The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is going the "minimum service" route on its listings and is taking the concept to new depths. In many areas of the country HUD is paying listing agents LESS THAN $100 a listing to enter a property into the MLS. Many agents are giving up those listings. In one case, I am told that a listing agent was offered a chance to keep his HUD listings if he would do them for $75. He refused.
In the Lehigh Valley (PA) real estate agents and consumers no longer have access to HUD information via the local MLS. That's not a problem for seasoned HUD veterans, but it certainly alienates many of the other agents who have come to rely on those listings. I'm guessing that HUD will have fewer bids as a result. The Lehigh Valley listings have been assigned to a broker in the Philadelphia area who enters them into a "foreign" MLS. The practice seems to run contrary to HUD's stated objective of listing all properties in the MLS. Their vendors seem to be running roughshod and writing their own rules.
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