Multiple Listing Service numbers and letters

Hello everyone!! I know it has been a while since I’ve been here. Honestly I’ve been very busy & I have learned a tremendous amount. Today I would like to share with you about the Multiple Listing Service. When a property is being sold by a realtor, it is usually found on a MLS system. The initials stand for Multiple Listing Service. Real estate brokers who belong to the MLS agree to share property information and work together to connect buyers and sellers. They also agree to split a commission for selling the property in an agreed percentage.

Here in Grand Junction, as part of Grand Junction Area Realtors Association, known as GJARA & pronounced “gee-jar-a,” we realtors use the Navica Multi-Listing System. When it is posted on the MLS, each property has its own unique 6-digit number. There are also letters in front of each number and a letter at the end of the number. For example, a complete MLS# could look like this: RR123456A. If you see “RR” in front, it means that the property is a “single family residence.” The “A” after the number means that it is an “active” listing, available for sale. The letters in front of the number should also coordinate with the Mesa County tax assessor classification of how the property is primarily to be used.
 
Here are some other examples of letters in front of an MLS#:
RC—a single family condominium for sale
RT—a single famiy townhouse for sale
 
An “M” as the first letter means that it is multi-family property. There can be:
MD—a duplex, or a building that houses 2 separate families
MT—a triplex, or a building that houses 3 separate families
MF—a fourplex, or a building that houses 4 separate families
MA—an apartment that houses more than 4 separate families
MM—a manufactured home park that houses multiple families

An “L” as the first letter means that the property is just land or that the land is the most important part. There can be:
LC—Land zoned for commercial use rather than for families
LD—A lot zoned for a duplex or some kind of multiple-family building
LS—Property that is 0-9.99 acres & is zoned for housing just a single family
LR—Property that is recreational farm or ranch with over 10 acres

There are other letters that can be in front of the number, such as CB for commercial buildings, OA for agriculture, SR for single family rental, and EL for commercial lease.

Here is the list of what the letter at the end of the listing number means:
A—Active, as mentioned previously
M—Under contract-Contingent/Kickout—This means that the buyer may not be able to go through with the contract because of having to sell another property first or not being sure about getting financing
U—Under contract, planning on everything following through & closing on the property
S—Sold, which means there was a closing where the title to the property was transferred from the seller to the buyer
R—Rented or Leased, just as good as sold if this was the goal for the property
W—Withdrawn, usually by the seller, and if this occurs early, something came up to interrupt the selling process
X—Expired, happens when the property has been available for sale as long as the contract specified and it was not sold
D—Deleted, removed from the MLS system, which could have happened for any number of reasons

That's it for today. I plan to share more later. I hope you are doing fine.

News from My Week

This week I met with two title companies. I met with Land Title Guarantee Company and Fidelity National Title Company. Both companies are great and the people are awesome.

And on Friday, February 25th, Bray Real Estate had a luncheon to celebrate its 65th year. That was amazing. W.R. Bray, the son of Sherman and Roxie Bray, was there. His parents started Bray and Company in 1946. Robert, their grandson, presided over the 2010 Sales Achievement Awards, which were also a part of the luncheon.

I'm happy to be affiliated with Bray Real Estate. Our mission statement is: "To be the premier provider of comprehensive real estate services on the Western slope. Our success will be measured in the achievement of our customers' and clients' objectives, satisfaction and continued trust." Impressive, isn't it? It's great to be settling in at Bray.

Leases and When to Give Notice

My life has been very busy. Since getting my license. I have been meeting with Paul Zurek, the Bray Office Manager, and I have a mentor. She is Vonnie Folkers, a Colorado real estate broker at Bray Real Estate. She has been a big help in helping me see how things work "in the real world."

Moving on to our real estate talk, let's discuss leases in Colorado. A lease is an agreement between a landlord/owner/lessor (whatever word you want to use) and a tenant/renter/lessee (again, whatever word you want to use). Because of the statute of frauds, a lease for longer than one year has to be in writing to be effective. However, it's always best to get a written lease because the written paper reminds people what the arrangements are.

There are four kinds of leases. There is a lease called a "tenancy for years." It's a lease for a definite time period, which could be for 1 day, 6 weeks, 4 months, 1 year, or 50 years. Because it's clear when the lease ends, no one needs to "give notice" unless he/she wants to change the length of time.

Another kind of lease is called a "periodic tenancy." This is a lease that is for a time that constantly renews. If it's a weekly or monthly lease, it continues until either the landlord or tenant gives the other party notice that he/she doesn't want it to continue. For this change, it needs to be written notice and here are some guidelines according to Colorado statutes 13-40-107:
1 year, or longer, lease—3 months notice
6 months up to 1 year lease—1 month notice
1 month up to 6 months lease—10 days
1 week up to 1 month lease—3 days

There's also "tenancy at will," which is when a landlord and tenant have an informal arrangement that exists until one party isn't interested any more or some event takes place. For example, this could happen when a property is for sale and the agreement exists until it is sold. Only 3 days notice is needed in a tenancy at will. That isn't much notice, but often the people involved know what's going on before the official notice is needed. These are friendly leases.

Finally, there is also something called "tenancy at sufferance." This happens when the tenant stays after a lease has ended. The landlord can decide to renew the lease, accept rent and/or change the rental terms, or evict the tenant. For eviction, the landlord needs to give notice. Obviously the tenant wouldn't give an eviction notice.

Now we've talked about leases expiring and the tenant getting evicted. Two other ways to end a lease are "surrender and acceptance," which is when both the landlord and tenant agree to end the arrangement, and "breach of conditions," which is when either the landlord or the tenant agreed to do certain things and it just didn't happen. Depending on what happened, the wronged party may walk away from the lease.

If you need other information, there is information at the Colorado Division of Housing.