Newest Status Symbol: “Our House Sold Before Going on the Market”. Hip Pocket Sales and Why Brokers Love Them

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I call it the Hip Pocket Revolution, and it’s been going on since the market picked up this January. Steve Brown jumped in on something that is growing like hotcakes in Dallas real estate: the Hip Pocket sale. These are off-market deals, says Steve, but I prefer to call them deals where no listing agreement has been signed. The agent carries the property in their “hip pocket” to sell. (Not literally, of course.) Hip Pocket sales are all over Park Cities and Preston Hollow, and growing out in Lakewood and Westlake.

 The number of such off-market home deals has ballooned as the number of properties available (for sale) has declined in Dallas-area neighborhoods. The trend is especially gaining steam in affluent neighborhoods in North Dallas, Highland Park and Lakewood.

“With the shortage of inventory — especially in the Park Cities — more hip-pockets are selling,” said Amy Detwiler, an agent with Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. “A lot of people prefer private sales because they don’t want to put their house on the open market.

Detwiler estimates that 30 percent of the sales in her office at Briggs Freeman Sothebys are hip-pocket transactions. Sellers vastly prefer these fast and dirty sales to open houses and maintaining a picture perfect home for showings. This also keeps images of the inside of their homes from being plastered all over the Internet,

Essentially, the buyers and their agents keep the listing a secret.

The proliferation of Hip Pocket sales is really good for Realtors, because they are back cutting deals again and doing what they do best: network. Also, it’s good for the brokers, especially if they can get both sides of the sale in the same firm. Yippee to that one!

But here’s what else I’m wondering: Z sales are going away October 15. After that, everyone is going to be required to record what a home sold for. My life is going to get a whole lot easier! Is this hip pocket revolution a backlash to revealing sales prices? And how are we ever going to capture these numbers for sales comps, which is the reason why we are eliminating Z sales, if everyone’s selling out of the MLS?

Like Karen Luter, who is marketing away at the Mary Kay house, said: a hip pocket has to be a Best of Show type home. Like fabulous. That’s what happened to my friend Faye Safavi, who sold her home at 3632 Stratford. She was TALKING about selling it in early spring, by May someone approached her before the $2 to $3 million dollar home ever hit MLS. Though Tim Headington’s $14 million dollar 21st floor at the Residences at the Ritz Carlton (pictured here) started as a hip pocket for Eloy Carmenate, it’s now listed with Pogir at Briggs Freeman Sothebys and still waiting for a buyer, though I hear someone may be circling.

Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

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  1. Karen Eubank on September 17, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    It may not have been an actual "hip pocket" but one I staged for Alan Hamilton at Dallas City Center sold before it hit MLS, to the first person that walked in the door. This happens more often than you'd think -if a house is priced right and staged beautifully!

  2. Karen Eubank on September 17, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    It may not have been an actual "hip pocket" but one I staged for Alan Hamilton at Dallas City Center sold before it hit MLS, to the first person that walked in the door. This happens more often than you'd think -if a house is priced right and staged beautifully!

  3. Tom Branch on September 18, 2012 at 7:19 am

    While these types of sales do happen, exposing the property to the larger market might attract more buyers and result in a higher final sales price.

    The last listing we did in west Allen went on the market on a Friday and had 7 offers by Monday. The sellers sold at a higher price than they had expected because of all the activity. If we had hip-pocketed the listing for one of our own buyers the result would not likely been the same.

    The REALTOR Code of Ethics requires that we place our client's interests above our own.

    Tom

  4. Tom Branch on September 18, 2012 at 7:19 am

    While these types of sales do happen, exposing the property to the larger market might attract more buyers and result in a higher final sales price.

    The last listing we did in west Allen went on the market on a Friday and had 7 offers by Monday. The sellers sold at a higher price than they had expected because of all the activity. If we had hip-pocketed the listing for one of our own buyers the result would not likely been the same.

    The REALTOR Code of Ethics requires that we place our client's interests above our own.

    Tom

  5. Candy Evans on September 18, 2012 at 8:46 am

    This is a concern I have, Tom, thanks for your comment. I am also concerned that once we outlaw "Z Sales" these Hip Pocket Sales might proliferate just to keep the prices mum.

