The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is enforcing a significant new requirement this coming year. Starting May 1st, Realtors must list their client’s property in the MLS within one business day after installing a “coming soon” sign in the yard, emailing prospects or other realtors about the listing, or publishing the listing on a private or public website. We at Camber Realty fully support this new rule.
The change will promote maximum exposure for sellers, and open more housing options for buyers. Before the change, some real estate agents hid their listings from the full market in hopes of finding the buyer directly and pocketing the buyer’s agent’s commission as well as their commission — double ending. Such practice does not benefit the seller, who may be missing out on higher competitive offers. Buyers are victims here as well, as they are left in the dark on these shadow market listings only to find out about them after they’re sold.
Camber Realty always advises their clients to list their homes to the full market to attract as many buyers as possible. Also, though we are required to display our office’s phone number on our yard signs, we list our agent’s mobile phone number first and largest on our signs. Some companies do the opposite in hopes of transferring a yard-sign phone call to another agent in their office. Although it benefits that brokerage, it’s not in the best interest of the seller.
The greater real estate market, and certainly appraisers, will benefit from the new rule. Given the recent years of low inventory and fewer transactions, finding suitable comparable sold properties to assess value has been challenging. Utilizing sold information from homes that never truly hit the market can skew pricing analyses.
More inventory for buyers, more competing offers for sellers, better data for appraisers, and a more transparent market for all, NAR’s new rule makes great sense.