Not all Austin homes for sale are listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Some homes are available via other means. What is a pocket listing and how can it help you as a seller?
Most sellers want the homes they are selling to appear as a listing in the MLS. Potential buyers and their Realtors ® search the MLS for homes, and the seller’s home pops up.
Sometimes a seller doesn’t want their home to appear in the MLS.
It could be for privacy reasons – they don’t want people to know they’re selling their home – or it might be that their home is being prepared for sale (it’s being staged and cleaned).
A third reason is that the seller doesn’t want Realtors to find out how much their home sold for after it has closed.
Sometimes a seller will ask their Realtor to market the home as a “pocket listing” – to keep it out of the MLS permanently, or until certain conditions have been met.
What can a seller get from a pocket listing? “Days on market” is the ticking MLS clock that shows the time between the date the home is listed and the date an offer is accepted. The sooner a home sells, the more it sells for (on average, if you look at market statistics). So it’s in a seller’s best interest to keep days on market as small as possible before they let the largest number of buyers see their home.
A pocket listing buys you some time to finish your home staging and decorating before opening up your doors. A “coming soon” sign piques the interest of buyers, and can prevent them putting an offer in on a rival home until they’ve seen all that’s available – including the pocket listings.
A pocket listing gives the listing agent chance to build up anticipation – to create a line of eager buyers waiting to see the home as soon as it becomes available. More buyer competition can result in a higher sales price.
An Austin Realtor is an Austin EcoBroker. You can search Austin homes for sale at his website.
5 Comments
Mario Acosta · September 2, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I have found great success with pocket listings in my area. I think the key is for the listing agent to have relationships with the top buyer agents in the neighborhood. Marketing to that select group is very productive.
An Austin Realtor · September 2, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Exactly Mario. Targeting the people who know people who want top buy is key with a pocket listing and doing the research into the top buyer’s agents or just plain knowing them really helps make them work for everyone. Buyers are always grateful to get a home before it gets on the market!
Mario Acosta · September 2, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Garreth – Good luck in your area. Keep the pockets coming!
Ben Huynh · September 2, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Great information. Thank you!
An Austin Realtor · September 4, 2009 at 8:11 am
Thanks Mario – may your pockets always be deep and give you joy!. Thanks Ben – good luck with your new blog about Houston!