VLS site: how determine how long it's been for sale?

[MplsPete]

Tia.

[retiredguy123]

Send a message to the listing agent from the website listing. However, they may only tell you the duration of the current listing contract.

[asianthree]

Send a message to the listing agent from the website listing. However, they may only tell you the duration of the current listing contract.

Yep what he said. Agent will give you end date, however it may have been listed, removed and relisted. Or it could have previously been with a mls agent.

Only way to know for sure, when you find a house keeps stats. You can also go to county website to see when it was sold last.

[Dusty_Star]

Agree with AsianThree, keep your own spreadsheet.

[CarlR33]

Agree with AsianThree, keep your own spreadsheet. Agree, I have followed homes that have been for sale for a while and all of a sudden they appear as “newest” on the VLS listing feed. If your truly interested in a home go see it first at the open house and ask the agent “so what is the story with this home been for sale long”. You can then gauge their reaction, etc.

[vintageogauge]

What difference does it make. If you want to make a lowball offer just make it then you'll know.

[Snakster66]

Yeah I would track the VLS numbers and start to get a sense of how many weeks for a particular range. Follow them and note when numbers hit the market.

Now…the house we are buying next week was on VLS for 1 day. But it was on MLS for a while before they switched over. Pay attention is the takeaway here.

[MplsPete]

Send a message to the listing agent from the website listing. However, they may only tell you the duration of the current listing contract.

Or they may simply lie:
I went to an open house, and asked the agent, "How long has the home been on the market?" "Only a couple of weeks," was the answer, suggesting it went on sale in early July. As I casually looked at the folder of info on the table, I saw a document related to selling, signed by the owner, dated 3/31.

[retiredguy123]

Or they may simply lie:
I went to an open house, and asked the agent, "How long has the home been on the market?" "Only a couple of weeks," was the answer, suggesting it went on sale in early July. As I casually looked at the folder of info on the table, I saw a document related to selling, signed by the owner, dated 3/31.
Correct. "Days on market" is an official data tracking statistic that the real estate industry regularly uses to evaluate the real estate market. However, selling agents often try to hide this statistic or they just lie about it to potential customers. The only way to really find out the statistic is to find an "honest" real estate agent.

[onfire]

The VLS database has a field for listing date, not sure if that is what you are looking for.

https://iili.io/dVxtcYl.jpg

[retiredguy123]

The VLS database has a field for listing date, not sure if that is what you are looking for.

https://iili.io/dVxtcYl.jpg
I don't think so. An agent will share information about a current listing contract. However, they also know about previous listing contracts that were used to try to sell the house. That information is used by real estate market analysts to calculate "days on market" data and to track market trends. Real estate agents will often hide that information for a specific house from prospective buyers.

[Snakster66]

The VLS database has a field for listing date, not sure if that is what you are looking for.

https://iili.io/dVxtcYl.jpg

Oooh, I've not seen this before. Is it a public database? If so, where might one find it?

[onfire]

Oooh, I've not seen this before. Is it a public database? If so, where might one find it?

The screenshot is from an Excel I generated. "Market Date" is the original listing date on VLS, but of course for a resale it's possible the house was on MLS previously.

[MikeN]

VLS is very secretive about sales info. Not at all helpful and not sure why. If you’re interested in buying or selling for that matter they are NOT helping anyone with the lack of information

[retiredguy123]

VLS is very secretive about sales info. Not at all helpful and not sure why. If you’re interested in buying or selling for that matter they are NOT helping anyone with the lack of information
MLS is not much different from VLS in terms of sharing information about how long a seller has been trying to sell their house. If a house has been on the market for more than a year, agents don't want potential buyers to know it.

[seecapecod]

Tia.

You will also never see original listing price against any any price reductions like you see on Zillow-

[Mrmean58]

Tia.

Ah. VLS does not provide tons of data a home shopper could get from other MLS services or other Internet real estate data based. Days on market is one as well as the closing price as VLS does not report transactions to realtor.com nor Zillow. Since the developer new home sales competes with pre owned sales, they feel too much public information can be detrimental to their sales.

[retiredguy123]

Ah. VLS does not provide tons of data a home shopper could get from other MLS services or other Internet real estate data based. Days on market is one as well as the closing price as VLS does not report transactions to realtor.com nor Zillow. Since the developer new home sales competes with pre owned sales, they feel too much public information can be detrimental to their sales.
The closing price and the date of the closing for all houses can be seen on the county real estate website.

