Why on Earth Would You Sell Off-Market?

Here’s a quick story: there’s a home in our neighborhood that is going to be for sale soon.  I learned about it when talking with a neighbor who’s sister currently rents the home from out of state owners.  I tracked down the owners and they redirected me to their realtor.  To make a long story short, on my first call I heard “it won’t likely be on the market for a while” followed by “I have a lot of people interested but you can tell your buyers if it goes on the MLS” on my second call.  “If it goes on the MLS?”  WHAT!?!

Let me get this straight…

  • Inventory is currently less than 3 months worth of supply, in what is supposed to be the “buying season” in local real estate.
  • There is a scarcity of homes available under $1.4m in the micro Valmonte market, and most of those that are available are on PV Drive North, the busiest street in the neighborhood.
  • The similar homes that have sold so far have received multiple offers and have sold in less than 2 weeks

So why would you sell off market?

So what would seem like ideal conditions to get the most exposure for the home, you are going to try and sell it off market first?  That’s simply nuts.  Unless of course the seller doesn’t want the extra money.  Even if that is the case, for Pete’s sake, donate the extra $50k you’ll get in a bidding war!

What can we learn from this?  If you are thinking of selling your home, and unless you receive an unsolicited offer for more than the appraised price or your so called “Buy it Now” price, do yourself a favor, sell it in the open market using the MLS!

Note: The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a service agents subscribe to where other agents list homes for sale with details about the home, price, and basic terms of the sale.  In most cases, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin all get their listing information in a feed from local MLS’s.  It is akin to selling your product on Amazon.com.  Everyone can see it’s for sale.

 

For more information, call/email/text us to help answer your questions or discuss your next real estate sale or purchase.

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