MLS still sells houses.. so fill it out

While doing some BPO work today for some multi-family houses it still amazes me the number of agents who do not fill out many of the non-required fields in the MLS.

It also was interesting that many of these "slim" MLS listings are REO properties.

Do people not realize that if you fail to fill out fields such as, # of units, number of bedrooms, number of baths, total sq feet, than many people doing searches for properties will NEVER SEE YOU LISTING IN MLS.

I also love the MLS description when people write... "Bank owned"... and nothing else.

I try to fill out full data fields, give multiple pictues (good and bad), and write an accurate description in the remarks field. No wonder my last 4 sales averaged 45 DOM.

That's my rant for the day.

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Comments

  • Agreed, the worst is writing up the BPO and guesstimating for half the data that isn't there in the first place.  I also like it when there's only 1 picture provided, and its like the bathroom or it looks like the photo was taken while running from police.  These listings are annoying to work with and I have no idea how these agents actually sell properties.

    Regards, 
    John Gattinger
    www.Turbo-BPO.com

    Turbo-BPO.com | The #1 Broker Price Opinion Outsourcing Solution
  • I couldn't agree more! My area seems to be very bad in terms of agents filling out the minimum amount of information. This laziness definetly causes the properties to be on the market longer. Buyers are so much more specific and involved when looking for a home, so it is beneficial to provide as much information as possible. I have clients that want a specific neighborhood and of course, less than 5% of the listings have this information in there. Why not make it easy for buyers agents and clients to find your listing?
  • On a related note. Make sure it's filled out correctly. I got a call this week from a person looking to sell a 2 bedroom/ 2 bath condo. They had had it on the market for 6 months and it went unsold.

    When I pulled up the old listing I immediately saw the property listed as 2 bedrooms and 1 bath.

    I can only imagine the people who never saw the listing in MLS or Realtor.com etc, because their search criteria included 2+ baths.

    Oh well.. my gain
  • I agree....aren't we supposed to sell the home quickly? The reason why some REO's sit on the market so long is they have one picture, no description, no room sizes.....sometimes even after months on the market! Aren't we supposed to do everything possible to get the REO sold quickly?
  • What you say is so true Agents don't realize they are doing a disservice to themselves and other agents by not filling out a complete profile. It is difficult to do a good BPO without adequate information.
  • Agreed. Just because they are bank-owned and typically priced to sell, shouldn't mean less effort goes into the marketing or data entry... thats just plain laziness. There are a lot of motivated agents standing in line for bank business, and willing to do a thorough job... the others should step aside or hire some help if they are that busy. The MLS in our area allows us to upload attachments to the listing so buyers agents have the bank documents and specific offer instructions at their disposal, prior to writing an offer as well. If listing agent takes the time and effort to go the extra mile ahead of time, the result is less complications for the bank druing the transaction. I second your rant!
  • I agree when we list a property we fill in all fields. With so many people looking on the internet for homes I feel that the more content that we add the better it helps us to sell our properties faster. Also, we try to add the maximum number of pictures that the MLS will allow so there is a true description of the home. Another important part is to make sure to mark what type of financing is available for that home. We have a high volume of VA loans and not all properties will qualify so we make sure to fill in the financing part correctly so we don't have appraisal issues.
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