Since inception, the MLS was defined as participating in cooperation and the offer of compensation between brokers. The second half of compensation has been carved away for now. What we have left is cooperation. In my business, I see how cooperation helps consumers daily. There’s an opportunity for MLSs to help seller financing for repairs to maximize the seller’s home value and reduce problems in every transaction.
Clear Cooperation, handled improperly, starts the clock on a listing before it’s ready for sale. Clear Cooperation today means shoving every listing into the MLS within days of writing a contract. A marketing network that reaches the widest possible audience of serious buyers, I suspect that the total addressable audience across all MLSs is nearly 100% of all active buyers who are in a window of buying in the next 30 days. That’s what the seller wants when their home is market ready, not the day they sign the listing contract.
Almost all homes need some work. Sellers get about $4 for every $1 spent on detailing, and there are great firms now that do the work fast. In real estate, detailing means sharpening the visual appearance of the house and fixing any broken parts. The Clear Cooperation mandate in many markets undermines this effort, if MLS marketing is forced to launch too soon.
Data overwhelmingly demonstrates that agents who offer pay-later funding for improve-to-sell service win more deals because they provide tangible value that reduces the stress for homeowners. Most sellers have the equity, but not the cash in their pocket, so we front the money for repairs, staging, moving, etc. It’s vital to help the customer maximize returns, sell faster and mitigate lowering the cost due to problems at closing. There should be cooperation so that it doesn’t go out in the MLS until it’s ready.
You only get one chance to make a first impression. The MLS needs to be a partner to the broker and allow them to catalog the existence of a contract while not letting the home appear as though it’s been on the market when getting prepared to sell. Some MLSs have exotic statuses for this, although many do not. It’s time to rethink Clear Cooperation, or eliminate it and start over.
In this new era where compensation is no longer part of the MLS, other considerations come into play. The brokerage may want to give their buyer’s agents a chance to look at the company’s inventory first. If the seller isn’t reaching the widest audience, but they’re informed (and the MLS has documentation speaking to this strategy), it should be fine. It’s what they want and what their broker believes is best for the situation.
Every MLS should support this. Let the broker do the work for the seller to maximize the first impression together. That’s clear cooperation in its purest form.
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