""It takes the pressure off selling the house, and you're not tied to having to officially drop the price if it's on for two weeks and you don't get any offers," said Holly Mitton, a Danvers resident currently in the process of selling her 3,500-square-foot home in an off-market transaction. "I wasn't concerned with selling it. I was more concerned it would get an offer, and I wouldn't have anywhere to go.""
"Mitton fits the profile of a logistics seller rather than the secrecy-seeking celebrity. Planning to buy a new home simultaneously, she feared the stale listing stigma, when a home sits on the market too long and invites lowball offers, and the prospect of selling her current home too quickly without a new one lined up. By testing the waters through a private community Facebook group, she found a buyer on her own timeline."
Private or 'whisper' listings allow sellers — from celebrities to everyday homeowners — to market homes without broad public exposure, offering privacy around price and timing. Use of off-market and pocket listings increased in Boston and beyond as sellers sought to avoid stale-listing stigma and to coordinate simultaneous buying and selling. Sellers can test interest privately, reduce price-drop pressure, and control the sale timeline, as shown by a homeowner who found a buyer via a private Facebook group. The practice faces legal and platform challenges, including a high-stakes antitrust suit after a major portal implemented listing-access standards requiring MLS entry and wider publication.
Read at Boston.com
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