RMLS Status
By Charles TurnerWhat does Active, Bumpable, Pending, Withdrawn, Canceled, and Expired mean in Oregon real estate? RMLS codes each listing according to status:
Active: The property is on the market and does not have an accepted offer.
Bumpable: There is an accepted offer but it is contingent. If the seller gets an offer they would rather accept, the buyer that is bumpable usually has 24-72 hours to remove the contingency and proceed with the sale or the seller can accept the other offer. Read more.
Pending: There is an accepted offer. The seller cannot accept another offer. The best a second buyer can do is a back up offer in the hope that the sale fails.
Withdrawn: The listing is not on the market but the listing is still “owned” by the listing agent. The seller cannot list with another agent. The expectation is that the home will come back on the market or will expire soon.
Canceled: The home has been removed from the market and the seller is free to relist with another agent.
Expired: Listings all have an expiration date. When that day arrives, the listing expires and it may be relisted with another agent.
I’m curious what the typical practice is regarding expiration dates and whether they are typically negotiable.
When my wife and I go to sell we’ll be pretty much forced to go with an agent as we live in a gated subdivision and anyone wanting to even just drive by will need an agent to open the gate. Our HOA also prohibits rentals so once we vacate we will be continuing to pay mortgage on an empty house as well as property maintenance and water (we have a large lot to water in the summer here in Texas). So we will not want to leave the house empty and unsold for very long if at all. At the same time, we are expecting a new baby this spring and will have both sets of grandparents staying with us so we really don’t want the house listed and on the market during that time. So we probably don’t want to list it until we are almost ready to move.
It occurs to me that one way to light a fire under my listing agent is to demand a short contract so that they stand a chance of losing the listing if they don’t get it sold in a timely manner. I’m trying to understand all of the things that are typically (or potentially) negotiable. My inclincation is to demand a short listing contract with an option for automatic renewal if I am happy. Certainly no longer than 3 months.
FYI, we are probably going to be relocating from Texas to PDX this coming summer which is why I’m reading this blog.
I’ll only speak for Oregon since I can’t really comment on Texas real estate.
The listing period is negotiable and could be for any amount of time. We wouldn’t take a listing for less than 90 days (typically our listings are six months). We pay all marketing costs and only get paid if the house sells. Less than 90 days puts us at a risk that we are not willing to accept. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. If the seller is having a fire sale and is under pricing the house the risk would be acceptable as the offers would be sure to role and we could cherry pick the best.
A typical closing is 30 days. It is totally reasonable to have a house on the market 30 days. In Portland, for December, average time on market was 41 days. If we got an offer on day 30 with a 30 day close everything would be dandy. If the sale fails, the house goes back on the market and has to resell and go through the process again. Regardless of how brilliant your Realtor is, there are things out of our control.
The seller ultimately decides the listing price. If the Realtor feels it is too high, they may take the listing but want a longer listing period to secure the sale and price reductions. Shooting for top (overpriced) dollar and a short listing is bad business for the Realtor.
We’re methodical about how we list a house. The fire should be there anyways. If your Realtor is a pushover when it comes to listing your property, how do you think they will do negotiating your sale?
There are no awards for collecting listings. It only matters if they sell!
Let us know when you are ready to make the move! We’ll work with your Realtor down there to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.