Is that a listing in your pocket? Pocketlisting.net goes beyond the MLS

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Inquiry.net

Most every successful agent in residential and commercial real estate has at some point either had clients looking to quietly sell their property, or a buyer that needs something that is simply not available on MLS.

Up to now, those quiet sell listings have been called pocket listings, and as the name implies, kept basically under wraps. They might be shared within a brokerage via email or at meetings, but because brokerages in the past haven't communicated with each about these off market homes, the exposure for these pocket listings could go maybe to 200 agents, max. With such a limit on exposure, the chances are slim for an off market match to be made.

But what if agents could market these pocket listings to a few thousand of their colleagues, and get them out to the public but in a way that still allowed them to control the seller's information and privacy? Now, with Pocketlistings.net, they can.

Most sellers choose to pocket list their property because they do not want public exposure. In this economy that might be hard to fathom, but these are not sellers in a hurry. They do not want to put up a sign on their home; they're uninterested in people knocking on their door at dinnertime for a tour of the home; they loathe the idea of multiple open houses. They just want to sell....quietly.

Still, most agents argue for listing properties on MLS because without the apparent huge exposure MLS gets you, selling becomes difficult. Pocketlistings.net is going to change all that, offering considerable exposure to every post while still keeping the privacy secure. Essentially, the creators of the site want to kill the argument that pocket listing won't get you enough exposure to sell your home.

Pocketlistings.net bills itself as Craigslist meets Google meets Match.com (Reportedly, their next version will have much more of this matching) for off market, or not on MLS real estate opportunities. Since all data is user-generated, the agent and his or her client control how much, or how little to reveal. Addresses are not displayed, but photos may be (or not: totally up to the seller and agent). These posts are then searchable by factors such as city, state, zip, neighborhood, property type, or keyword.

Anyone can search Pocketlisings.net, opening a whole new world for properties that might meet your criteria if you can't find said properties on the MLS. But, in a move that puts the relevance back in Realtors, only an agent can access the contact info and/or photos on a post. That means buyers need agents to make use of this resource.

Upshot: If you are a buyer that has seen everything on MLS, your agent can also post a want ad specifying your needs in hopes of finding a match from a seller not listed on the MLS.

Pocketlistings.net's creators have made use of the rapidly advancing technology available to them. To increase exposure of each post, Pocketlistings.net feeds every post (pocket listing or buyer need) to their Twitter page (@PocketListings), where anyone can search and follow every post on their site, or posts for specific cities by using Twitter hashtags (#plyourcity). The site is also on Facebook, and in future versions will make much more use of social media.

For now, it is entirely free to post a pocket listing or buyer need, and to access contact information and photos-- but only if you are licensed real estate professional holding an active license in your area. So, no: no FSBOs.

Within its first two months of going live, the site has agents in Miami, Los Angeles, San Diego, Scottsdale, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Concord, Portola Valley, Indianapolis, Kansas, and many more areas. Here too Pocketlistings.net diverges from the MLS. Instead of having to get access to each city's individual MLS data, agents and buyers can access nationwide listings all in one place.

The founders of Pocketlistings.net put their service as follows:

The MLS online versions you see today are fashioned off of what they used to be when they were giant sized books (think phone books) that were delivered to different brokerages in each city and county. The thought process is still the same, but things have changed, and are getting a bit out of control.

Pocketlisting.net, in a nutshell, was founded with the intention to create a marketplace for non-MLS opportunities, and to keep any and all leads going right back to the original source: the agent that posted it. Because there is no feed to other sites, buyers will not see the days on the market (DOM) data that is tracked on homes listed publicly. Also, since agents alone control the information, formerly public info such as price reductions, property history, failed escrows, and apple-to-apple comparisons will no longer be problems that dog sellers and weaken their negotiating power.

Sure, some people will find this control infuriating. Knowing the DOM, the price reduction history- these factors give power to the buyer! But buyers too might enjoy access to homes not publicly listed, know that their agents have the freedom to negotiate everything (including commission), and they can offer on a property free from potential bidding wars and publicity.

In any case, no one should be surprised that Realtors have seen the writing on the wall. They handed their MLS information out to the world, and may have shot themselves in the foot in so doing. But as the industry changes and people perceive less need for agents, smart agents, with companies on their side, will change in ways that make them relevant again. Maybe Pocketlistings.net is going to pull off a real estate revolution? We'll have to stand by to see, especially when the creators launch their newest version, which will, to quote them directly "blow you away."

Everything from studios to single-family homes are already waiting to be discovered on Pocketlistings. Here are a few (click to visit them):

2. SF studio condo

3. Large Laguna Niguel (So. Cal) single-family

Posted By: Anna Marie Hibble (Email) | September 16 2010 at 10:05 AM

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