Part of the story about the Pre-MLS sales was that the local rules require that agents have 48 hours to input their new listings.
The last paragraph of the story:
The waiting period before a listing is submitted into the MLS was originally put in place to accommodate paperwork demands before MLSs were electronic.
“Is this two- or three-day waiting period an anachronism?” he asked.
The 48-hour rule was in place before Al Gore invented the internet, and should be revised. But unscrupulous agents will game the system no matter what the rule is, so other provisions should be implemented too.
The listing contract was revised so both agent and seller acknowledge the benefits of MLS exposure, and are aware of the pitfalls of not utilizing it.
But more could be done.
The MLS should make it mandatory that a listing can’t be marked pending for at least two days after input. At least if an agent is going to have to field phone calls about showing and selling, after a while they might catch on to the program.
Sure, many would just ignore the calls (many already do) but at least the message would be sent – there are other buyers interested in your listings, and you should accommodate them.
Part of the problem is pure ignorance – because agents see other agents throwing new listings right into the pending category, it gives them the impression that it is acceptable business.
Why is this allowed now? We have a fiduciary duty to the sellers!
If the MLS folks and the governing boards of the associations of realtors don’t take action, then eventually lawsuits will follow from sellers who figure out that they got screwed.
The original story here:
http://www.inman.com/2014/03/10/study-suggests-mls-played-little-or-no-role-in-nearly-half-of-2013-home-sales/
P.S. The Association of Realtors should stop selling ‘Pre-MLS’ and ‘coming soon’ sign riders too!
Thank you for posting the original article, too.
Little chance of that, precisely because of the revised listing contract above, which sellers must have signed at one point. So they were “informed”, no case there.
I view the addition of the MLS exposure revision to the standard listing contract precisely to give a green light to such practices. Sadly, an average person generally doesn’t understand contract jargon.