What is the significance of the MLS days on market

DOM, CDOM, And Archive Reports

Jan 3, 2010

All Realtors are taught the basics of how to use the Multiple Listing Service when we join, but the instructors cover a lot of ground in a very short period of time. When I walked out of my half day orientation many years ago my head was spinning.

We were taught how to retrieve the information on the MLS, but not how to interpret it. It took me years to really feel confident in coming up with a conclusion on pricing a home.

Early on in my residential career, I didn't even know the days on market counter could be manipulated. And believe it or not, I had no idea there was such a thing as an archive search.

I started my company without ever having belonged to another residential real estate company, so I was literally on my own from day one. I wish someone had taken the time to explain some of the things about the MLS I will share with you.

Simply stated, the days on market (DOM) tells you how many days a home has been on the MLS during that listing period. The DOM starts on the first day of the listing and runs until the home sells, the listing expires or is cancelled or the listing is removed from the MLS by the listing agent.

What the DOM will not tell you is how many total days the home was on the MLS if the listing agent took it off then put it back on again. For instance, if a home is on the MLS for 39 days, removed by the listing agent, and then added back to the MLS, the days on market immediately starts over at "one".

The cumulative days on market (CDOM) might give the agent an even better picture of the listing history of the home. I say "might" because the CDOM could very well be the same as the DOM. That would mean the home has never been taken off the MLS then added back with that listing agent.

The CDOM totals up every day the home is on the MLS with that listing agent no matter how many times the home has been taken off the MLS and added back again. If you see a home with a higher CDOM than DOM, it tells you that happened at least one time.

For example, if you see a home on the MLS with 1 Day on Market (DOM) and 188 Cumulative Days on Market (CDOM), it means the listing agent had the home on the MLS for 187 days and then, for whatever reason, took the home off. The agent later put the home back onto the MLS so now it appears as a new listing with one day on the market. Wouldn't you as a buyer want to know that really is not a new listing? That's what a CDOM does for you.

Why would a listing agent go to that much trouble just to start the DOM over? They know there is a little buzz when a new home comes onto the MLS, plus some Realtors believe homes can be stigmatized by languishing on the MLS for months on the MLS. In general, the fewer the days on market, the better.

In my opinion, a high number of days on market is just not a big deal. These days homes take longer to sell, especially the more expensive homes and those on acreage. If a buyer or their agent try to use a high DOM as a negotiating point, I just tell the truth ... we are waiting for the right buyer. It only becomes a negotiating point if you let it. I'm also very fortunate to have patient sellers.

I can tell you with confidence, manipulating the days on market isn't going to fool an experienced Realtor. It might mislead a new agent with little experience, but I tend to work with more seasoned buyer agents.

By the way, it's perfectly within the rules of the MLS to reset the DOM this way, but the MLS has just recently made it a little more difficult. In the past, listing agents could take the home off the MLS for a single day, then put it back on the next day to reset the DOM counter. Now, the home must be off the MLS for at least 30 days before the DOM counter will start over.

So, the CDOM provides more information than the DOM, but it still might not tell the entire story about a home. What if the home has been listed with several other brokerages and never sold? It might look like a new listing every time the home hits the MLS with a new listing agent, but in reality, the listing is just being recycled through different brokerages. You can't really know the entire MLS history of a home without running an "archive search".

The beauty of an archive search is it details every single MLS status change on a home no matter who had the home listed or when. It will show all of the prior listing agents, listed prices, price changes, days on market, whether the home was ever under contract, even prior sales information.

I've seen archive information go back as far as seven years, but there is a time limit the MLS will keep information on a listed property. That's why I have been archiving my own MLS records for ten years now.

Keep in mind, your agent might run an archive search on a home and nothing will come up. If so, the home has never been on the MLS so there is no activity to record.

Bottom line, once you have focused in on a home, always have your Realtor run an archive search first. Don't just rely on the DOM and CDOM if you don't have to.