully help their clients sell to less than the full market by limiting showings in pocketing the listing, why wouldn't they lie to and cheat anyone for a quick buck?
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 10-01-2019 at 09:28 AM..
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