Multiple Listing Service

If you are a real estate agent the Multiple Listing Service is your guidebook or directory to all your business and you cannot live without it.  Wikipedia defines “Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as a suite of services that (1) enables brokers to establish contractual offers of compensation (among brokers); (2) facilitates cooperation with other broker participants; (3) accumulates and disseminates information to enable appraisals; (4) is a facility for orderly correlation and dissemination of listing information to better serve broker’s clients, customers and the public.”

The Multiple Listing Service is where real estate agents go to find information about properties for their prospective customers or clients.  If an agent is working with buyers then the MLS will enable the agent to find properties available for sale.  Real estate agents who have access to the system can search specific areas, specific types of property, number of bedrooms and baths and much more.  Today the Multiple Listing Service has become such a technologically advanced tool for real estate agents they cannot live without it.  With the combination of many associations of realtors or groupings of associations into several large services a real estate agent has access to literally 10’s of thousands of properties for sale with such sophisticated search engines that finding the perfect property for your buyer is only several key strokes away.

Most Multiple Listing Services restrict their membership and access to only real estate brokers and their agents who are licensed in the state and are members of the local board or association.  However, access is becoming more open due to the explosion of internet sites and the public’s increased interest in properties in their area.  There has been a few legal cases involving the public’s access to their local MLS but at this point in time access is granted to licensed realtors and associate members, such as appraisers and mortgage providers.

The Multiple Listing Services database and software is used real estate agents who represent sellers to share information about properties with other brokers who may be working with potential buyers or wish to cooperate with a seller’s broker in finding a buyer for the property.  The data contained on the MLS assists agents with searching out specific information provided by the seller which enables the real estate agent to find just the right property for their buyers.  As stated above the Multiple Listing Service is the bible for real estate agents without which an already challenging job would become much more difficult.