We the hard-working, entrepreneurial, passionate and professional members of the NWMLS and concerned buyers and sellers of Washington real estate are seeking to solve a problem in our current market. Over the past month there has been an overwhelming number of agents submitting and accepting offers before the advertised offer review date. 

We believe this behavior does the following:

•Removes listings before all parties get a chance to compete.

•Puts an unnecessary obligation on listing agents to show the seller and possibly force that agent to call every agent who’s shown the house disrupting the communicated timeline on the NWMLS and creating a rush experience for buyers.

•Creates a culture of overwork as agents are forced to constantly work at all hours out of fear of missing out on a house as it may go off market before it’s suppose to if they rest for just a moment.

•Creates unnecessary inefficiency and distrust between listing agents and selling agents as there is fear that listing agents won’t hold to the offer review date.

This behavior throws every person involved in the process into a scramble, thus creating a more chaotic and stressful experience for all.

OUR ASK

The NWMLS create an OPTION to prohibit any early offer from being submitted before the offer review date. In the event that an agent disregards this request we ask the NWMLS to reprimand in fine said individual. 

While we recognize every transaction is nuanced we believe as real estate professionals the expediency of this market would be more manageable for all parties involved if a mandatory offer review date hold optioned were available. We believe the choices we make today create the future we will live in tomorrow.

View my full blog post HERE.