    • Tom Branch on September 18, 2012 at 10:06 am

      Candy,

      What's more likely is brokers will "cancel" listings rather than marking them as "sold" to avoid disclosing the sales prices in the MLS.

      Tom

      • Candy Evans on September 18, 2012 at 10:40 am

        Let the games begin! More blog fodder!!!

  6. Candy Evans on September 18, 2012 at 8:46 am

    This is a concern I have, Tom, thanks for your comment. I am also concerned that once we outlaw "Z Sales" these Hip Pocket Sales might proliferate just to keep the prices mum.

    • Tom Branch on September 18, 2012 at 10:06 am

      Candy,

      What's more likely is brokers will "cancel" listings rather than marking them as "sold" to avoid disclosing the sales prices in the MLS.

      Tom

      • Candy Evans on September 18, 2012 at 10:40 am

        Let the games begin! More blog fodder!!!

  7. PocketListings.net on November 6, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Hi Candy!

    As you stated, PocketListings are becoming more and more prevalent, especially in certain markets like the Bay Area , NYC and Los Angeles, where off market sales are accounting for almost 25% of transactions. For this reason in conjunction with the antiquated practices and inability to share listing from MLS, the inaccuracies of aggregators like Zillow and the small groups that comprise "top agent networks" we created Pocketlistings.net. Currently we have over 1100 members and over $1B posted listings and buyer needs. Here's the concept:

    The Concept
    You (a licensed real estate professional) post property on our site that is for sale and/or not listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), such as “coming soon”, “pre-mls”, “withdrawn”, commercial, and other listings. You also post ALL of your buyer needs. We (PocketListings.net) provide a service to search, share and produce a Real Estate Match™ for your post.

    Any post can be searched, linked to, ranked, Shared, emailed, marketed, and seen by potentially thousands of people around the world. We also feed every post you do to our Twitter page (respecting your Privacy Options, of course).

    The goal being to get you closing more transactions, give your sellers an alternative listing place, and get your buyers property otherwise not marketed for sale, through as much exposure as possible of your posts…if you want it. If you and your clients prefer to share things more quietly, we give you Privacy Options to do just that too.

    Combine Google, Craigslist, and Match.com… for real estate. That’s us.

    Pocketlistings.net
    Blog.pocketlistings.net

  8. PocketListings.net on November 6, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Hi Candy!

    As you stated, PocketListings are becoming more and more prevalent, especially in certain markets like the Bay Area , NYC and Los Angeles, where off market sales are accounting for almost 25% of transactions. For this reason in conjunction with the antiquated practices and inability to share listing from MLS, the inaccuracies of aggregators like Zillow and the small groups that comprise "top agent networks" we created Pocketlistings.net. Currently we have over 1100 members and over $1B posted listings and buyer needs. Here's the concept:

    The Concept
    You (a licensed real estate professional) post property on our site that is for sale and/or not listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), such as “coming soon”, “pre-mls”, “withdrawn”, commercial, and other listings. You also post ALL of your buyer needs. We (PocketListings.net) provide a service to search, share and produce a Real Estate Match™ for your post.

    Any post can be searched, linked to, ranked, Shared, emailed, marketed, and seen by potentially thousands of people around the world. We also feed every post you do to our Twitter page (respecting your Privacy Options, of course).

    The goal being to get you closing more transactions, give your sellers an alternative listing place, and get your buyers property otherwise not marketed for sale, through as much exposure as possible of your posts…if you want it. If you and your clients prefer to share things more quietly, we give you Privacy Options to do just that too.

    Combine Google, Craigslist, and Match.com… for real estate. That’s us.

    Pocketlistings.net
    Blog.pocketlistings.net

  9. […] Our market is not just hot, it’s sizzling. Homes are selling even before they hit MLS. Not only is that a huge status symbol for your house, but it is tickling the brokers to death as they grab both sides of the deal AND skip over a whole […]

  10. […] Our market is not just hot, it’s sizzling. Homes are selling even before they hit MLS. Not only is that a huge status symbol for your house, but it is tickling the brokers to death as they grab both sides of the deal AND skip over a whole […]

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