New, active listings must start scheduling showings in less than 48 hours, otherwise it’s a coming soon listing with marketing (Coming Soon Addendum) or a delayed listing without marketing (Delayed Listing Addendum).  Coming soons can be an effective and transparent strategy to deal with high levels of demand to get buyer’s agents appointments scheduled – but it is really important that you classify the listing correctly in MLS and marketing (and most importantly, that you honor the terms to wait on ALL showings until the date that all have access).  If you take it one step further and use those Realtor-to-Realtor remarks to clarify showing and offer presentation details if known, that increases the transparency – which benefits your seller client with full and fair exposure. (note you must upload the coming soon addendum with the Exclusive right to Sell, or email it to Listings@BerkshireRealtors.org

NEW CLARIFICATION:  Failing to classify a listing as active, coming soon, delayed or office exclusive properly:  $250 first offense; $500 second offense, Additional offenses will be administratively assessed after a hearing with the MLS Board, the Participant, and the offending user; per Section 7 of the Rules and Regulations.

You may have seen a few listings coming on the market with remarks saying that it couldn’t be shown until a future date… staff followed up immediately in those circumstances to convert the listing to a coming soon status or to make the listing available for showing immediately. It’s very important in this tight market that we are being as transparent in our showing process because it is under great scrutiny by all the buyers who are frustrated with this lack of inventory. We’re trying to make “Clear Cooperation” clear.  Here are the MLS Policies and the video (less than an hour of your time can save you $$$) in case you need a refresher!   Thanks so much.