http://www.squidoo.com/keating-economics

How has this information not come to light before? I hope the media gives this the attention it deserves!

I thought the paperwork/legals was done by the title company.

Does an agent really get involved in this work? The only paperwork I thought an agent took care of was the offer.

No?

If realtors still exist in Japan and Hong Kong after what their housing markets have gone through, they aren’t going to be phased out in America. The Asians love to save money but even they would rather pay someone to do the legals and paperwork.

Sorry to disappoint. At least I don’t simply say what I know you want to hear :)

Any buyer can clearly buy any house without an agent. What they can’t do is wish for the seller to not want an agent either. Clearly the seller is best off when he is represented and the buyer is not.

Be careful what you wish for.

Until this recent exchange, I had thought you might be one, Ardell.

Ardell, I have two questions for you:

1) What are you smoking?
2) Can I have some?

Realtors don’t want it to be public because it would hurt their business (representing sellers). It has nothing to do with “agent communications” or how many dogs a seller owns — it has to do with keeping homebuyers in the dark, and forcing them to obtain their market knowledge through an insular priesthood of “professionals.”

In other words, today’s real-estate market is just like the stock market before the advent of online brokerage houses. Remember how smug, self-satisfied, “professional” brokers were convinced that individuals could never manage their own money? Oops!

Redfin and Zillow are the new E-Trade and TD Waterhouse; consumers are going to find out that Realtors ™ aren’t a necessity. If the MLS doesn’t become more open and honest, it won’t survive the change.

Urban pioneers settle in, hoping their investment pays off

Yes I do think truth in advertising standards apply. That is why most sites do not show days on market.

I think you will see the few that have this feature dropping it. And I think that most companies that have been around a very long time, major brokerages, do not have this feature.

Yeah, it’s on Zip with 12 DOM.

Problem is, Zip doesn’t show it’s been on the market before, AS IS, never lived in since it was bought last June for $44K more than the list price. Redfin at least shows the Zillow results along with the listing. You still have to check with the county records to confirm that the last sales price was on the same house and not a since-subdivided lot.

Anyway, I’ve seen this particular home, and it was actually sold NEW in June 2006. The neighborhood (Lichton Springs)has gone down hill a bit since it was built. Larry’s Market closed down and was replaced by some bargain Asian grocery, and the computer store next door was replaced with a porn shop.

I don’t speak for other commenters here, but personally the point I’m making isn’t that the MLS should be completely open to the public, but rather that the “portion of it that [the general public] see” should at least be completely honest. As it is right now, it’s highly manipulated.

We can see expired listings, cancelled listings, agent change outs, security alarms to people’s homes, security codes to gated communities. When the seller goes on vacation, if there are dogs and cats in the homes. There are many, many things in the mls, that are not part of the public view sites.

I do not understand why the public thinks they are seeing “the mls” in full? Clearly their are agent communications within the mls system that are not available to the public.

The question isn’t what aren’t you seeing, the question is why would you think that you would get to see everything in the mls system? Why should all of that be public knowledge?

12 days on the market, no reduction.

Not Zillow. ZipRealty.

If you have an account, (which is free, but you have to fill out their form which is well worth it), log in and go to search for a home, click on the box which requests only homes with price reductions. You will get plenty of examples on the map.

Click on one, and under the description it will tell you something like:
Price Reduced: 08/04/06 — $429,995 to $425,000
Price Reduced: 08/25/06 — $425,000 to $412,888
Price Reduced: 12/20/06 — $412,888 to $406,000

Days on Market: 192

Enjoy!

I’m looking at this Bubble poster child 947 n 103rd st which is listed at $280K currently – previously listed at $299K – all Zillow shows is that it was sold last June for $324K.

There’s absolutely no reason, technical or otherwise, that the MLS couldn’t be a “public” tool. It isn’t public, because Realtors (tm, pat. pend.) don’t want anyone to see the contortions of the little man behind the curtain.

Fraudulent manipulations like these (however dubiously justified) are a strong argument for making the full MLS available to the public. As they say, daylight is the best disinfectant.

If a buyer is being represented by an agent, then they should ask their agent about the listing history—which will inform them about days on the market among other things.

If I were buying, I would be much more concerned about a property listed for under $500K (or around the median list price)that has been on the market quite a while vs. higher end or luxury market homes being on the market longer (which is not terribly abnormal).