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.
Garreth Wilcock is an Austin EcoBroker. You can search Austin homes for sale at his website.
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.
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!
Garreth – Good luck in your area. Keep the pockets coming!
Great information. Thank you!
Thanks Mario – may your pockets always be deep and give you joy!. Thanks Ben – good luck with your new blog about Houston!