Pocket Listings

[djd09]

The president of Howard Hanna Ohio, the biggest player in the Northeast Ohio real estate market, scoffed at the notion that pocket listings are hurting the industry. Howard "Hoby" Hanna acknowledged that some real estate agents might use a property's off-market status, with its sense of exclusively, as a marketing tool.

"It's to create that urgency in the marketplace and say we're going to market this internally," he said. "Some agents do do that, but the sellers know about it and the sellers see it as a value."

Hanna said what matters is getting the sale done - not whether the property is marketed through the listing service. His biggest concern is that pocket listings, once they're sold, never make it into the MLS. So other homeowners, buyers and agents have a harder time citing them as comparable sales or pointing to them while refinancing.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/i...re_hurting_cleveland-area_sellers_buyers.html

 

[TRESinc]

getting a lot of use out of that delorean...

 

[timd354]

The president of Howard Hanna Ohio, the biggest player in the Northeast Ohio real estate market, scoffed at the notion that pocket listings are hurting the industry. Howard "Hoby" Hanna acknowledged that some real estate agents might use a property's off-market status, with its sense of exclusively, as a marketing tool.

"It's to create that urgency in the marketplace and say we're going to market this internally," he said. "Some agents do do that, but the sellers know about it and the sellers see it as a value."

Hanna said what matters is getting the sale done - not whether the property is marketed through the listing service. His biggest concern is that pocket listings, once they're sold, never make it into the MLS. So other homeowners, buyers and agents have a harder time citing them as comparable sales or pointing to them while refinancing.

http://www.cleveland.com/business/i...re_hurting_cleveland-area_sellers_buyers.html

What a sham...while there may be a few very high end properties where the "sense of exclusivity" may make sense as a marketing tool, that is a bunch of hogwash for most properties and the real reason that they do it is more likely because they want both side of the transaction so the brokerage makes more money.

At least some of the brokers are honest and are working in the seller's best interest (from the same article):
"We see this as a tremendous disservice to our clients," Jeff Russell of Russell Real Estate Services in North Ridgeville said of what he and others describe as a worrisome potential trend. "In my opinion, it's limiting the exposure of listings to the market and trying to keep a bigger piece of the pie for yourself. While it might be good for the broker, it's not good for the consumer."

 

[Dublin ohio]

I see plenty of "for comp purposes only". Do realtors add them to the MLS after the sale?

Most of them I see in the MLS I use are actually fsbos with a buyer's agent only. Buyer's agent enters them into MLS as "for comp or sale purposes only.

 

[Meandering]

Howard "Hoby" Hanna acknowledged that some real estate agents might use a property's off-market status, with its sense of exclusively, as a marketing tool. "It's to create that urgency in the marketplace and say we're going to market this internally," he said. "Some agents do do that, but the sellers know about it and the sellers see it as a value." Hanna said what matters is getting the sale done - not whether the property is marketed through the listing service.

There's your important points, sales is for selling, not for making databases.

Yep, I know that is not unusual in NYC, but it is certainly highly unusual in most areas of the country and it is also highly unethical in my opinion.

Nope, no agent is going to earn my listing by simply throwing the listing in to the MLS, they are going to have to do a whole lot more and enter the listing into the MLS. .

So, what would you have an agent do, other than list it and hold an open house? Every and ANY agent can put it in the MLS and hold an open house.

I would want the agent to put the listing into the MLS at a very competitive price and quickly hold an open house with a notice that all offers will be reviewed the Wednesday after the Sunday open house in order to start a bidding war.

Can you do that math? Notify local Newspapers you will be holding an open house, to be published in the Sunday Newspaper, so the latest you can take the listing is Thursday night (day 1) notify the newspaper Friday morning (day 2) wait for advertisement and open house on Sunday (day 4) review contracts on Wednesday (day 7)

That’s already twice as long as you are saying the listings go under contract. Open houses are a waste of time. If you think people are walking through, writing a contract and leaving a hand money deposit based on an ad they saw in the morning newspaper………

BTW, I don't live in the real estate wasteland of the Poconos like you...my neighborhood currently has a severe shortage of available inventory .

I perfectly well understand the brokerage side of the business as my wife was an agent for 5 years and one of my good friends runs a brokerage.

then again my wife was an agent and I was a loan officer many, many years ago, so I know all about qualifying potential buyers. Someone with no experience or knowledge should probably hire a broker, even in a hot market like the one in my neighborhood

Let’s see,

Loan Officer,
Roofer,
Lawyer,
CA for MI
GSE employee.

Makes one wonder how you found time to learn, study, and get licenses to perform all these jobs, never mind actually perform them for more than 3 years.

BTW, I don't live in the real estate wasteland of the Poconos like you...my neighborhood currently has a severe shortage of available inventory .

If looking at your neighbors 24/7, and having them look at you 24/7, with 10 homes per acre, if that is not a waste land in your book, perhaps you need other people to pay attention to you much more than I do. Perhaps all those street lights are not adding to “global warming” I wouldn’t know, because we have winter here, and we like it that way.

