To all the agents in the house,
Pssst! Whisper listings are back, if they ever left in the first place.
Last spring, as you may recall, the National Association of Realtors implemented "Clear Cooperation," a ban on member agents who decline to post listings on their local Multiple Listings Services.
The NAR decreed homes must go on the MLS within 24 hours after they are marketed, with "marketed" meaning everything from a "For Sale" yard sign to agents emailing about the property.
Local NAR affiliates can levy $5,000 fines for the first off-market listing -- which agents here in Los Angeles call a "pocket listing" but kids back east term a "whisper listing" -- and larger penalties after that.
The ban caused an uproar and then a shrug in L.A. First, Realtors complained it would be unsafe and unseemly for LeBron James or Jeff Bezos to have their privacy violated by a public listing.
Then, luxury agents found they could still do deals off-market without facing an NAR investigation. (The agents I have spoken with justify this practice by stating they were never technically marketing the properties.)
But it's not just the upper crust of real estate where off-market listings take place.
During "R4," RE/MAX's annual convention this week, agents facing a dearth of inventory are being advised to look off-market. A good buy-side agent, noted RE/MAX agent Cleve Gaddis of Atlanta, must find available homes not on the MLS.
So my question is, how -- if at all -- did Clear Cooperation deter whisper listings? Did whisper listings briefly go away and then return?
And if they are whisper listings now, are agents being more discreet about them?
We are doing some reporting on this subject at HousingWire, so I'd be very interested in both your observations (and practices) regarding whisper listings, and your thoughts about the merits of Clear Cooperation. Please email me at mblake@housingwire.com -- your anonymity is presumed.
And thank you for the continual stream of thoughtful responses from across the country to these questions. I am learning a tremendous amount about real estate just from reading your emails.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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