Loft could be 4th bedroom? Give me a break!

So, your latest listing has three bedrooms upstairs with a master bath, a hall bath, and a downstairs powder room… oh, and a den off the family room. The original builder sold it as a 3/2.5 with den. Do you list it as a 4 bedroom? I mean, the competition has been calling that floor plan a 4/2.5 in the MLS, so why shouldn’t you? It might mean more showings, after all…

One way to poison showings for all your future listings is to become known as an agent who can’t keep the facts straight. Agents who’ve taken their buyers to see your so-called 4BR listing, whose buyers complain or, worse, even drop the agent for not showing them what they wanted, are going to be less likely to show your listings in the future.

We’re not dumb. You have a 3BR with a den, code it that way and advertise it that way. Nobody today, except maybe the odd overnight guest, wants to have to put a robe on and trek all the way upstairs for a shower. If the buyer was OK with 3 bedrooms and maybe a den, we’ll show it and maybe we’ll go to contract. But the MLS wasn’t designed to suck agents in to showing properties that don’t really match what they are searching for. And with thousands of listings we can’t afford to spend time looking at even one wrong home.

(and if you think that’s funny, try the “loft could be 4th bedroom” listings… sure, add a few walls and a door. But I’ve seen it enough in our local MLS to make me stop laughing!)

Realistically, the closer you depict the home you’ve got listed, the more likely you’ll attract the right buyer. And since real estate is a business of cooperation – most listings are marketed between brokers – the easier we make other agents’ jobs, the more they will reciprocate.