Marketing Time Calculation

[Shelby]

Hello O Experienced Ones,

I'm assisting with an appraisal for litigation, and today I had a question I would like some input on from the *forum.com crew.

In calculating marketing time for a narrative report, should I use the number of days from the listing date to the close of escrow or to the date of sale? I've been told to the date of sale, but that seems to skew the actual marketing time to me.

What do you think?

Thanks!

Shelby in Hollywood 8)

 

[Caterina Platt]

As I have been taught it is calculated to the date of the contract signing (date of sale). Reasoning goes that at the time of the negotiation and 'meeting of the minds' buyer and seller agreed upon $zzz. Then everyone cooled their heels and waited for the plethera of paper passing. Other things may change in the market between contract signing and actual closing, but that binding contract with the agreed upon price is still in place. eg. builder and buyer sign purchase agreement on a lot for a proposed construction. In the time that the home takes to construct, the lot prices go up 5%. Closing takes place after the other lots have increased, however the original contract price when both parties signed is the price that is paid.

Good luck!

 

[Mountain Man]

There is another recent posting about a similar question. Contract date vs close date. On one side, you could say stop DOM count....got meeting of the minds and under contract. On the other side, you could say..... it isn't a sale until it has closed (have seen plenty to fall apart). I think you could go either way. I would say use what is typical in your market and MLS system, and DISCLOSE the terms (IE: how the DOM is calculated). Just so long as the data is consistent. You should state how, what, when, where, why, and how much. That is my take on it from my peon mind.

 

[Doug in NC]

I use the contract date as well.

 

[Ross (CO)]

Shelby, The start-of-listing date to contract date (of the eventual recorded closed sale) is just fine. If the pending sale did "fall apart" then it would not become a closed sale, at least not with that buying party. An extra step you might consider is to research the list history of the address as you may find a string of listings, some sometimes overlapping, some spaced apart by a day or two, but all part of a logical sequence of the full exposure of that property to the market. It's the very first list price I would make note of (if more than one), not the one of the actual and current list which became the closed sale and which may be last in the sequence. Some folks have ways of subtly disguising some of these facts....and in doing so, it makes their effectiveness of getting a house sold look all the better, ie. short d.o.m. for that last listing. I see it all the time !

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Our MLS calculates Day on the Market from listing date to contact date. Once the property is under contract it ceases to be exposed to the market.