These reports contain a wealth of information, and most of it is pretty predictable. You’ll find the list price, number of bedrooms and baths, information on the utilities, what appliances are included, room sizes and a whole host of other material describing the property. All of that is important; however as real estate agents, we go beyond the basic listing synopsis and look at other things that the general public might not be aware of, consider important the items we always make a mental note of when evaluating a property based on its listing report.
Number of listing agents: When a listing comes on the market, it may not always be a “new” listing. It could be a property that has been previously listed for sale, and perhaps with a variety of different agents or brokers. If a house was listed only one time before, and the seller changed agents, that doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem. In the previous attempt to sell, the timing might have not have been right, or the relationship between the seller and the agent just didn’t work out. But, if the property has been on the market multiple times and with a different agent each time, that might signify a seller who could be difficult.
Listing agent’s name: After working many years in this business, you get to know the reputation of various agents and their style in negotiating a contract and completing a transaction. If the broker is unfamiliar, or the agent is from outside the immediate area, the agent might not be fully acquainted with local market conditions or special contract requirements. So, in representing a buyer, we would be a bit more cautious in negotiating a contract through such an agent. The same would also apply to budget brokers, where the agent does little or nothing in representing the seller. We even look at the agent’s ID number. A low number means they’ve been an agent for a long time; a high number means that they might be new to the business.
Pricing history: For the public, it’s not always easy to see the complete pricing history of a house. But as agents, we can pull that up with a few clicks of the mouse. In today’s market, a series of price reductions is not uncommon. What we look for is the amount of price decrease and when those reductions were taken. Although the interpretation is subjective, the pattern of price changes can reveal how anxious the seller might be or how realistic they were about the initial price and selling in a reasonable amount of time.
Tax identification number: A listing summary should include the property’s real estate tax ID number. Certain parts of the listing information are automatically generated by the tax records, and the tax ID is also how the multiple list system tracks a listing. If the tax ID number is missing, that could be an issue. There might be a legitimate reason for it to be absent, but there have been times when agents or sellers have deleted a tax ID in an effort to conceal the property history, prior attempts to sell, price changes or the home’s original purchase price. There are other ways to find this information, but if the tax ID looks like it was deliberately circumvented, that sends up a red flag.
Agent compensation: In a listing, it shows how much compensation the seller is willing to pay the buyer’s agent. There are no set rules as to how much this should be, but there is a range of what agents expect, and that can vary depending on whether you’re talking about a $200,000 property or a $2 million dollar house. If that agent compensation is outside of what would be considered normal, higher or lower, it can (like the pricing history) give us some possible insight regarding the seller’s motivation to sell and how they might respond to an offer. A seller who’s shorting the agents will likely be a tough cookie when it comes to the price of his house.
Foreclosures and short sales: It is very important to know if the house you’re considering is a foreclosure or short sale. Not too long ago, this became a mandatory part of all listing reports. However, when you look at houses on consumer web sites, they don’t always make this disclosure. Short sales take a long time, and the negotiating strategy on a foreclosure is different from how you might proceed on a regular home sale.
Status changes: An agent can go into the multiple list system and see when there have been status changes on a property. For example, a house may go from Active to Under Contract and then back to Active again. That would show that the seller had accepted an offer at some point in time. For buyers, it can be helpful to know why the previous contract fell apart. The seller is under no obligation to tell you, but often they will offer some explanation.
Remarks and pictures: All listings will contain some descriptive remarks about a property and pictures. The detail and words used in the remarks, as well as the quantity and quality of the pictures can say a lot about how the seller perceives their property. If the remarks smack of overpromise, this usually suggests that the seller is stretching the envelope on his asking price. Conversely, if the remarks and pictures are lackluster, it could be nothing more than a lazy or inexperienced agent.
Incomplete information: When an agent uploads a listing into the multiple list system, there are a vast number of fields that can be filled with information. Some fields may not be applicable and others may not be especially relevant to the listing. So, agents normally don’t fill them all in. Nevertheless, there are certain places in a listing where we always expect to find some information about a property. If that information is missing, it leads us to ask why. Case in point is room sizes. If the rooms are small, agents tend to omit this information. Sometimes a lack of information might just be an oversight. But agents and sellers will normally only tell you what they want you to know. Consequently, what’s not in a listing can occasionally tell you more than what is.
In summary, the Internet can provide buyers with a great deal of data about a house. Even so, there is considerably more detail available to agents through the multiple list system, and the experience of an agent can help interpret that information, making it substantially more useful when buying or selling a house.
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Bob and Donna McWilliams are practicing real estate agents with more than 20 years of combined experience in the Annapolis area. Their website is www.BobDonna.com, and you can e-mail them at McWilliams@BobDonna.com.