When is the seller required to de-list MLS real estate?

Question

We have had a signed sales agreement on a property for two weeks, deposited an earnest deposit, took care of the home inspection and appraisals and noticed today that the MLS listing is still active. No mention that the property is under contract.

The seller informed us this week to our surprise that there was another offer on the house, which obviously came after our agreement and as a result of the failure of the seller's agent to de-list the property. When is the seller required to de-list the property from the public MLS?

Answer 1

It is an MLS requirement to change your property from "Active" to "Pending" immediately upon acceptance of an offer. Among other things, this causes it to drop from realtor.com. You should report the listing agent to the local MLS agency.



Failure to change status is punishable by fine. Repeated violation can cause them to lose MLS access.



As for refusing to fix, you have an inspection contingency. Law and practice requires them to perform good faith efforts to remedy discovered defects. Failure to do this renders them vulverable to lawsuit. They need to treat with you in good faith, and only if this offer falls apart are they permitted to consider the other offer. Someone needs to point that out to them through their agent.



I don't think a whole lot of your agent if they didn't do all of this. When I get an accepted offer for one of my clients, I'm checking MLS the next business day, and calling to remind the listing office if it still shows active. The day after that, I'm asking for the supervisory broker. The day after that, I'm on the phone to the local MLS agency, filing a protest. Yes, it makes me unpopular with scum. I have no responsibility to scum. My responsibility is to my clients.

Answer 2

First of all R.com is not the public MLS. The listing agent does not make the changes to status in R.com They do a download from the MLS of all the listings that have been OK'd to be on R.com. They do not download everyday but certainly would have downloaded several times over the 2 week period in question. When I have a home under contract I change the status to "Active/Contingent" and it will still be on R.com until all contingencies are removed and I change the status to "Pending".



The listing agent can continue to show the property (with disclosure of the current contract) to potential buyers with the sellers approval. The listing agent is obligated to present all offers to the seller up until the time you actually close on the property. Any acceptable offer would be considered a backup to yours.



Repairs are basically negotiable. Did you have a maximum dollar amount in your contract the the seller agreed too? If so, and it is under the $5000 he is not obligated to do the repairs. If not, he is not obligated to do the repairs. Now if he agreed to do up to $5000 in repairs and you are not asking for anything cosmetic or updating then he is obligated.



It all depends on how your contract read but no, the seller is under no requirement to take the house off the market after going under contract.

Answer 3

Some of the previous answers contain some very valid points, but they forget one very important factor: ALL REAL ESTATE LAWS VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. Sure there is a portion that applies accross the nation, but the nuances change in every state. In the state where I live and practice, items found deffective in an inspection do not have to be fixed by the seller. These defficencies do give the buyer a way out of their contract or possibly a means to renegotiate, but the seller is under no obligation to fix anything, only disclose what he knows.



As to the MLS situation/designation, this again depends on the contract that the seller has with his agent and the buyer as well as the practices and proceedures of the local MLS office. Maybe the proceedure in your area is that they continue to market the home until the close of escrow. This would include accepting back up offers,...



Now, regardless of where you are located, the seller can not unilatterally back out of the sale contract with you just because he received a better offer from someone else. If he does, then you could sue him for specific performance. However, if you change the contract in any way due to the results of the inspections (ask him to fix something not originally agreed to,...) the original contract is void. At that time he would be free to accept another offer.



The best thing is to contact your agent or his supervising broker if you have any questions. Because regardless of our intents, unless we see the actual contracts and agreements, there is no way to provide you with solid advice.

Answer 4

MLS rules vary depending on the state and local requirements. The listing agents responsibility is to be the best agent for his clients and get them the highest price. If he is allowed to show it as "under contract, accepting backups", "pending", or "active accepting backup offers", he should. You would want that to be the case if you were selling too. Realtor.com is not the MLS per say but rather cooperative display from many local multiple listings services (IDX). If he was required to make the change, shame on him, he could probably get some sort of fine if you complain to the MLS. But as far as the state goes, probably not much since he was doing his job.

By asking for concessions or repairs to the property because of an inspection you are attempting to make changes to the the contract. You have a right to continue with the purchase and they have a right to not do anything outside of the initial contract.

Count yourself lucky to know your buying a place other people want. It might cost you slightly more if you want more things done but its likely worth it. Most of the country is no longer seeing multiple offers.

Answer 5

What if the contract fell through? The listing should be changed to "under contract, continue to show for backup" or whatever the policy is with your agent's office, but this varies from state to state and broker to broker. When the property closes the listing should be changed to "sold". Once again, you should double check with your agent and/or your agent's broker. Why is the seller contacting you direct and not going through your agent? This raises some red flags in my book. Also, sometimes it takes several days for MLS updates on property status.

Answer 6

I don't believe the seller is required to de-list until you close on the property. I'm not 100% sure on this though. If you have a signed sales agreement, it shouldn't matter if another offer came in because when the sellers signed they became legally binded to sell you the property. If they sell it to someone else, you could sue them for breach of contract and recover the money you have spent thus far.

Answer 7

public MLS? There is no such thing and many time during the run up of the bubble many home were never put on the MLS, thus creating a false shortage. so price went up and the inventor's just jumped right in thus creating even more of a shortage, due to false information facts and this in turn inflated the bubble even more.





Your question is just the surface of the problem that there is nor Public MLS and it is often not up to date so the market is not a true market- ho there are other game such as re listing to show a fast sale and creating hype of a fast market. these game have relay put a lot of deception of the housing market and created a big bubble. check out this web site showing this and many other games that have created a big bubble and a scam on many that will hurt very bad and soon, as we all hear a big bang of a bursting housing bubble.



http://www.breakingbubble.com/index.htm