When it comes to luxury real estate, what you don’t see might just be the most exciting part. Enter pocket listings—exclusive, off-market properties that never hit the MLS. These quiet, high-end gems are often reserved for a select group of buyers, and navigating this discreet market requires serious insider knowledge.
Luckily, Julie Burke knows pocket listings inside and out. With years of experience and deep local connections, Jule and her team have become go-to experts for those looking to buy or sell off-market properties. She recently shared some of her expertise with us, giving an inside look at how these exclusive deals work—and why they matter more than ever in today’s competitive real estate landscape.
Stay tuned for more expert tips from Julie coming soon!
What exactly is a pocket listing, and how does it differ from traditional listings?
A pocket listing – otherwise known as a private listing or off-market listing – is a property that a seller is marketing very quietly through their agent (or on rare occasion by themselves – though I certainly don’t recommend that approach!) without putting it on the MLS. Zillow or any other public facing listing aggregators
Why do some sellers choose to list their homes off-market rather than on the MLS?
Privacy: High-profile sellers or those who don’t want a lot of public attention may prefer to keep their sale discreet.
Exclusive Buyers: Some sellers want to limit showings to serious, qualified buyers.
Market Testing: A seller might use a pocket listing to gauge interest before officially listing the home.
How prevalent are pocket listings in the Greenwich real estate market?
We are increasingly finding that sellers are interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to control the traffic coming through the door of their home, and buyers are willing to pay a (reasonable) premium in order to secure a property and “keep it off the market.” Tolerance for bidding wars and “highest & best” deadlines has waned dramatically as buyers feel defeated and sellers, at times, simply overwhelmed. Last year approximately 20% of all home sales were off-market (and those are the ones we were able to sniff out, so I suspect that number may even be higher…).
Do you find that pocket listings sell faster or for higher prices compared to publicly listed properties?
To be perfectly honest, May Burke from the COMPASS Rye office said it best: in almost every case there was a winner and a loser, but you will honestly never know which was which!
In this market which is characterized by a total dearth of inventory, any and all properly priced listings will sell. Did the buyer get a great deal? Hard to say. Did the seller come away with a bonus? No one knows. One thing is for sure – except in the rarest of circumstances, without fully exposing a property to the marketplace and engaging in the fair and open “auction” which is really what a home sale entails, there is no way of knowing for sure exactly what the fair market value truly is or was.
What are the advantages and potential downsides of pocket listings for sellers?
I think the potential downside is the same for both sellers & buyers – you will never really know if the property fetched the precise number that the market was willing to bear since you didn’t truly expose it to the maximum number of potential buyers.
How do buyers gain access to exclusive pocket listings, and what strategies should they use?
The first step is finding excellent representation. It is highly unlikely that a buyer will find out about any pocket listings on their own. In general, many agents may have an opportunity to find out about private offerings within their own firm, but in working with a truly top agent in any given community (I would consider that to be landing in perhaps the top 5-10% of all licensed agents on a dollar volume basis, as a guidepost) your opportunity expands. Many sellers keep their listings quiet as they only want qualified and serious buyers coming through with local agents who have proven that they can seamlessly and expeditiously close a deal. These top agents will be sure that peer agents across other brokerages are informed and can help facilitate a smooth transaction.
Along these lines, one of the simplest ways for buyers to gain access to a variety of “quiet” listings is to search exclusively through the COMPASS web site which features hundreds of COMPASS Private Exclusives. Working with a COMPASS agent will give a buyer access to all of these beautiful properties. COMPASS is the #1 brokerage in the country, and as it is wholly owned and not franchised, we are all under the same collaborative umbrella. Most of our agents (including me!) are now starting out their listings as a “Private Exclusive” on the COMPASS platform, which exposes the property only to COMPASS agents – but don’t worry, we have over 33,000 of them – the most in the country! Not only are COMPASS agents seeing the private listings in their local area, but we can see Private Exclusives anywhere in the country…Palm Beach, Aspen, Boston…you name it. By working with a COMPASS agent, you can, too.
How do you leverage your network to connect buyers with pocket listings?
See above!
The single most important consideration here is to understand the reputation of your agent among their peers. Are they widely respected, considered to be ethical, honest and open communicators, capable, flexible, and easy to work with? On several occasions, for example, I have emerged victorious from a multiple bid situation where the offer submitted by my buyers was not the highest dollar amount, but the listing broker(s) know that I can be relied on to get the deal done as quickly and painlessly as possible by working in a collaborative manner. Smart agents know that “winning” is not solely about the offer, but about the offer that is most likely to close under the terms that are most attractive to the sellers.
This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click a link and purchase something, I may get a small commission from it at no cost to you. I only feature things that I truly love and I hope you do too!!!
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This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click a link and purchase something, I may get a small commission from it at no cost to you. I only feature things that I truly love and I hope you do too!!!
Navigating the Greenwich real estate market can be a complex endeavor, but with the right…
This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click a link and purchase something, I may get a small commission from it at no cost to you. I only feature things that I truly love and I hope you do too!!!
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