Duvall Commercial and Residential Update for March 14, 2009 (AKA Pet Peeve #4: Agents who try to manipulate the MLS)

So, how are things gong with the Residential and Commercial markets in Duvall. Pretty much the same as last month....

Nothing has closed in the last two weeks. First, on the commercial side... several listings have expired. Oddly, they were listed by their owners. I contacted one in case he wants to work together on it. I think I can help him since he's not part of CBA (www.commercialmls.com) or other commercial property listings.

The big item is Riverview Plaza, its now for sale. I heard through the grapevine that the owner has other projects he wants to concentrate on. I really like the building... wish I had some money. :-) I haven't checked the numbers to see if the price makes sense or not. It's represented by Markus and Millichap, a large commercial brokerage. They should do a good job on it.

I noticed that there is a new brokerage assigned to Duvall Commons. Still a lot of empty spaces available throughout town.

On the residential side, only a few have gone pending (so everything that was pending in my last report still is.) Not a whole lot new listed. And... this brings me to my

RANT OF THE DAY

What is the deal with cancelling a listing and re-listing it immediately? I can't of a really good reason to do this, other than trying to manipulate the appearance in the MLS... making it seem "new" when it isn't and making it show up on agent "Hot Sheets". It drives me crazy because how can you get decent statistics on the market when have the new listings are really just re-listings of the same listings that got cancelled. this week was particularly bad with that... of the 12 ‘new' listings, 1/3 were actually re-listings of cancelled listings. Some had major price changes but some had no change or only minor changes (like a $500 price increase.. woopety-doo!)

The minor price change issue was fixed by the MLS... agents can be fined for trying to fool the system and other agents with it. Looks like someone should take a closer look at the cancelled listings, now.

There is a variation on this, and it bugs me too.... its the ‘purposefully let your listing expire, and then relist it' approach. Can't do much about that, since listing genuinely expire.... and even I've accidentally missed a date. But, for some agents its common enough that its clear its on purpose... again, primarily to make their listings show up in the hot sheet.

Why should you care if you are a client?

Good question. One might argue that your agent is working hard for you by trying to cheat the system. what's the saying? If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'!

But, what happens if you need your agent to give you an accurate picture of what is going on in the market place? If 1/3rd of the listings are not really new, then maybe there isn't as much competition coming online as it seems. Or if a bunch of cancelled listings are getting re-listed, maybe the competition isn't going away. The point is, it breaks the system for everyone because the data gets skewed.

Anyway, just one those things that bugs me when I see it. I always wonder about the overall ethics of the persons involved. Are they making honest mistakes? (Are the competent then?) Or, does it just seem like a ‘white lie' to them? Where does their honest start/stop?

Thanks for listening! (Reading?)

Jason Hershey, Commercial Agent
Commercial Sales and Leasing
CENTURY 21 North Homes Realty, Inc.
13322 Hwy 99 South, Suite #201
Everett, WA 98204

Cell: 425-417-5389
Fax: 425-223-3148
www.nwcommercialre.com
jasonhershey.activerain.com

@PlumCrazyRE