Spring Cleaning - Of Our Listing Practices

I’d like to offer a few tips to streamline the information in your listings and to improve communications with buyer agents. First tip, the Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement is not where the seller can state what appliances are included in the sale. In fact, it specifically states in paragraph 16, “THE FACT THAT AN ITEM IS LISTED DOES NOT MEAN IT IS INCLUDED IN THE AGREEMENT OF SALE”. I see this misunderstood by agents, buyers and sellers. See this PAR Just Listed Article for a deep dive into paragraph 16 of the SPD: https://www.parealtors.org/blog/an-explanation-of-paragraph-16-of-form-spd/

Instead of telling buyer agents to see what is stated on the Seller’s Disclosure (which is not correct) when they ask what appliances are included, use the appropriate fields in Bright MLS when you enter your listing. There is an “Inclusions” field and an “Exclusions” field. This is where you can state that the kitchen refrigerator, dehumidifier, workbench in the garage and shelves in the basement are included. This is also where you can state that the dining room light fixture, mirror over the powder rooms sink and lilac bush in the front yard are excluded from the sale. These two fields are shown in the “Remarks” section of the listing in BrightMLS, right above the Agent Remarks, they are easily found and helpful for buyer agents who are preparing an offer. Enter this information in BrightMLS and it will save you from getting extra calls and texts from agents who are looking for this information as they are preparing an offer.

Speaking of the Agent Remarks, this is the perfect place to offer pertinent information about the property and sale for buyer agents. The seller wants to close on their home on June 15? Put it in the Agent Remarks. You can include a deposit link for the buyers EMD or a disclaimer about the square footage calculation. You can include information about the single access code that is now available for our SUPRA lockboxes. You can refer agents to the listing documents with instructions to get the single access code. Here is a link to these documents. You can give parameters about when the seller will review offers. 

On the subject of offers, let’s review ways to communicate offers to buyer agents. Once you have confirmed the deadline plan with the seller, you can write the deadline in the Agent Remarks in Bright MLS. This helps agents who have not yet scheduled a showing understand the timeframe they are working with. Use Showing Time to communicate to all of the showing agents that an offer has been received. You can easily send an email to all of the showing agents when a deadline is set, or if there is a change to the timeline, or if you want to let agents know how many offers are in hand. If there is an offer in hand and the seller has set a deadline for offers, please communicate this with the showing agents, at the very least. Buyer agents do have the responsibility to contact the listing agent to find information like this out, but you can save yourself the multiple calls and texts and make this information known.

I’d like to shine a little more attention on the new single access codes that are available for our SUPRA lockboxes. Take some time to review the instructions so you are prepared to help a showing agent with this on a Saturday morning. You no longer have to use a combo lockbox on your listings to accommodate out of the area agents who don’t have Supra access. For less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you can grant access codes to these agents. Put notes about this in your Showing Time agent instructions and make sure to add a note in the agent remarks in Bright MLS. Get the instruction PDF’s and add them to the documents for all of your listings. Make it easy and clear to buyer agents that this is available.

As a listing agent, supplying comprehensive instructions, details, and information through BrightMLS and ShowingTime not only saves you time by avoiding individual inquiries but also streamlines the process for buyer agents. This proactive approach facilitates smoother showings and enables agents to craft offers tailored to meet your seller's needs.

Facts, opinions and information expressed in the Blog represent the work of the author and are believed to be accurate, but are not guaranteed. The Lancaster County Association of Realtors is not liable for any potential errors, omissions or outdated information. If errors are noted within a post, please notify the Association. Posts represent the author's opinion and are not necessarily the opinion of the Association.