MLS Data, ERRR!!

[Mountain Man]

I ran across a sale that I was going to use, and found a difference of what was reported in MLS and public records (surprise.... NOT) so I e-mailed our board AE to let them know about the mistake.

Subject: Correction on listing
This appears to be a simple typo, but needs to be corrected.
Listing 12345, at 123 Easy St. is reported to have sold for $312,000 per MLS. It actually sold for $302,000 as per the deed recorded in deed book zzz, page zzz.

Their response:
So and So (name deleted by me) called this morning and explained that on this particular situation that there was 10,000.00 of personal property originally written in the contract and the attorneys handled it differently at closing.
Maybe this will answer your question.

My response back:
That explains the $10K difference, but personal property is personal. It is NOT real estate and should be noted in the comments, not added to the "sales" price. That is why we have an addendum in the GAR forms package called a "Bill of Sale". The attorney handled it the correct way. Thanks for the info, but the problem is that others will rely upon that sale without the inside knowledge. But, I guess that is why I get paid......to find the truth and protect my lenders' @#$.
Thanks for your help. When I find others that seem to be off, when compared to public records, I will pass them along. Just trying to be as accurate, and the most professional, as is possible.

 

[John Hassler]

I got so fed up with the local MLS that I got on the Design Review committee a few years back (three hours once a month). I'm the only appraiser they have every had there. I can tell you that they really have no idea of what we do and it has been an "education" process. They aren't against appraisers, they just don't know any better. Get involved. Change happens, albeit very slowly, but YOU can make a difference!


John Hassler

PS About persoanl property included in the sale. Our MLS has added a line at the end of the listing for "Sale Comments:" where the agent (or MLS itself) can list unusual terms ie: "$10k persoanl property included in SP", "$5k NRCC", "buyer was RE agent. No commission in SP", etc.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Our MLS has added a line at the end of the listing for "Sale Comments:" where the agent (or MLS itself) can list unusual terms

Ours here has that too. Nobody uses it.

You are very correct about getting involved and that they really have no idea what an appraiser needs.

 

[Dave Smith]

I have had to deal with this problem all my real estate appraisal life, 28 years and counting.

I have served as Board President, MLS VP, served on most of the Board commitees and actually was instrumental in the design of our MLS forms about fifteen years ago. Still no luck getting the PP handled correctly, and have given up trying. Realtors CANT' BE TRAINED!!!

The local LOs know I care about doing the job right and try to get an allocation of the PP from the Reatlor when it is included in a sale. They have no more luck than I do. The common Realtor response is "why do I have to do that?"

Now, when I find a difference between the MLS sale price and the court house recorded price I show both on the grid and simply use the recorded price.

Not long ago a deal just about went down the toilet. The listing Realtor actually told me he was going to pay more attention to the PP in offers in the future. Time will tell.

Remember, "Realtors can't be trained."

PS: I am sending this page to the EO at my local board. :lol:

 

[Ross (CO)]

The format of our MLS's listings page has a line/field near the selling price. It is the agent's opportunity to address "Sold Concessions". Perhaps 999 out of 1000 listings I have seen this line is left BLANK, even when there might be seller-paid closing costs....usually learned when one notices the selling price higher then the last posted list price in the opposite upper corner of the listing page. A selling price higher than list is an automatic trigger for me to call and find out....even when occasionally you learn there was a bidding war by several interested buyers (perhaps coming in on same day of a new listing of a cream-puff property) and the highest offer won. Even when selling price is LESS than list, it is interesting how many times one can find out about seller-paid assistance and learn that this $$ amount was ADDED and is part of the posted sold price ! The agent rarely, if ever, believes that there might be reason for an appraiser to have to separate out these dollars as we analyze the market data. I kindly thank them for their help and move on. Clearly, this must not be something they learn as important in r.e. school or are instructed by the MLS board to do ! Then again, one's reading of posted days-on-market leading up to that eventual sale......sure does often point out the need to check the full (and perhaps recently strung-together) listing history of the property. 50/50 chance there that DOM is greater than shown....even if a different agent had the listing 90 days before the new agent sold it in 10 days. That's why they refer to it as researching the market.

