Slang term used in the real estate business. An agent lists a property for sale and does not enter it into the MLS system for several days, keeping it in his "pocket" so other agents will not know the property is for sale. This allows him to show the listing to his customers without competition from other buyers. The seller is unaware that the property is not being offered to ALL buyers and may accept a lower offer than they would have gotten if the property had been exposed to ALL buyers. This can be avoided by specifying that the Listing Agent provide you the MLS identification number within 24 hours of listing the property.
A listing which is retained by the listing broker or salesperson, who does not make it available to other brokers in the office or to other Multiple Listing Service members.
A trade term. An open listing that a real estate salesperson "pockets" or keeps hidden from his/her associates.
A listing which is not made available to other agents. It is considered to be an unethical practice by the Department of Real Estate.
Pocket Listing. A pocket listing is a real estate industry term used in USA that denotes an available property not in a multiple listing system (MLS). When a broker is hired to sell a property, a listing agreement is executed in writing.
