I also learned that there are some other issues we need to immediately address. Many of you asked the question; "What constitutes a pending sale?" The Realcomp Board of Governors agreed that a property should be considered pending when all addendums and the purchase agreement are signed. In the case of bank-owned homes, as you know, this process can take quite a while. And, in the meantime, the property continues to show in the MLS with an active status. There are a couple of options that can be used in handling this situation.

First, the listing agent can report the property as "Contingent, Continue to Show" (CCS). This will allow for cooperating agents to know there is an offer pending but the owner (bank) wants the listing agent to continue to show the property and accept additional offers. In some cases, the bank does not want the property to show in a CCS status because it may deter agents from showing the property. Our MLS rules state that the CCS status is to be used when authorized by the seller.

The second option, when the CCS status is not authorized, is to make sure that the administrative staff or those who are responsible for scheduling or confirming appointments in the office are aware of the pending offers. Any cooperating agent scheduling an appointment for the property should be told that there is a pending offer that has not yet been accepted. They can then determine whether or not they still want to show the property.

By performing either of these tasks, you can save your fellow REALTORS^® a great deal of time, frustration and money!

I also heard from some of you on the subject of incomplete listing information. It appears that many of the listings that are submitted that are bank-owned are missing information. We are "cracking down" on those who submit listings with missing information or information that is obviously incorrect. In one example, a listing agent submitted several bank-owned properties that all had exactly the same information (i.e. room sizes, square footage, etc.) with just the address changed. While we cannot require all of the fields on each listing since they don’t all apply, you have a responsibility to make sure that the data you submit is complete and accurate. Doing otherwise is a tremendous disservice to your sellers, other REALTORS^®, and yourself and places our entire industry in a bad light. Let’s work together to correct this!

Let me know your thoughts on these issues and others that you regularly face. I want to know what we can do to help! I can be reached by phone at 248.699.9120 or by email.