patrick.net

The sign is still up with no "SALE PENDING" over it. I don't understand why the MLS listing says it is pending. Wishful thinking on behalf of the realtor? I think they are putting "PS" tags on the listings to make people think there is more sales activity around then there really is. Or maybe they are sitting on really low ball offers that they don't want to accept.

Unlike the stock or bond market, there is no honesty or transparency in the housing market. You really can't tell anything from the "Pending" sign, and the MLS is run by realtors for realtors.

I propose a very simple state or national law like this:

All bids on residential real estate must be published in a newspaper like any other legal notice, and published within 3 days of the bid.
The bid notice must include bid date, bidder name, amount, and loan amount approved or "cash on hand". Bidding without proof of means shall be illegal.
Withdrawn bids must also be published within 3 days of being withdrawn.
Sellers MUST accept their lowest published asking price within 30 days unless there is a higher bid.
The bid must also be printed on a postcard and mailed to the owner or to the address for sale, skipping the realtor.

Can I improve this proposal?

One sign I saw recently
SOLD WITH MULTIPLE OFFERS

@patrick
forget newspapers, just enter them in some online database (open, accessible to anybody). This way other sites like Redfin / Patrick.net can ingest the data.
Just publishing the bids will make the 'phantom multiple offers' dissappear.

permanent_marker says

One sign I saw recently

SOLD WITH MULTIPLE OFFERS
@patrick

forget newspapers, just enter them in some online database (open, accessible to anybody). This way other sites like Redfin / Patrick.net can ingest the data.

Just publishing the bids will make the ‘phantom multiple offers’ dissappear.

I disagree, any online service will disavow responsibility on phantom bids, and do not have the man-power to verify
if bids are real.

As a prior poster stated, you do need 'face to face' negotiations to happen between all parties, like a mini-auction.

You can still have aggressive legit buyers putting in multiple offers on multiple home using multiple realtors, with only have intention to buy one and many be not getting any acceptance, but keeping prices up.

Then you will see multiple offers disappear.

LOL! sounds like Patrick wants to keep the US postal service busy.

There's no way for me or any other service to know what the bids actually are. Realtors block information for a living, so it's hopeless to try to get truth about other bids out of them. The other buyers don't have a huge motive to submit their bid info to me, and how could I tell if it was true anyway?

I think it has to be a law that bids be public, and in the papers or on some government website within 3 days.

It's no invasion of privacy, since if you buy it, your name gets published in the paper anyway. Sometimes at least. We don't really know if they are all published.

"There’s no way for me or any other service to know what the bids actually are."

An open practice on bids happens all the time.

A corporate team brings in vendors to demo and price quote for a ERP system.

Microsoft comes in and does a demo for product and services quoting $100K.
Oracle comes in and does a demo for product and services quoting $125K

Corporate team decides they like Oracle but would factor in 25K discount or better.

They forward the written MS quote to Oracle and ask for if they can do better,
which Oracle does gladly after seeing written MS quote and reprices the deal
with 35K discount net to $90K for final contract and purchase order is made.

Its done everyday in corporate purchasing departments!