I'm a little heated right now. I work in a fairly hot market just outside of Boston. It's not uncommon for agents/sellers to hold off on showings of a new listing until the first open house. Enter new hot listing with no showings until the first open house on 2/19. I show up with my buyers and low and behold their is a sign in the yard stating that the open house is canceled. Agent is sitting in his car. He tells me that the property is under agreement. I ask him how a property goes under agreement before the open house if it can't be shown until the open house. Of course no explanation was forthcoming just a couple of snippy comments. The property is listed as under agreement as of yesterday and all reference to no showings until the first open house has been deleted from MLS. I still have a hard copy with the open house references in it.
We all know how this went down the listing agent either had a pocket buyer or a buyer went directly to the listing agent and managed to get in before the open house.
I have no issue losing a house if people follow the rules that were layed out. My issue is that what this agent did is unethical and violates GBREB and MLS rules. I'm inclined to file a complaint with GBREB and MLS. What would you do in this instance? This agent is known for having loose ethics.
I'm so sorry this happened to you-- but these ruses/tricks are an epidemic and boards have trouble finding the "rule" that covers them.
If you think about it, the "First Look" programs actually limit showings and/or offers to only a certain segment of buyers. So, is the listing really a fully active listing? Not in the true sense of MLS cooperation.
So, I'd guess that what the agent did is a similar "de-limiting" to certain buyers, those being buyers of the listing agent.
The deletion of the "open house first" off the listing is probably perfectly fine in that it no longer applies.
I'm unhappy about what happened to you and your buyers, but I think it unlikely you can do anything about it.
Our board is constantly wrestling with these types of problems and basically, an MLS is a service provided to the subscribing brokers. As such, these boards sometimes overstep their true mandate and run into brokers who can tell them that they must follow the wishes of their clients so long as such are not of an illegal nature. And that doesn't mean "illegal" to the rules of the particular board.
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