There are a lot of questions coming from home buyers on Cape Cod about shopping for off-market listings that are being sold without publishing them in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) or public real estate portals. Some sellers choose to do this for privacy reasons, or to test out a potentially ambitious listing price without creating a public record of it or accruing days on market (DOM). Buyers like the prospect of reduced competition for a property. But if not all listings are public, not all buyers will have access to them, so it’s a double-edged sword. Another challenge is that not all sellers are good candidates for an off-market listing, and if that is the case things can get very interesting at offer time.

If you’re considering selling your Cape house and you answer yes to any of these questions, you might want to think twice about selling your house without making it available to all buyer agents and their clients:

1. An off-market listing is unlikely to have multiple bids, so it’s going to be one buyer’s offer vs your listing price. Would the lack of competitive bidders make you wonder if you are leaving money on the table?

2. When you get an offer on your home, especially a Cape house, all of the emotions come flooding in: the memories, the meaning, and not for nothing, the money you have invested in the house. If you could change your mind and the public wouldn’t ever know the difference, would you consider keeping the house?  

3. At first blush, offering a house for sale off-market has an air of exclusivity and panache, but it does mean fewer buyers which means less negotiating power for you, whereas a competitive environment gives sellers more control over terms and price. Is it important to you that you have the opportunity to negotiate price and terms on your home?

4. Some off-market sellers test the waters without a strong intent to sell, making them more hesitant when offers come in. Are you more interested in knowing the value of the house than you are in actually selling it?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, an off-market listing might not be the right fit for you right now. That said, an off-market listing can be a great way to gather market data before going on the open market. Many sellers who start with an off-market listing ultimately opt for a public MLS distribution, bringing with them valuable lessons from their off-market time.

What about you? If you were selling your house today would you go off-market or MLS? Tell us why in the comments.