If you’ve spent some time looking at real estate in your area, you may have seen agents, teams, and brokerages offering something called an ‘exclusive listing.’ You may also see it go by these names:

Exclusive Property
Exclusive Home
Exclusive Real Estate Listing
Exclusive House

But what does “exclusive property” mean?

We spoke with our agent Mitch MacKenzie about all things exclusive listings to give you the rundown on why some homes are exclusive and others aren’t.

What is an exclusive listing?

Mitch: “An exclusive listing is any property that is currently being marketed while it is not on MLS (realtor.ca).”

MLS is short for “Multiple Listing Services,” also known as realtor.ca. It is a Real Estate technology used to list homes where other real estate agents can view them. It helps agents representing buyers to find almost all the properties available to them in that area. It helps agents representing sellers to get as much exposure for their property as possible.

So why wouldn’t you want to put a property on MLS?

Mitch: “Sometimes, sellers are ready to start considering the selling process, but aren’t ready to commit to sale just yet. They may be doing minor renovations on their home, or perhaps are still in the process of looking for a new home to move into.”

Because of this, keeping a property off MLS is like removing boundaries. On MLS, you typically will have to commit to a date of considering and accepting offers.

Do exclusive properties ever go on MLS?

Mitch: “Exclusive properties that are not bought off-market will go on MLS when the time comes.”

What is the value of going exclusive, then?

Mitch: “You can gather a lot of excitement around a property by marketing it before it is officially listed online. This can mean a quicker sale or higher price once it is actually listed on MLS and we begin taking offers.”

Mitch also explains a few more reasons exclusive listings can be of value:

There is no hard-set timeline, so sellers can relax and prepare for the process in the way that works best for them.
It reduces the number of showings for the seller. While it is off MLS, only a few agents with highly qualified buyers will need to enter your home, as opposed to open houses or tons of showings. This is because the agent and their client will have to correspond with us and illustrate that this is a really well-suited property for their client.
It can sell off MLS, which makes the whole process quicker and smoother. If any of these agents and their highly qualified buyers like the home, we can sell off the market on our terms!
This also gives us the opportunity to delay our listing date. For example, if your neighbour lists around the time you intended to list, we can wait and see the results from that sale to more appropriately price your home with your agent and perhaps snag unlucky buyers!

Whether you list your home directly to MLS or wait with your agent and market it off of MLS as an exclusive property, you are sure to achieve your greatest price with one of our agents like Mitch at New Purveyors who have a perfect understanding of how the real estate market in Ottawa is doing.

If you’ve seen an exclusive property listed on our website, or perhaps another agency’s website, reach out to us and one of our agents can assist you in learning more about the property