DOMP - Manipulating DOMP

Manipulating DOMP

To prop up rapidly falling sales, real estate agents across the country began to rely on the process of manipulating the amount of days that homes had been on the market more than ever to attract buyers and maintain sales prices. There were great disparities concerning the practice in the various regional MLS's across the country. Some MLS's charged real estate agents to alter the statistics, and referred to the practice as "refreshing a listing." In general however, the old guard of the real estate industry considered the practice as deceptive at best, and fraudulent at worst. Rumors of possible lawsuits circulated in the industry because homes that had been on the market for long periods of time were considered to be overpriced and thus not worth their advertised sales prices. The practice also stood in dark contrast to the National Association of Realtor's Code of Ethics that prohibits doing anything that is deceptive to buyers.