The Seattle MLS (NWMLS) has added two fields to our listing input that will be invaluable in the current real estate market. We're finally freed from the tedious process of explaining our short sales and bank-owned REOs in the agent comments section. Even better, we won't have to search other agents' comments for the perfect phrasing that signifies what kind of homes they are listing.
The two fields are Bank-Owned/REO (with option yes/no), and 3rd party approval required (with options Short Sale/Other See Remarks/No). These new fields will be required to be filled out on all new listings, and will bring greater transparency for real estate professionals and the public.
It's not clear yet if this will become part of the data download available to members of the MLS. What that means, is that even though agents will be able to search the MLS for these terms, we may not be able to offer the same service to our clients on our public web sites. There are a number of current fields that are not displayed on public sites, mostly due to client privacy.
First and foremost, I'd implore the NWMLS to allow us to bring this information to our clients. When buyers and sellers understand more about these kinds of transactions, it will be better for all of us. The more knowledge we allow there to be gained by our clients, the better prepared they will be to work with us.
If the public data download doesn't come through, however, we will still see a great benefit from the new data fields. We have clients every day ask us for a list of foreclosures/bank-owned homes/short sales in their area. We'll now be able to say with certainty that we know which homes those are, and we'll save a lot of time doing it.