 

[Mountain Man]

This isn’t the first time I ran across this “problem”, it was just a good opportunity for me to vent. :evil:

I got sooooo mad at the audacity of the old broker, who knows better, but is one of many that doesn’t care about accurate data. This is the same one that is involved in the deal I describe in The Watercooler under the title of “Have cash, will buy”.

John,
RE: getting involved, I agree! In our MLS, all brokers (of whom I am one) are on the MLS board. Like Dave, I try. But frankly, they don’t care. Just had my fill of ‘em for this week. Okay, I am better. Friday afternoon, at home, cold 12 ounces, I am ready for my nap now. 8)

 

[Restrain]

I was doing a review a little while back, appraiser used an odd sale. While these arn't the exact figures, the property was listed at $97,000, sold for $106,000. The transaction section in MLS didn't show any seller concessions, but it was an FHA sale. The appraiser used it straight, no comments, no adjustment. Now, up to 3% is not unusual for FHA, but there was definitely something odd. I called the selling broker, took 5 minutes. It seems that it was using a community development program where virtually everything, including down payment gets rolled in, and a 100% loan is given. Therefore, the home is at 110% of market. To any realtors reading this, THIS IS A SELLER CONCESSION, O.K.? Please show it. However, I also fault the appraiser for not taking a moment to do research on this sale. (He needed it to make value).

 

[Austin]

I use to have all of the MLS sales in a database that I could sort and find the most comparable sales. Once I select about 30 comps, I graph the GLA vs. unadjusted sale prices to find outliners. If a sale is out of line you can spot it in a minute. I have had skewed sales that popped up so many times I took them out of the database because they were useless. I spotted four Realtors from the same office that could not measure a dwelling properly. Most of the time if an outliner showed up, it was one of those four people. There was an old Realtor that was a real SOB and he would put erroneous information in the MLS to throw people off but the sort would catch him every time.
I use to call Realtors to find out about these outliners but stopped doing so because there is always a reason. The best method of sale verification is to check all of the raw data graphically. Another advantage to this is that you know the scope of possible adjustments to be made. For example, if you have 30 comparable sales and the range of price about the trend line is +- $10,000, then you know if you pick the three most similar sales to the subject total adjustments will be must less than $10,000. You can also learn a lot about what affects price, for example, if you see a couple of the sales have an in ground pool, you can look at the graph and see if it influences price even if you are not using the sales on the appraisal you are doing. I learned more about what affects price by entering data into the database than in any appraisal class I ever attended. When you sit for hours entering data and every dwelling has about the same GLA, same room count, same number of baths etc., but the price range is from $40,000 to $100,000 you ask yourself: “What is going on here. What is influencing price?” The answer is not anything that can be solved on the FNMA programmed marketing grid.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

ON poultry farms it is really common to have a power washer, tractor, litter truck, bush hog and blade or a caking machine (for the uninitiated you won't want to eat any of this cake) thrown into the deal. Sometimes the tractor is worth 20,000 or more. The Realtors really hate it when you separate that from the real property. And the O & A is about the only place it is mentioned. The MLS never mentions it.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

Tired of poor MLS data?

Don't complain. Join them. Become a Realtor. Then do like I've done.

Having been a Realtor since 1975, I am a full Realtor member of my local board and for the past two years I have served on the Bd. of Directors of the MLS. That way, I have direct impute on what data is required in the system and what fines and penalties are imposed on the offenders.

I don't complain. I act. It is much more satisfying. By and large, I would say we have fairly good data to work with.

Now if I can just get those blockheads to understand the difference between a BOCA modular and a HUD Code sectional, life would be a lot easier.