A lot of Arlington home buyers count on one measure — Days on Market — as a way to figure out how hard to bargain on a specific property. It seems pretty obvious that you can take a tough negotiating stance when buying a property that has been on the market a long time. (this is not always the case, though). You may have actually seen two measures of this sort of statistic when looking at the print-outs your agent gives you — DOMM and DOMP. Here’s a short description of the difference:
Background on how Days On Market is displayed and calculated within MRIS Days On Market is displayed in two ways within the system: Days On Market Property (DOMP) and Days On Market MLS (DOMM). DOMP indicates the number of number of days a specific property has been on the market. DOMM indicates the number of days a specific listing (with a specific MLS#) has been on the market. Here’s how the DOMM and DOMP count differ: Each time a property is re-listed with a new MLS# the DOMM count resets to zero. However, the DOMP will only reset to zero if the property has been off the market for a set number of consecutive days. (This number had been set at 180 and is now being changed to 90.) DOMP will also reset to zero when a property has been sold or ownership has changed.
Today, MRIS changes the way that it calculates Days On Market Property (DOMP). Currently, DOMP will not reset to zero until a property has been off the market for a total of 180 consecutive days. Now DOMP will reset to zero when a property has been off the market for 90 days.
Why did MRIS change this policy?
In 1993, MRIS selected 180 days (a half year) as the inactivity period. It was an arbitrary number selected to represent what was then considered a complete market cycle.
Over the past few years, the entire flavor of the real estate market has changed dramatically. Consumers buy and sell with much more frequency, the economy has been extremely volatile and 90 days, or one quarter, seems to more appropriately represent a complete market cycle. Industry statistical reports are generated quarterly, economists form their judgments and predictions based on quarters, etc. And 90 days allows a reasonable amount of time for a homeowner to repair or refresh a property and/or redesign a marketing plan.
Who benefits most from this change? I’d say sellers — it’s now become more difficult to tell how long a seller has really been trying to sell the property.
But an agent who’s been keeping an eye on the market should still know if a house has been sitting there forever, and the data will still be available to them,they just have to work a little harder to find it. Work with someone who knows the local market you are interested in — always the best policy!!
