Hello All,

First, let me define re-listing.

Re-listing is when a home is listed again, with a new MLS number that does not carry on any numbers from original listing.

So, if you have a listing for a home at $500k and you decide to drop the price, but you don't want the main listing to reveal that the price has been dropped, you would re-list, at the new price and that new listing would do two things for you. First, it would show the original listing price as the new lower amount and second it would change the listing date to the new date (so your two month old listing now looks like a 1 day old listing).

Now this practice is about to be severly limited by a new policy of the MLS system I work with.

I am wondering how many other MLS systems out there allow re-listing.

In my area, this process of re-listing has really screwed with the data that comes out of the system that analysts use to examine the market. With re-listing more or less going away, the numbers will more accurately reflect reality, but will leave those who look at the data with the impression that something new and terrible is happening.

Keep in mind, the MLS system I am talking about is what is used by all the counties from south of San Francisco down to Monterey California. That accounts for a huge chunk of the market in California.

The practice of re-listing in my area is very common... in many areas more than 50% of the listings have used re-listing so the impact on data could be huge.

Check out an article I wrote regarding this on my website and post thoughts here on what this all might mean.

R

Our MLS does not allow re-listing. An agent can't re-list their property with a new MLS number unless it has been off the market for 30 days.

My MLS (GLVAR) allows us to re-list. I don't think it's so bad to do it once in a while, but not re-listing every time there is a price change. That screws everything up. Plus on my MLS you can view the history of every listing. That will show any activity on that property.

Robert, I work in Monterey and as more or less a listing agent, I'm glad to see the change. It's about time we stopped "hiding" the truth and just dealt with reality.

I understand your point about people incorrectly thinking this is the bursting of the real estate bubble, but the re-lising policy was being completely abused. Realtors will be lucky if we dodge an ugly expose. Market times and prices are what they are. We have to do the best job we can to sell our client's property. We don't control the market, we just work in it.

Jeff... I agree with you completely. I have NEVER liked the re-list policy. I could never see a good reason for it, just bad ones.

When I started poking around, I was finding that over 50% of all listings get relisted at some point. It is just nuts. Some agents just do it every 60 days, others when they change the price.

Agent 007. We can view that history too... and see all the past MLS numbers the home has had. However, you have to check a box to get that info when you do a search and for reporting purposes, our MLS system does not take into account previous MLS listings of the property... so whatever applies to the most recent MLS listing for a property is the one that gets reported. It creates a huge distortion of the real numbers in our area.

R

Once again an industry concerned with rife little details limits the sellers rights. Why not re list. If the buyers agent doesn't pick up that it is a relist the seller wins. Sometimes things need to be seen as new again for others to look at it again. Get over it. If you can see the history and have to check a box then check the box...

Ok... it would appear that you have missed the point Sheldon.

I don't care if you like the ability to re-list or not. That is not the main point here. The ENTIRE POINT of the post was that the policy is being changed and the result of that is going to create artificially bad numbers at a time when we don't need to give analysts more numbers to point to and exclaim "More Proof of the Apocalypse!"

The area being affected by this change is huge. Every property from San Francisco to Monterey that gets sold through the MLS is effected. That is billions and billions of dollars. It is enough to really jerk the statewide numbers around to say nothing of what it will obviously do to the numbers in the directly effected counties.

When it happens, I want every agent who gets a chance to be able to say "Well, thats not REALLY the case" and explain to those who are in a panic that what has changed is the policy, not the reality.


R

Limits Seller's Rights? Please.

I'm sure agents who do this on a regular basis let their clients know that relisting also distorts their average days on market stats.

I'd give anyone a dollar if they can document where a seller has requested a relist of the property.

I don't blame you for your concern about the change in the numbers being used; but I do have a couple of comments/observations:

Those new "artificially bad" numbers are actually yesterday's "artificially good" numbers plus "reality". (Meaning is was re-listed 3 times.)

Indeed, the new policy should be explained. The policy change is the reality of the market place which has not changed.

I'm in a market that has been in the pits for well over year. I use DOM only when I have checked each listing I'm using as reference to see if it has been listed previously. As a rule, I use inventory figures. EX:
- There are 1093 homes on the market right now. 93 homes sold last month. That means that if not one more home came on the market and the rate of buying stayed constant - it will take about a year to deplete the inventory. I then drill down further to the target price range.

I stopped relying on DOM because if I just use the MLS data, it is so inaccurate! One reason being re-listings; but the other being new construction being entered at "0" DOM when it sold through a realtor - and the darn house sat there begging for a buyer for a year and a half!

As I said, I understand your concerns and I am sure it will send shock waves through the area - but CA is resilient and will get over it. And you know what they say...

What happens in CA will move across the country!

Have a good evening,
Betty

One thing that re-listing did was hide the true DOM from buyers who used mlslistings.com or Realtor.com to hunt for houses.

Only licensees could view the history of a property and see all the MLS numbers a certain property had.


If people want to make a property "fresh", then just take it off the market for a month or more, THEN make adjustments. If sellers don't want to do that, then they should just deal with the DOM issue.

Being fairly new, I just had my first experience with how much the ability to relist distorts matters! A little while back, I had a long-shot of an opportunity to possibly list a house worth about $6 million. The family was buying new construction and was just going into contract on a house that was 8 to 9 months away from completion. I asked my broker for some help in obtaining the listing and he just said "Why are you bothering now? The house they will move into is more than 8 months from completion. It would be silly for you to try and get a listing now." But I had seen houses in that price range hanging on the market forever. I didn't think it was too soon.

So I looked at average DOM - and it was about 120 days. It also looked as if the asking/selling price weren't that far apart. But that didn't square with what I was seeing, so I went through the histories. Oh brother. If you accounted for multiple relistings, the average DOM were well over 300. Also, if you looked at the difference between initial asking and selling price, you found that agents were allowing almost ANY asking price to start - just to secure the listing. Relistings occurred when prices were dropped significantly. Most had been relisted at least twice.

This practice gives a distorted version of the average DOM, and the performance of the individual agent. I think this practice should be checked because it truly distorts what a reasonable asking price is and gives sellers an unrealistic time frame for selling their home.

Robert,

I am with Bay East AOR in Pleasanton and I thought the new rules allow a relist (Withdraw/Cancel and then post as New) IF you have a new signed listing agreement. However, I am glad to see the change because it was being abused by agents. They W/C and relist as New to the Market, change the street name from STREET to ST or 106th Ave to 106, etc. - anything to make it look brand new. That really distorts things and when you look in the history, it has been listed a gazillion times.