Yesterday brought word that the Arizona Regional MLS, the MLS for Maricopa County and the Phoenix real estate market, is going to crack down on the data entered into the “subdivision” field of the MLS.
ARMLS rules dictate that only the legal name of the subdivision can be entered into the subdivision field which is well and good … unless you’re a seller trying to sell his home or a buyer looking for a new home in a certain area.
Let’s take a closer look …
Welcome to Arrowhead Ranch … Maybe
Back in 2006 I sold the home at 7432 W. Trails Drive in Arrowhead Ranch’s Sierra Verde section. When I first put the home on the market I entered the legal name - Sierra Verde Parcel C - in the subdivision field. No one showed the house. When I changed the name to something logical - Sierra Verde at Arrowhead Ranch - we had agent showings and the home sold shortly thereafter.
Currently, I have a home for sale in a subdivision with the legal name of Fulton Homes at Sierra Verde. If you’re a consumer searching online for homes, are you going to know that this home is not in Sierra Verde but in Fulton Homes at Sierra Verde?
Since the entry to the subdivision off 71st Avenue doesn’t have the name of the subdivision, are you even going to know that you just drove into Sierra Verde or are you going to believe rightly that you’re still in Arrowhead Ranch?
If you know only that you’re in Arrowhead Ranch, or if you’re searching for homes inside of Arrowhead Ranch, are you ever going to see this house? How many other homes are you not going to see because only the legal subdivision name is used?
Goodbye Sienna. Goodbye Palomino. Goodbye Arrowhead Legends. Adios Aguila del Sol and Camelot Views and Tuscany Point.
All a buyer will see is the homes in Arrowhead Ranch and, if they’re wise enough to use a wildcard at the start of the search, Hamilton Arrowhead Ranch.
Whom does that benefit?
Speaking of Wildcards …
You’ll need them if you want to ever find a home again in Westbrook Village because just about every sub-association in Westbrook has the legal name of “This Subdivision at Westbrook Village.” Simply looking for Westbrook Village won’t be enough.
(Which is why I selfishly recommend utilizing the All Village Listings page at WestbrookVillageRealEstate.com, but I digress …)
I can go East Valley on you, too … I’m versatile that way.
Let’s say you want to find a home in the Dobson Ranch, on the border of Mesa, Tempe and Chandler. But let’s say you want to try a find a home on the water. Laguna Shores would be a decent place to start - if you know that the subdivision on the west side of Dobson Road is so named. More likely than not, you’re going to think you’re still in the plain old Dobson Ranch, which you are. Enter Dobson Ranch and you’ll never see Laguna Shores.
You’ll find Dobson Shores if you only enter Dobson without the Ranch, otherwise you’re equally hooped (threw that one in just for my Canadian readers.)
As a kid, my dad would take me fishing on the lakes in Dobson Ranch’s Los Altos area. It was the closest rec center until Dobson Ranch opened La Casita around the corner from our house.
Good thing I’m not trying to find a home near the Los Altos center these days by looking for Dobson Ranch … since the legal name is Los Altos, I’ll never find those homes either.
Cure’s Worse than the Ailment
The folks at ARMLS have the unenviable job of trying to maintain the integrity of the data in the face of an agent corps which by and large lacks common sense. But there are more important battles to be fought.
In my former office, one of the agents had a listing in Youngtown that he intentionally placed in Peoria because he knew no one would look in Youngtown.
That’s what ARMLS should be policing.
Talking to Steve Belt last night, there are agents who will list their homes for sale in McDowell Mountain Ranch even though they’re not in McDowell Mountain Ranch and have no connection to the HOA and its amenities.
That’s what ARMLS should be policing.
Every day, my clients receive listings of short sales that we’ve mutually agreed not to include in the listing search because many agents still don’t know how to document a short sale properly.
That’s what ARMLS should be policing.
What ARMLS shouldn’t be doing is making it even more difficult for a homeowner to sell their home because the developer lacked foresight when naming the subdivision and failed to include Arrowhead Ranch in the name. And what ARMLS shouldn’t be doing is making it more difficult for buyers looking for properties to find the homes they want to see.
The above aren’t isolated incidences of unexpected legal subdivision names. They’re but three of several that I know off the top of my head. There are many, many more just like this.
If as a consumer you would prefer ARMLS not to make it more difficult for you to buy or sell your home, feel free to let the powers that be know. The conversation’s continuing on www.newarmls.com.
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Tags: General Real Estate, Tips for Sellers, Tips for Buyers by Jonathan Dalton
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