Real Estate MLS Relisting Practices Make Real Estate Agents More Crucial

(PRWeb) March 12, 2007 -- GuideToRealty.com cautions home buyers against a deceptive real estate practice: using relisting to hide the actual "days on the market" (DOM) of aging properties. GuideToRealty.com's comprehensive real estate agent directory helps match buyers and sellers with the professional experts they need to understand how real estate multiple listing services may contain DOMs that make listings appear fresher than they really are (http://www.GuideToRealty.com). Altered DOMs render an important piece of buying information useless or potentially misleading, and only someone with detailed knowledge of the area's home market would know the difference.

GuideToRealty.com recommends that home buyers hire a qualified, local expert to guide them through the home buying process. Vice president John Spottiswood adds, "Local real estate agents will not only know the market, they'll know other realtors and be familiar with specific properties. That kind of expertise can make a big difference--and save you a lot of money--when buying a home." GuideToRealty.com offers a free service that matches consumers with top local real estate agents. (http://www.guidetorealty.com).

Carol Lloyd, a real estate columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, calls the practice "the real estate equivalent of turning the odometer back to zero." Despite the apparent deceptiveness of this practice, Lloyd points out that real estate professionals are split on whether or not it is ethical, creating what she calls a "gulf between the relisters and their critics."

Not only do opinions differ among professionals, but policies vary from region to region. In California's Silicon Valley, a property can only be relisted if it has been off the market for 30 days. In mid-Florida, a recent change requires that a property be off the market for 60 days before it can be relisted. However, some regions still have no restrictions against relisting.

GuideToRealty.com is a rapidly growing online consumer resource for buyers and sellers of real estate (http://www.guidetorealty.com). The site features details of real estate agents and local market and demographic information in more than 2,500 cities nationwide. The aim of GuideToRealty.com is to become the number one consumer resource for the real estate market.

Interested real estate agents should visit the "contact us" section of GuideToRealty.com to begin benefiting from the QuinStreet, Inc. network. QuinStreet is one of the largest providers of qualified online leads in the world. Clients in a variety of industry sectors consistently rate QuinStreet as the high quality/low cost leader in Internet marketing.

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