Just think… You just spent a great deal of time searching the MLS for the ideal house that meets all of your client's needs. You believe you have found that perfect home, so you tell your client and they cannot wait to see it.
However, when you contact the listing office to set up a showing appointment, you are told that the property went under agreement 10 days ago but the listing was never updated. Not only does this create confusion and frustration for you and your client, but also signals a lack of professionalism that hurts everyone.
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Once your seller signs an agreement of sale, the listing no longer meets the criteria of “Active” and CANNOT remain as an active status in TREND. While it may seem like a smart marketing decision, keeping a listing active when it’s not being shown and no other offers are being accepted is wrong. In fact, this is the exact behavior that causes the confusion and frustration.
The listing must be updated to the applicable status or contingency within 72 hours of acceptance. This
TREND rule is in place to ensure that other members and their customers don’t have this experience. This applies to regular, short sale or REO listings too.
Here are your options for updating a listing status to reflect that an agreement of sale is in effect:
- Active with a Contingency (ACT-A, ACT-E, ACT-F or Active-O): Use when there are specific contingencies in place and the seller instructs you to continue showings and take back up offers. Read here about the limited and specific contingencies scenarios.
- Pending: Settlement has not yet taken place, and the seller has instructed you to no longer set appointments for showings.
- Settled: Settlement has taken place and title has transferred from seller to buyer or, the property has transferred from a lessor to a lessee in a rental or lease situation.
Listings may not remain active in TREND when:
- An agreement has been accepted by the seller
- Back up offers are not being taken
- A property cannot be shown
- Appointments cannot be set
- The property is off-market for any reason
Other statuses such as Active no Showings (A/N) or Temporary off market (T/O) may also not be used when a property is under agreement and you may not leave the status active and insert in the Remarks field that the property is under agreement.
How can we all reduce status inaccuracies?
TREND takes the accuracy of listing information seriously. We commit resources to ensuring that the information you’ve come to rely upon to conduct your business is correct. We also have a means for you to inform us when you find listings that are not up-to-date. Just click the “Report an Accuracy Issue” link, found on any member report. Once received, a Support Center Specialist will review your issue and get back to you letting you know what course of action will/has been taken.
But it all starts with you. If each of you, as a member of the TREND community, did your part to ensure that your listings are up-to-date, the MLS database would more consistently offer the most accurate and reliable information. And that is what best serves our community and your clients in the most efficient way.