Tucson MLS Co-op Fee - Action Taken
July 26, 2007
Post Tags: Tucson-MLS-Co-op-Fee , Tucson-MLS-Statistics
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It doesn’t appear they took much thought to the consequences at first glance anyway, but they certainly did take action.
Here is the memo I found when I logged in this morning. No I don’t log in every day, I’m a lowly assistant so I didn’t see the impact of this move which to me is truly UNBELIEVABLE !
7/24/2007 Co-Op Fee - Action Taken ***PLEASE READ****
On Monday, July 23, at approximately 10:00am, we ran a file that pulled all listings that did not contain a % or $ sign on the commission field of the listing. These listing we then changed to a status of Withdrawn Temp. If your listings were included, you can revise your listing to include a $ or % sign in the commission field of the listing and then change the listing status from Withdrawn Temp back to an active status. Thank you for your cooperation.
Why would they do this?
Here is a guess. Without clarification of an entry of 3 for the co-op fee it would be possible for someone to say, “Oh, no the co-op fee isn’t 3 percent, it is $3.00″ Most real estate agents can’t afford to go through a complete transaction process for $3.00 and any agent that can afford it probably isn’t working actively in real estate.
Why Now?
All we have is speculation.
The short term result. 3000 listings were effected by being set to Withdrawn Temp. Yep, about a 1/3 of everything in the Tucson MLS System. This has already been reported on My Tucson Blog and the possible effects on buyers and sellers.
Since I spend a great deal of time each month working on the Tucson MLS Statistics and Absorption rate reports I hope, (but doubt) this was taken into account for the statistical reporting and special routines were put into place to put these 3000 listings in a special category so they won’t be skewing the statistics when they are released for July.
I’m just shaking my head over this one. If they didn’t take this action into account on the statistics it will render any statistical reporting from the Tucson MLS for July 2007 almost worthless, for everything except Pending under contract, and Total Units Sold, the rest of the data . . .
And if this is the case it will skew the reporting for July 2008 by which time I’m sure most will have forgetten what a botched mess the July 2007 report was and the statistics will be reported as if normal.
I hope, I hope, I hope this isn’t the case.
July 26th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I read this yesterday on the Housechick’s blog. My guess is that they are doing their darn best to skew the statistics lately. This one doesn’t even seem to be in favor of making things look fine and dandy… It is a head-scratcher.
I’ve never seen commissions showing. Can’t see them on the listings left alone, either. Or is this just in-house data available only to agents?
July 26th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Concerned,
They don’t care about the statistics. Honestly I don’t think they even entered their mind in the decision.
It is in-house data only provided to the agent, and brokerages. Before there were Multiple Listing Services every brokerage had their own listings and you could only buy a home they listed through them. Since the advent of the Multiple Listing Service the brokerages have agreed to share the data and information with other brokerages and provide a co-op fee to the other brokerage should they bring a buyer to the listing brokerage.
Many MLS Systems won’t even allow the inputting of a co-op without a $ or % sign. Something like I suggested above probably happened, where once the transaction was closed a buyer’s agent received a check for $3. But that is just a guess.
A much better approach would have been to issue a fine to all agents not clarifying the $ or % on their listings for each day it wasn’t corrected.
Instead the Draconian approach was used creating havoc and chaos.
There isn’t anyway the Tucson MLS cares about the statistic or statistical reporting. This is just one small nuisance to them in the day to day workings of the MLS. I say that because of they did care they wouldn’t be so cavalier in their approach to the numbers. More often than not the statistics are not in their favor, but they don’t seem to care.
And you have to remember the context in which these reports are issued. They only contain data from inside the MLS system. Therefore, it isn’t all of the Tucson Housing Market, or Tucson’s New Construction, it is just the Tucson MLS data used for the basis of their reports.
I just try and make some sense of it each month and do my best to keep the apples to apples comparisons so everyone interested can get a snapshot of what the market it like.
In a city the size of Tucson even the report as a whole needs to be broken down into areas since some areas have a 4 month supply of homes and some a 15 month supply. The old saying, “All real estate is Local” should probably be revised to “All Real Estate is Hyper-local”.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Hi Dave!!!
Well, what do we have here? I don’t know much about this co-op stuff, but I do know that the TAR® is definitely not in the business of accurate reporting. Why should they?
If they were truly accurate, the picture would be very bleak for Tucson. You know this. I know this. Heck, just about everyone I talk to these days knows this.
I never did trust the reports to begin with. I like Strobeck’s numbers a lot more. He has no vested financial interest in the housing market, other than reporting the truth. I just wish his reports didn’t cost so much.
I have been thinking about starting a blog to run anathema to this and use donations to purchase Strobeck’s data. I have a few people that are really interested… what do you think?
I think I would have a major problem with RE industry folks of Tucson… similar to the guy (tucsonhousingbubble.com) who got the cease and desist from the corrupt TAR®.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
bobby joe,
There is no doubt John Strobeck’s numbers are going to provide a more complete picture. He uses sources from thought the city and county reporting back to permit applications etc.
August 4th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Hi Dave!
Are you paying attention yet? Its on, and the show hasn’t even made to the the title screen.
August 4th, 2007 at 11:43 am
bobby joe,
I have no idea what you are talking about. “The Bourne Ultimatum?”
August 4th, 2007 at 11:46 am
bobby joe,
Here is the problem with John Strobeck’s numbers. You can’t use them. They are his and copywrite prevents you or me from using them.
He sells those numbers in his subscriptions so he isn’t going to allow anyone to buy just one copy of his numbers and republish them on a blog or website.
August 4th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Hi Dave -
I’m talking about the Mortgage industry meltdown. The credit crunch. Have you seen how many lenders have pulled the plug this week? NovaStar is suspending operations until Tuesday next week. Wells Fargo just sent the rates to the moon. The dollar continues to get pounded. And finally, Jim Cramer losing it on national TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd5zAbDKZEg
Shall I go on?
August 4th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
bobby joe,
So what does any of this have to do with mls removing listings from their database?
Just pulling your leg a bit. Yes it was rough week for both the stock market and the mortgage industry. There are scrabbles going in and the Fed is being pressured to reduce interest rates. We are busy selling and listing homes and Tucson as usual goes on it’s own merry way.
We will all wait to see what this next week brings. It isn’t boring, is it?
bobby joe, have a great weekend.
August 4th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
You too Dave! I wish you the best…
August 10th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Loving this blog!
You should also see what Jonathan from Phienix has to say in today’s open letter to NAR.
http://www.daltonsazhomes.com/blog/20070810/open-letter-to-nar-and-the-local-associations-of-realtors/
July 7th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
My Home in Green Valley is FOR SALE by OWNER.
However I am more than willing to pay a 3% Co-OP Fee to any realtor that brings me a Buyer.
Would I be able to get on that Tucson Multi List 3% thing you are talking about?
Thank You!
Jim Simmons
gREEN vALLEY
July 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Jim,
What we are talking about is entering the coop fee. There were some entering 3 and when the buyers agent later was told it was $3 not 3%.
This had to be stopped. It was. My understanding is the only way to get a property in the MLS system is for a member of the MLS to put it in.
There are some flat fee brokerages which “for a fee” will enter your property in the MLS system and that is all they do.
Jim, one of the best places you can put your home is in Craig’s List. You can upload pictures and describe your home include the 3% buyers agent commission on your listing.
There are other For Sale Buy Owner sites where you can enter your home.
Good Luck