NTREIS (North Texas Real Estate Information System) MLS STATUSES
Rules and Regulations

Most MLS rules require that participants accurately report the status of listings and promptly report changes in that status. All status changes must be made in NTREIS MLS within three days. Following is a list of NTREIS (North Texas Real Estate Information System) MLS status codes and their Explanations.

"Active" – ACT- Property is available for sale.

"Active Option" – OPTION - Property is available for showings and back-up contracts. Property is under contract with an option. Once the option expires, the status must be changed.

"Active Contingent" – CONT- Property is available for showings and back-up contracts. Property is under contract with a contingency. Contingencies are not limited to Sale of Other Property, they can be almost anything. Typical contingencies include, sale of other property, lender approval required (as in a short sale), financing and inspections. It is appropriate to use this status until all contingencies have been met. This could potentially go right up until closing in the case of financing.

"Active Kick Out" - KO - Property is available for showings and back-up contracts. Property is under contract with a Contingency for Sale of Other Property with a Kick Out Provision. It is appropriate to use this status until the contingency has been met.

"Pending" – PND - Property is under contract with no more showings. While it is not a violation to use this status if there is a contract with a contingency or kick out, it will virtually eliminate the possibility of receiving any back-up offers. Typically, this status should only be used after all contingencies have been met and you are just waiting for closing. The Pending status is the only status that will survive the expiration date, but the expiration date must be extended during the entire time this listing is pending. If the expiration date is not extended, the listing agent will receive a Data Checker Violation notice.

"Temporarily Off the Market" – TOM - This status should be used when the owner does not want showings for a brief time during this listing. This could be due to repair or remodel, owner illness, or other reasons. The expectation is that this is a temporary situation, and the listing will be returned to Active or some other status after a brief period. DOM and CDOM continues to accumulate while the property is in the TOM status.

"Withdrawn" – WTH - Property is no longer available for showings and is effectively off the market. The listing still belongs to the listing broker until it expires. It is not available to be listed by another broker until it expires. This status is typically used when the seller decides not to sell the home, and the broker does not want to release the listing until it expires. DOM and CDOM continues to accumulate while the property is in the WTH status.

"Withdrawn Sub-Listing" - Under the sub-divided listing function, you can have a main listing with several sub-listings. Individual sub-listings can be withdrawn. Withdrawn Sub-Listing would mean the sub-listing is no longer available.

"Expired" – EXP - The status automatically changes to expired when the listing expires (based on the expiration data entered into MLS by the listing broker). DOM and CDOM stop counting when the listing has expired.

"Cancelled" - CANC - The seller and listing broker agree to terminate the listing, and the listing is then cancelled in MLS. This is an UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE of the listing, and it can then be listed by another broker in the MLS. DOM and CDOM stop counting when the listing is cancelled.

"Sold" - Property has been sold. DOM and CDOM stop counting when the listing is sold. All status changes must be made in the MLS within 3 days.

Short Sales and the MLS

What exactly are the rules for Short Sales listed in NTREIS? The term Short Sale is not allowed under "Property Description," "Directions," or "Photo Description." It is, however, allowed under "Private Remarks" (see NTREIS rule 10.02). There is also a button that can be checked to state it is a "Possible Short Sale." This is a searchable yes/no field using a custom search. Any reference to financing does not belong under "Property Description." This section is reserved to only promote the amenities of the property and neighborhood when describing the property.

The buyer and seller (homeowner) in a short sale are the parties to the purchase contract. Once both the buyer and the seller have signed the contract, the status in MLS must be changed from "A" (Active) to "AC" (Active Contingency). The contingency is "Lender Approval Required." It is not appropriate to leave the status as "A" (Active) while you are waiting for lender approval. All status changes must be made in MLS within three days. MLS Status Explanations:

Active - Property is available for sale (showings).
Active Contingent - Property is under contract, but there is a contingency (i.e. Lender Approval, Sale of Other Property, Financing) - still taking showings.

Status of listing of Contract Pending in MLS

Excerpt from TAR (Texas Association of REALTORS®) News Letter.

There is a contract pending on a listing. The listing agent wants to leave the property as an "active" listing in the MLS because he believes other agents will not be likely to show the listing for backups if its status is changed to "pending" or "pending under option" or any one of the other appropriate status designations in our MLS. Is this an MLS rule violation? (Updated Feb. 6, 2008)

• Most MLS rules require that participants accurately report the status of listings and promptly report changes in that status. It is likely that the listing agent would violate the MLS rules if the pending status of a contract on the property is not timely reported to reflect the correct status designation provided by those rules. While some buyers might be interested in looking at properties that have pending contracts on them, other buyers might not want to consider those properties. It would be unfair to those buyers who are not interested in looking at "pending" properties to mislead them about the true status of the properties advertised in the MLS.

A buyer's agent should ask his clients about their interest in looking at properties that already have contracts pending on them.

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