From the mail: What does BOM mean?

An Estately power-user asks “what the heck does BOM mean?” Is it a Bank Owned Mansion? Bom Chicka Wah Wah?

It actually has nothing to do with “Bank Owned.” In the cut-off, use-every-available-letter-in-the-description-allowed world of real estate listings, BOM is shorthand for “Back On Market.” It means someone was trying to sell their home, got an offer on it and accepted it, and for whatever reason the person who was going to buy the home backed out.

Why would someone disclose BOM when it could mean that the inspection found something nasty? By their very nature, BOM homes have high DOM (Days On Market). The days in escrow still count against the CDOM (Cumulative Days On Market).

By disclosing that it is Back On Market, the person selling their home is saying “it hasn’t been sitting on the market for weeks and weeks because it’s a bad deal, it is because the person who was going to buy it backed out.”

A quick look down the West Coast shows that the use of BOM is regional. It’s a lot more popular in Los Angeles than anywhere else – I’m seeing 66 properties with “BOM” in the description there as of today. I’m only seeing 3 “BOM” properties in the Puget Sound area.