Deciphering Real Estate Listing Sheets

February 8th, 2007 categories: Home Buyers, Home Sellers, Real Estate Listings

Like the Little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin Ralphie used in A Christmas Story, this post will unlock the mysteries of the mystifying realtor language used in real estate listing sheets in most of Connecticut. These are items I’m asked about most:

Status

ACT or Active - the house is for sale and is available to view. It is not yet under deposit but that doesn’t mean that offers have not been presented.

SHOW or Under Deposit/Continue to Show - The house is under deposit but the contract has contingencies that haven’t been met yet.

DEPOS or Under Deposit - The house is under deposit and is no longer available to be seen by other buyers.

HUBRD - The house in question has a hubbard clause on it, meaning that a buyer has a contract on the property but it is subject to the sale of their own home. If the seller receives another offer on the house, the original buyer may either release the hubbard clause and buy the house or the seller may cancel the contract and accept the offer of the second buyer.

EXP or Expired - The listing agreement with the brokerage has expired and has not yet been renewed.

WITH or Withdrawn - The house has been withdrawn from the market and is probably not available for showing. The seller may let the listing expire or may put the house back on the market.

CANCL or Cancelled - The listing agreement was cancelled and the house is no longer “officially” on the market.

TEMP or Temporarily off the Market - This one is funny. An agent has taken a listing and for some reason, the agent or seller doesn’t want the house shown for a period of time - a few days, a week, etc. Now, in a heavy sellers market, I used to see homes come on the market TEMP status and then two or three days later, go under deposit. The house “went on the market” but not really - it was probably sold to a client the agent had already lined up or was sold “in house.”

Square Feet

2000/Town - This means the town has the square footage of the property at 2000 sf.

2000/Agent - The agent took the measurements, possibly because the town is inaccurate or because the seller feels that the square footage in the basement should also be included.

2000/Owner - The seller says its 2000 square feet and there will be no arguments.

Agent Comments

Cozy - small rooms.

EIK - Eat-in-kitchen.

As-is - the owner is making no representations about the home so “buyer beware.” Before putting in an offer, be sure to carefully examine the home and get an inspection, although the seller may very likely not make any repairs you ask for.

Bank owned - Known as an REO or real estate owned property, bank owned properties have been taken over by a lender for some reason such as foreclosure. Special addenda are required with bank owned properties.

Clean - if that’s best that can be said, then the house probably needs some other things like updates to kitchen and baths.

Must see inside - the outside is a mess, so don’t judge a book by its cover.

Priced to sell/motivated sellers - the seller or agent is desperate to move the house but that doesn’t always mean they’ll sell it for a bargain.

Just reduced - this doesn’t necessarily mean the house is priced accurately. Nor is it always 100% truthful. I just saw a listing where the price started at $269,900 in the summer, went up to $274,900 and then was reduced again to $269,900 - Just reduced!

Dates

Listing Date - This is the date the listing went on the market - with this MLS number. It’s not always the date the house originally went on the market. Your agent should do a check in property history in the MLS as well as do an address search for all occasions the listing may have been on the market under another MLS number.

Days on Market - Same thing here. The Days on Market is the number of days the listing has been on the market with a particular MLS number.