Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Misguided perception and advice from Seller Broker

As I am sure you know that producing this blog is not an easy task. It requires a lot of market awareness and research, but that is why you look to SplitRock Real Estate. I am realizing with the beginning of this new year and the paradigm shift created by actual and perceived changes in the market, as well as extended time on market coupled with the limitations of our MLS system, it is becoming more difficult for me to keep track of accurate information regarding properties for sale.

In particular, I am concerned about what I consider to be a misguided perception on the part of Seller Brokers. They advise sellers to remove their property from the market during what they consider to be the slowest period in the market, thereby erasing the time-on-market paper trail in the system for that property listing. In other words, they think they will have fooled the buying public into thinking the property is brand new and hot to the market. I know I have educated you to realize 1) in recent history it is most likely the seller who prices the property and, 2) the broker and seller have agreed that after a certain amount of time on the market the seller will acquiesce and reduce the price. The MLS system only records two price changes and after the second price change, the first one drops off the system. Once a property has been removed from the market it loses its history because in most cases the property will not be recorded as having been “off the market” at one point.

What I am trying to say is that I will always do my best to recall and report accurately on the changes in the market but, in particular, I must change the way I report “Price Changes”. Going forward I will primarily report the date of the last price change instead of the total period of time the property has been on the market. I cannot guarantee the sequence of events as it pertains to numerous price changes. However, as long as my flimsy memory holds together and I can remember properties that have been on the market before, I will alert you to that fact. I strongly suggest that you track the history of, and keep notes on, any property you are interested in.

As always, please visit my web site SplitRockRE.com for the most up to date information and to sign up to receive my Inner Circle e-Newsletter.

- Peter Fyler

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