Exclusive Or 'Pocket' Listings Are On The Rise

With inventory as tight as it is in Southern California, I am definitely seeing a huge rise in listings that aren't released to the MLS until they are already under contract between buyer and seller.

A few different thoughts on my end, and would love to hear yours as well.

We all discuss, network, and share our new listings within our company, our professional groups, and our personal data base. All good, right? Yes, and no. When it hits the MLS, and it's already in Pending.......so many disappointed buyers are seen. Ones that haven't even been given the opportunity to present an offer to the seller(s).

To serve our sellers, we market it in as broad an area as possible, right? To get them the most amount of money, right? If it's not released to the MLS, I don't feel that we are.

If the funds are tight for seller proceeds, we reduce commission and market it ourselves to bring in a buyer. Okay, that's a great reason for an exclusive. Or, if the seller has personal reasons for not releasing it to the MLS.

If we put it on the MLS, present all offers, and the agent we network with brings the best? That's the one we should guide our seller to accept, right? I believe so.If it really is the best.

True, we as agents, may have to wade through a lot more offers if it goes on the MLS allowing all buyers to view and write offers, but that's our job, is it not?

I may piss off a few of my associates, but I'd like to see a lot less listings be entered in the MLS with a Pending status, when it was only in as Active for a mere second or two....as long as it takes to hit the keystrokes required to change from Active to Pending.