Comments on: Bye-Bye STI

By: NWMLS Makes Some Changes for the Better | Seattle Bubble — News & discussion about real estate & the housing bubble in the Seattle area.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:09:09 +0000

[...] For the full scoop on this change, check out this detailed post from Jim Reppond over at RCG. [...]

By: Kary L. Krismer

Kary L. Krismer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:42:46 +0000

And a “Sold” sign means pending sale, not that it closed. Where the other agent doesn’t put up a “Sold” sign within the 3 days allowed, I’ll put up a “Pending Sale” sign because it’s less confusing and might trigger a backup offer. Also, where no sign is put up I once had an agent accidentally walk in on my listing, so a “Pending Sale” sign helps prevent that mistake.

By: ARDELL

ARDELL — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:39:42 +0000

denismurf,

Generally speaking the sign stays up until a couple days after close of escrow, not when it goes pending. The sign is usually ordered to come down when escrow closes.

By: denismurf

denismurf — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:05:26 +0000

Perfect. Thank you, Jim and Leanne.

By: Leanne

Leanne — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:54:31 +0000

Hi Denismurf, it’s always ok to contact a listing agent and ask a question. If they don’t feel they can answer it, they’ll tell you.

For any property that had signs and listed info on the internet, and suddenly signs are gone and no internet listing info, it should mean at that moment, it is either Pending, Closed, or no longer listed with that company/agent.

As to 520 Walnut, only 1 still shows as For Sale, 2 were taken off the market and are no longer for sale thru the NWMLS. Who knows why other than they do not show as Pending sales. We don’t have that detailed kind of information, just that the properties are no longer listed for sale. And, a seller would still owe his agent (and perhaps a buyers agent) a commission for a period of time if the seller sells to someone who saw the place due to the efforts of the listing or buyers agent.

Sometimes as agents we do have buyers or agents contact us after a property has been taken off the market. It certainly isn’t offensive to ask if the seller still has interest in selling.

By: Jim Reppond

Jim Reppond — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:43:23 +0000

As somebody who’s trying to be a well-informed house shopper, can I assume that they were taken off the market for reasons other than a pending sale?
I would not just make the assumption. This is where a call to your agent is warranted. They can look it up, and make a call to the listing agent on your behalf if it’s not clear. I did some investigation and In this case, unit # 2 it was cancelled and will be relisted again soon. #3 was cancelled and they have gotten a renter, and #4 is still active – you should be able to still see this one. I hope that answers your questions.

By: denismurf

denismurf — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:54:24 +0000

Sorry, Leanne and Ardell, I still don’t know what it means exactly if a property disappears. Specific example, then I’ll go away and won’t take personally if you decide you’ve already spent too much time on this.

About 3 months ago, 3 of the 4 condos at 520 Walnut in Edmonds went on the market and stayed there (complete with signs and presence on publicly accessible websites) until one day a couple of weeks ago, when 2 of them just vanished from the online sites, and their signs disappeared too.

As somebody who’s trying to be a well-informed house shopper, can I assume that they were taken off the market for reasons other than a pending sale?

By: Marlow

Marlow — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:37:53 +0000

The automatic fines aren’t that big. It’s only a $50 fine for not reporting status in a timely manner. But if you continue to break rules and there’s a regular pattern, I think they have the option of fining you a lot more. http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=F.a73306f7-ca3e-4efe-978f-fd157e7b559c (Must have Google acct. to view.)

By: ARDELL

ARDELL — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:24:33 +0000

Sitkajohn,

It is not remotely the purpose of the mls to “help the market”. It’s to help the members function better.

By: ARDELL

ARDELL — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:23:09 +0000

Leanne,

I’d be more likely to report an agent who didn’t call the PTS first or leave a card if the fine was a few hundred bucks. When the punishment doesn’t fit the crime, and $5,000 is clearly we too much for these issues, it is counter-productive. If you didn’t leave a card in my listing, for example, there’s no way I would want to take an action that could cost you $5,000! I’d be happy you showed my listing. If the fine was $25, then I would.