Days on Market

If you're a buyer, you may hear your agent reference "Days on Market" (DOM) when you're looking at a property. The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) will show to other agents the number of days a property has been on the market. Even if a seller changes agents, when the new agent enters the property into the MLS the MLS will carry over the DOM. The only time the DOM will reset is if the property has been taken off the market for a minimum of 30 days. At that point, when re-entered into the system, the clock will be reset and DOM will show up as zero.

Does DOM really affect the price much? Some sellers fear that if their home shows as being on the market for an extensive amount of time, buyers may think they're desperate to sell and therefore ready to take a low-ball offer. While that could be the case, there are often other factors that may contribute to a higher DOM count such as price not having been set correctly to begin with -- especially when an agent agrees to list at an unreasonable price "just to get the listing" with the intent of attempting to get the seller to lower the price after the fact. Another reason for a higher DOM count could be that the property is unique. If it's a dairy farm, it may take longer to sell because it's only targeting a small segment of the population that wants to be a dairy farmer. If this is the case, then DOM may not be a good indicator.