The American housing market has spent the past few months in the throes of a low inventory scenario with multiple offers and bidding wars being the standard way of doing business. That may start to die down some now that June saw a 'respectable' increase in listings. While it doesn't look like we'll enter a true buyer's market any time soon—for example: an agent I heard from this week said that last month they had two different homes sell with five and seven multiple offers, respectively—we just might see a softening in the advantages sellers have had this year. So how does a service like BuyerMLS fit into this new situation? It means it makes it even easier for real estate agents to do their jobs. Whereas in a strong seller's market BuyerMLS gives agents a greater chance of snagging a new listing because they can prove to the sellers that they have access to the buyers, a market with more inventory means BuyerMLS can make the matches happen faster. There might be less competition between buyers for the same house, but agents won't have to do as much work to woo them in. Since BuyerMLS provides a database of buyers ready to make offers the listing agents go there first. They scroll through the BuyerList before they invest in printing glossy brochures or expensive advertising. They can check and see if any buyers are a good fit for their listings in a matter of minutes—less time than it takes most of them to check their email each day. The softening seller's market is good news for those worried about possible price bubbles or market stagnancy but it is great news for agents in the BuyerMLS system since their jobs are about to get much easier.