By the way, last house I sold, $300k in cash, under contract in 10 days from day of listing contract. Now I have a medical services client looking to expand in 3 counties, so it’s all commercial that we’re talking about, oh and ghee, they think I’m an expert because I can help them with the “comps” and how appraisals should go, depending on which properties they choose to buy or lease, finance or not. See, that’s what happens when you keep buyer in pocket as you look for potential listings.

to the point where the last 3 listings that came on the market in my neighborhood went under contract in 3 or 4 days .

And were they put into the MLS, on or after their contract dates????

Let me give YOU a clue.

See those websites that recommend the "best" sales people, that sales people pay for advertising?

Do you think it would serve any salesperson's advertising dollar to put listings on the internet that could languish, days, weeks, months, or put them on the internet the day of contract, so your ratings show a whole bunch of sales and listings with only a couple of days of "marketing time"?

Do you think salespeople aren't being "rated" by fastest and cheapest too?????

Except salespeople can control the data they release.

.

 

[Mr Rex]

The sad truth is that Pocket Listings are often used to obfuscate dubious racial intentions. Yes, the race card. Pete?

 

[timd354]

The sad truth is that Pocket Listings are often used to obfuscate dubious racial intentions. Yes, the race card. Pete?

Yes, I have no doubt that is the case in some areas. It used to be the case that in much of Arlington, VA which is now largely the bastion of wealthy liberals, real estate agents would not show a home to an afican-american if there was already one minority homeowner on that block as there was an unwritten but pretty well enforced rule that only one african-american family was allowed per block in the white neighborhoods (basically all of North Arlington).

 

[timd354]

There's your important points, sales is for selling, not for making databases.





So, what would you have an agent do, other than list it and hold an open house? Every and ANY agent can put it in the MLS and hold an open house.



Can you do that math? Notify local Newspapers you will be holding an open house, to be published in the Sunday Newspaper, so the latest you can take the listing is Thursday night (day 1) notify the newspaper Friday morning (day 2) wait for advertisement and open house on Sunday (day 4) review contracts on Wednesday (day 7)

That’s already twice as long as you are saying the listings go under contract. Open houses are a waste of time. If you think people are walking through, writing a contract and leaving a hand money deposit based on an ad they saw in the morning newspaper………







Let’s see,

Loan Officer,
Roofer,
Lawyer,
CA for MI
GSE employee.

Makes one wonder how you found time to learn, study, and get licenses to perform all these jobs, never mind actually perform them for more than 3 years.



If looking at your neighbors 24/7, and having them look at you 24/7, with 10 homes per acre, if that is not a waste land in your book, perhaps you need other people to pay attention to you much more than I do. Perhaps all those street lights are not adding to “global warming” I wouldn’t know, because we have winter here, and we like it that way.

By the way, last house I sold, $300k in cash, under contract in 10 days from day of listing contract. Now I have a medical services client looking to expand in 3 counties, so it’s all commercial that we’re talking about, oh and ghee, they think I’m an expert because I can help them with the “comps” and how appraisals should go, depending on which properties they choose to buy or lease, finance or not. See, that’s what happens when you keep buyer in pocket as you look for potential listings.



And were they put into the MLS, on or after their contract dates????

Let me give YOU a clue.

See those websites that recommend the "best" sales people, that sales people pay for advertising?

Do you think it would serve any salesperson's advertising dollar to put listings on the internet that could languish, days, weeks, months, or put them on the internet the day of contract, so your ratings show a whole bunch of sales and listings with only a couple of days of "marketing time"?

Do you think salespeople aren't being "rated" by fastest and cheapest too?????

Except salespeople can control the data they release.

.

Keep trying to justify and spin bad real estate broker behavior all you want, but I am not buying it. Putting a property into the MLS is easy and can be done quickly and does not interfere one bit with all of the other marketing activities that a real estate broker/agent can and should be doing to obtain the best possible price for the seller. While I have no doubt that there are legitimate reasons for some pocket listings, I have no doubt that most of the time pocket listings are done for nefarious purposes such as the broker trying to get both ends of the deal to increase their commission.

I get it, you are a licensed agent and you do what you do to make more money, but don't think for one second that I or most other people are going to think that when you talk a seller into giving you a pocket listing that you are doing that with the seller's best interest in mind.

Sorry, but I am not buying what you are selling

 

[sandpiperapp]

Once again, there is a difference between a pocket listing and a listing kept as an office exclusive not shared with the MLS.

It is not bad real estate broker behavior to have office exclusives,

It is one thing to argue coherently, but to insist that something is bad or shady when you only have a limited understanding is just childish

 

[Meandering]

Not to worry sandpiper.

If he even looked at the state mandated consumer notice that must be signed by everyone who speaks to an agent concerning prices, sales and listings, he would see there are three options to work with a salesperson in PA, none of which either include, nor mandate, the use of the MLS, and one that does not include taking the listing, but just facilitating the transaction.



But he has an opinion anyway.



.