Pocket Listing? Think Again.

Should your agent suggest selling your home as a pocket listing, beware. It may sound tempting — no open houses required. Rather than appearing publicly on the MLS, a pocket listing is, at best, circulated in-house at your agent’s real estate firm and maybe whispered to a handful of colleagues from other brokerages. Then the buyer is likely handpicked by your agent.

For high-profile sellers hoping to avoid publicity or for those fishing for an exorbitant price, pocket listings may make sense. For the rest of us, not so much. Your home’s market value can’t be established without the full exposure to buyers that the MLS propagates to numerous real estate websites and portals. How do you know if you’re getting the best price possible if you rely on just a single agent to establish it? Some real estate firms use pocket listings and “coming soon” teasers to draw clicks to their website. These agents may get a double commission on a pocket listing when they represent the seller as well as the buyer they’ve chosen. But even these agents lose out in the long term—open houses and MLS listings generate relationships with other agents, buyers, and sellers that translate into future business. Pocket listings are secret deals, worked behind closed doors.

At Nourmand & Associates we get top dollar for our clients in a competitive and transparent process. That means giving our properties full exposure to the market unless there’s good reason not to, and using our extensive network of local and international contacts to target qualified buyers and agents. Our clients receive premium service from the start and a premium sale price at the finish. No gimmicks. No secrets. Just smart business.