*Sigh*
Here is something that for the life of me, I can not understand.
When a property “goes under contract” — ie: a offer has been made and accepted — the status in the MLS is supposed to be changed to “Pending” (or AWC — Active With Contingencies — if applicable).
There is, of course, a written rule in the ARMLS subscriber agreement regarding this:
10.7: Reporting the Sale of a Listed Property to the MLS. Within 72 hours (excluding weekends and postal holidays) of the date when all parties to the transaction have executed an agreement to purchase and sell a listed property the status of the listing must be changed to a Sale Pending status by the listing broker.
Not once, not twice, but three times in the last two days, we have called (and called, and called) listing agents to either 1) ask a question about a property; 2) attempt to show a property; or 3) submit an offer on a property.
And long after the “need to know”, we find the properties are under contract — and the listing status still shows “Active” in the MLS.
It takes, literally, 2 minutes to change the status of a listing from Active to Pending.
When we (politely) ask the listing agent why the property is still showing as Active, we are presented with these answers:
1) “Oh yeah, I forgot.”
2) “I haven’t had time to change it.”
3) “I don’t know.” (my personal favorite)
All three of these listings were well beyond their allotted 72 hour time frame for change.
Note to Bob Bemis and Gary Cumiskey: 72 hours, not including weekends and holidays is far too liberal a policy. Seriously, it takes two minutes. You get an accepted offer, you log in, you change the status to Pending/AWC. Right then and there. Surely any agent or broker out there can get to an internet connection within 24 hours (if not sooner). 72 hours, plus weekends? What is the logic behind that?
Why is it important to change the status to reflect reality?
1) It’s a complete waste of the agents, and more importantly the clients time to pursue a property that is under contract.
2) It corrupts the data. How many properties are out there for weeks in the wrong status? (and trust me, it happens. Frequently)
3) It makes us all look like bumbling, inept fools in the public’s eye.
4) It’s common courtesy.
/rant off/
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