Cancelled Listings
As a Realtor, one thing I never like to have are cancelled listings. A property that is listed in the multiple listing service (MLS) is noted in the system with a start and expiration date. Realtors who come across your listing can see a note on the bottom of the listing that says DOM – days on market. The more days your listing has been posted and is not under contract or pending sale, the weaker your position is when it comes time for negotiations. If by the expiration date you still don’t have a contract, you end up with a cancelled or expired listing. Cancelled and expired listings don’t disappear, they remain in the MLS and come up when conducting a property search for your address.
How can you avoid a cancelled or expired listing? Here are some tips:
1. Listen to your Realtor. As real estate professionals, we have access to information and systems that allow us to properly evaluate and price your home. Based on a competitive market analysis (CMA), we can evaluate recent sales (as well as review cancelled or expired listings) to determine what your home’s value is. You may think you know what the value of your home is but many factors affect the market value which can delay you getting a contract if you are overpriced.
2. Set a reasonable asking price for your property. If you are willing to accept one million dollars for your home, don’t price it at a million and a half. If you overprice your property, you will end up with no offers or if you’re lucky, offers that will be at or around fair market value. If you decide to lower the asking price after a few weeks or months, that information is also noted in the MLS. Now a potential buyer, through his or her Realtor, will know you dropped the price giving way for an even lower offer. Here too you concede the position of power in the negotiations. Once again it comes down to listening to your Realtor.
if you’ve made the decision to hire Realtor, trust them to represent you and your property. While some websites may offer estimates, you cannot rely solely on that information to determine your property’s value. Realtors are trained in preparing the comparative market analysis and make adjustments based on the recent sales in addition to other factors and sources of information. Adjustments are made to account for the differences between those comparable properties such as additional or less space, number of rooms or bathrooms, other features such as a swimming pool, garage space, waterfront or lake view, etc. Short of an actual property appraisal (which Realtors cannot do unless they are also licensed appraisers) the CMA is the best tool Realtors have to determine what you can list your property for and secure a contract in a reasonable amount of time.
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~Rafael Amador, Realtor