Secret off-market home sales — known as ‘pocket listings’ — are gaining popularity in real estate.
These homes for sale are only shared with a limited number of potential buyers and are not available on the main nationwide database where real estate agents and brokers share listings with each other.
Unlike traditional listings on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), these homes are only shared with select buyers. It keeps them off platforms like Zillow and Redfin, which show MLS listings to the public.
The key is for potential buyers to interview agents and choose an in-the-know buyer’s agent who has access to the off-market listings in their area.
And you may be able to score an off-market home of your own.
Realtor Izabela Kaufman, who specializes in off-market transactions, says pocket sales are happening more and more because they are fast and easy.
‘Agents have more flexibility and more power to do what the seller prefers,’ she tells Daily Mail.
‘At the end of the day, the seller should be able to decide how they want to sell their property, and a lot of people want a say on how that happens.’
Kaufman says for these pocket listings are mainly for sellers who want a quick sale without open houses or showing their home on multiple websites. This type of sale offer a discreet and efficient alternative.
For buyers, it means they can make an offer same day and avoid a bidding war with multiple other people who want to make offers on the home.
With no for sale sign in the yard and no MLS listing, no one will know you’re planning on selling
ealtor Izabela Kaufman, who specializes in off-market transactions, says pocket sales are happening more and more because they tend to be fast and easy
Buying an off-market home can be fast, easy, and can even save you money if you bid right
Finding pocket listings
Many seasoned agents have access to online networks that list off-market sales and properties not publicly listed. These ‘for sale by owner’ sites can’t be accessed by the general public. Kaufman runs one for agents in south Florida.
‘We show that invisible inventory,’ she explains.
‘When there are sellers that are either considering selling or selling and they just don’t want to go through the traditional process, we give them the platform to do that.’
Real estate company Compass lists their own off-market properties called ‘Compass Private Exclusives,’ that are only accessible to Compass agents and their serious buyers.
Potential buyers can also seek out real estate auctions that involve foreclosed properties and make a bid that way.
Many people also contact homeowners directly, asking if they want to sell or even making an offer they can’t refuse.
‘Even if there’s a willingness to sell, there’s no way for you to find out about it,’ Kaufman says.
‘There might be sellers that are about to list the property or considering it and maybe if they received an offer, they would.’
Pocket listing pros
If you bid on a private listing, you may pay a lower price because the seller might pay a lower real estate agent commission.
It also saves time. The traditional process from the time you find an agent to when the property is staged, photographed and listed usually takes a couple of weeks.
‘Pocket listings solves a couple of problems. We shorten that timeline, we give more power to the property sellers in a way that they can pose their property in a less formal way and in a more private way,’ Kaufman says.
‘You can post your property within a minute versus going through finding the right agent, interviewing the agents, and then the entire process of preparing the property and then listing the property.’
These private listings also keeps out curious people who want to peek into your home with no intention to buy it.
‘They’re not getting calls from people who are not able to buy their property and the property’s not exposed publicly,’ Kaufman says.
Sellers also get to test the market in a private sale.
‘In the buyer’s market, once your property is sitting on the market for, you know, 30, 60, 90 days, buyers will start to wonder why is this property not selling,’ Kaufman says.
‘So, they start seeing the price drops and they start seeing, you know, 180 days on the market, 200 days on the market. No one wants to touch that property then. Um, so we just prevent that from happening. The property is listed privately. We don’t show any price drop history. We don’t show any days on the market.’
Real Estate Law
A seller can still tell their agent to make a listing an ‘exclusive,’ which means the agent can do a word of mouth sale without putting it on the MLS or hanging a sign
Pocket listings are legal, but come with a policy.
For private listings, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) implemented the Clear Cooperation Policy in 2020, which requires agents to post a listing to the MLS within one business day of marketing it to the public, which includes a ‘for sale’ sign or online post about the property.
But a seller can still tell their agent to make a listing an ‘exclusive,’ which means the agent can do a word of mouth sale without putting it on the MLS.
The agent still has to file the listing with NAR and include a signed certification from the seller stating that they are refusing MLS services.
