Days on market (DOM) has become a target for some in the real estate industry who argue that displaying how long a listing has been active puts sellers at a disadvantage and gives buyers an unfair negotiation lever. However, a growing number of practitioners contend that removing this metric would erode the transparent marketplace that makes real estate transactions work for everyone.
Mark Gordon, co-owner of Christiania Realty in Vail, Colorado (vailcoluxuryhomes.com), has spent nearly two decades in a market where inventory is scarce and price points are high. He sees the push to hide days on market as part of a broader trend: the erosion of transparency in real estate. The argument for removing DOM is that a seller's listing accumulates days, signaling weakness, and buyers use that to make lower offers. Meanwhile, buyers disclose nothing about themselves. But Gordon counters that market data is what makes transactions happen. "Knowledge, data, is the lubricant that creates transactions," he says. "Every time we remove that lubricant, what we're doing is creating metal-on-metal friction and creating roadblocks that keep a transaction from occurring."
Gordon's reframe of the metric is compelling. A high DOM is not necessarily a failure; it can be an invitation. He notes that some buyers specifically search for listings with high DOM, looking for properties others have passed over. These buyers may start with a low offer, but that opens a conversation. "A lowball offer is a million times better than no offer," Gordon says. "At least now we have a starting point. We have the ability to create something." This flips the narrative: accumulated DOM can attract buyers seeking perceived value, and if the seller counters well, the high DOM becomes an advantage.
The seller's real enemy is not data but silence. Gordon argues that a seller whose listing has been on the market for three months does not benefit from hiding that fact. Instead, they benefit from a skilled agent who uses the situation to generate conversations. He encourages sellers to view low offers as engagement rather than insults. "Instead of being insulted and upset by a so-called lowball offer, we should be thanking them because they took the time to offer to buy your home," he says. Engagement is the resource, and data creates it. In a market where only 127 listings serve an entire mountain resort community, every data point that brings a buyer to the table has value.
The days-on-market debate is a proxy fight about whether the real estate industry's future is built on more transparency or less. The answer will shape how MLS systems operate, how brokerages compete, and how consumers trust the process. For buyers, a high DOM does not mean a bad property; it may mean an opportunity overlooked by others. For sellers, transparency is not the enemy—silence is.
