Pocket Deed is a new property listing service which is taking the US by storm. As NC Real Estate likes to be completely ahead of the game I have looked across the pond and asked the question is there really a better way of buying and selling property?
Guest Blog Written by Danny Stevens of Pocket Deed – [email protected]
Follow Danny on Twitter @Pocket_Deed
Why are Pocket Listings so Popular in the United States?
In the UK housing market, many home owners and investors can find themselves casting envious glances over to the United States, Why? Because people over there have adapted the real estate market to deliver a new form of home selling; pocket listings.
Pocket listings mean taking yourself off what Americans refer to as the Multi-listing-system (MLS), like Rightmove / Zoopla / On The Market in the UK. This system means you get listed on loads of different directories but this doesn’t necessarily mean you will sell your property any quicker.
Pocket listings (or exclusive listings) allow for people to sell to a specific group of buyers. No longer will sellers have to pay listing fees to greedy estate agents.
So, why is that so important?
Selling to Buyers
When you try and sell a home using a MLS, you get plenty of ‘chancers’. People who turn up just to have a look, with no real intention of buying. Or buyers who are looking to negotiate the price down as low as they can get it!
When using pocket listings, your property is being offered to an exclusive group of buyers who are eager to buy. So you cut out the time wasters and the hagglers!
Pocket Listing eliminates the problem of dealing with glorified window shoppers, which saves you time.
Time is Money
With pocket listing sellers are pricing to sell. No longer will estate agents be over inflating prices and encouraging weeks or even months of negotiation.
The difference is time. As the price is right sales get put through quickly and easily.
Furthermore, Pocket Listing is the sole agent, they act for both the buyer and the seller, agreeing the deal and getting it through legal’s quickly.
Both sellers and buyers save money in third party fees, and crucially for sellers money is saved in property holding costs. When you need to move you don’t want to be hanging around.
Difference in Price Between Selling on a MLS vs Pocket Listing
It’s definitely not as much as you think! Property prices are typically sold for 3-5% less as a pocket listing. But sellers are compensated in all the time and money they save, and have the advantage that they are never going to be bartered down to a ridiculously low price in an attempt for a desperate sale after months of being on a MLS.
Why is this an incredible way of buying / selling property?
For active buyers and investors, they are presented with properties whereby the sellers need to sell them quickly at the listing price. For sellers, they have a place where they can list directly to active buyers, meaning a quick, efficient and cheap sale.
The overall time and usefulness of using a pocket listing cannot be underestimated. In the future this is likely to come to the UK, too, so British sellers should keep their fingers crossed until it arrives!
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Is this a service you would be interested in seeing in the UK? Did you like what Pocket Deed has to offer? Let me know in the comments section below. Also if you have any questions for Danny directly I have included his contact details with the blog.
NC
