New Statistics Tabulated Without "Active Short Cont." Properties

As time has passed since Metrolist added the "Active Short Cont." (Active Short Sale Contingent) status to the MLS, some common practices have formed regarding these types of listings.

"Active Short Cont" properties are properties where a home was offered as a short sale, an offer was made by a buyer and then accepted by a seller, with the contingency that final approval would be needed from any institution that would receive a short payoff at the agreed price.

An "Active Short Sale" on the other hand is a property that will also need approval to be sold, but an acceptable offer has not yet been agreed to by the seller.

As time has passed, the "Active Short Cont" status has become more similar to a "Pending Backup" or "Pending Sale" status, than an "Active Short Sale" or "Active" status.

Many "Active Short Cont" properties have agent comments that state that only backup offers will be taken and many others state that showings are no longer available and no further offers will be submitted.

Basically, "Active Short Cont" properties are now being treated like they are in escrow already.

For this reason, I have decided going forward to tabulate two sets of data for the number of active listings. One set will include "Active Short Cont" properties and another will not.

The number that includes "Active Short Cont" properties will help keep in perspective the shear number of homes attempting a short sale and any progress being made in shortening the approval process.

The number that does not include "Active Short Cont" properties will help give a better idea of what is actually available for perspective buyers to look at and write offers on, if interested.

Both numbers will be used to calculate different months inventory calculations to ascertain the relative tightness or looseness of the market.

Using the most recent figures, there is nearly 2 months less inventory when you remove "Active Short Cont" properties from the number of homes for sale.

Keeping what I have written about "Active Short Cont" properties in mind, it is also a good idea to focus on other types of properties when searching for a home. There is an outside chance that you can make a backup offer on one of these properties and have it work out, but the odds are not good.

The odds are bad enough that I have tried to remove them from my listing feed, but have been told that it cannot be done, due to MLS rules.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please leave a comment.