[Villager1234]

MLS is not much different from VLS in terms of sharing information about how long a seller has been trying to sell their house. If a house has been on the market for more than a year, agents don't want potential buyers to know it.

You can see MLS listings, how long on market, pricing changes
Just go to Zillow or realtor.com also shows recent sales with selling price not listing price
You have to squeeze that info out of a village sales rep

[Normal]

The closing price and the date of the closing for all houses can be seen on the county real estate website.

Yes, it gives the numbers no one can dispute. When spending large amounts of money on a home, it’s worth the 10 minutes to figure out.

[retiredguy123]

You can see MLS listings, how long on market, pricing changes
Just go to Zillow or realtor.com also shows recent sales with selling price not listing price
You have to squeeze that info out of a village sales rep
There are actually two calculations for "days on market" that the real estate industry tracks:

"Days on Market (DOM) provides a look at how long the current listing has been actively marketed. This is the time when buyers can view the listing online and make offers on the property. It starts and stops calculating, depending on the statuses you use throughout the life of your listing.

The Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM) offers a more comprehensive view of how long the property has been actively marketed. It provides the sum of Days on Market for all listings associated with the same property, when the listing is expired or withdrawn and relisted multiple times by any office, and when there are 60 days or less between the end of one listing and the start of another."

Whenever I have asked an agent for information about the CDOM, they have avoided my question by claiming that they don't know. This is the information that some selling agents do not want potential buyers to know about because a house that has been on the market for a long time is harder to sell.

[genobambino]

Compare the VLS number to the latest ones listed, that will give you a pretty good idea.

[Snakster66]

The screenshot is from an Excel I generated. "Market Date" is the original listing date on VLS, but of course for a resale it's possible the house was on MLS previously.

I see, so you just enter in the info manually as listings post? That's a pretty good idea and one I've contemplated myself. Sure beats trying to remember a date range for a VLS number range with my fading brain capacity.

[APovi]

Tia.

No better source of info than the owner(s).
Contact source? Villages Directory, neighbors, Google Serach, Mail Property Card address (and others).
PS* As previously posted, please don't sign a Buyers Broker Agreement. One provision is that you would owe that Realtor a Buyers Broker Commission, whether you buy from them or not!

[mmbella]

The VLS database has a field for listing date, not sure if that is what you are looking for.

https://iili.io/dVxtcYl.jpg

Where did you find this spreadsheet? I would love to be able to create the spreadsheet.

[onfire]

VLS is very secretive about sales info. Not at all helpful and not sure why. If you’re interested in buying or selling for that matter they are NOT helping anyone with the lack of information

They publish quarterly data (market reports), so I wouldn't say they are secretive.

[Holpat39]

Get the address off the listing and google Zillow.com. It will show original date of purchase, first time on market, how many times listed and removed,, prices of each time listed and property taxes.

[onfire]

I see, so you just enter in the info manually as listings post?

No, it is linked to the VLS. If you are proficient in Excel it isn't difficult, and refreshing the data is automatic.

Where did you find this spreadsheet? I would love to be able to create the spreadsheet.

I can email you the Excel, send me a PM with your address.

[Pairadocs]

What difference does it make. If you want to make a lowball offer just make it then you'll know.

IMHO and in my experience when buying, it DOES make a difference (in most cases, I'm sure there are exceptions). For instance, rather than just "spit in the wind), homes for sale for 3 months or more are much more likely be open to a "low ball" as you term it, offer.

[Pairadocs]

Tia.

That's why I LOVE Zillow over the properties of the VILLAGES site. They tell you exactly how long the property has been on the market, AND also have a complete history tab so you can see exactly how many times it has been bought and sold, the price paid, etc. etc. And, so MANY other aspects (details) the Villages homes for sale lacks. I hate having to call for every little detail that could be easily included by using a format similar to Zillow's.

[JRcorvette]

Tia.

Nope… they are very secretive about their listings. Once it is pending or sold they don’t publish the price either like every other MLS site

[Snakster66]

Nope… they are very secretive about their listings. Once it is pending or sold they don’t publish the price either like every other MLS site

True, but you can find the sell price when it posts to the county website. And ultimately you can see it on sites like zillow after it has closed.