The National Association of Realtor’s “Clear Cooperation Policy” was quietly enacted while the Coronavirus has dominated the news cycle.
This is a gigantic shift in the way I can pre-market residential property.
The Clear Cooperation Policy effectively disallows any pre-market “coming soon” advertising for new listings without the property being placed in the MLS under the new “Coming Soon” status.
Listing agents do not like it. Sellers should not either. I agree with its intent – to protect sellers so their property is made available to the broader market, and not sold by their listing agent without casting a wide net for buyers. I disagree with it dictating to a seller how their own personal property is subject to a set of selling rules.
Clear Cooperation works like this:
- You sign a listing agreement with a brokerage to sell your home.
- Any public marketing including a for sale sign, social media posts/ads, email to distribution list, postcards, etc. will require the listing being placed in the MLS within 24 hours under the MLS’s new “Coming Soon” status.
- The only private marketing the listing agent can perform without the MLS is advertising the property to other agents within its own brokerage.
- The home must be switched to an Active listing in the MLS within 30 days.
Reasons why I am not a fan:
- Forces a seller into a set of rules that may not align with their goals. Some sellers are more private than others. Some homes aren’t quite ready for sale, but the sellers’ personal situation or timing dictates advanced marketing.
- I use “Coming Soon” campaigns to gather crucial feedback on price, presentation, and market position. This way if my listings must go on MLS, they go on with this information already considered.
- It assumes that the listing agent cannot consummate a satisfactory sales price for the seller without the use of the MLS. The listing agent’s job is to procure the best price possible in the shortest amount of time. A local market expert with knowledge of who is in the buying market can often accomplish this goal without the hassle of the MLS, especially given the current Coronavirus landscape.
- The fines are massive. $250 per day starting July 6, and $500 per day per property starting Oct 6.
This is a rule created by the National Association of Realtors – this is NOT a guideline or rule implemented by the Arizona Department of Real Estate or any other authority or governing body. It also encourages agents to report other agents, creating animosity within the industry when we should be leaning on each other to assist our clients’ ability to transact real estate.
Rant over. As with any change in the industry, I have ways to make this work. 🙂 NAR’s new policy also makes selecting your brokerage – not just the agent – vital if a “Coming Soon” campaign is important to you. Launch Real Estate has one of the higher agent-to-agent cross sale percentages in the Scottsdale-Arcadia-Paradise Valley market.
Read more about NAR’s Clear Cooperation policy here and here.