About MLS
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a service subscribed to by real estate brokers to list the properties they offer for sale on behalf of their clients and share with other brokers. Most listings are also shared with limited information to the general public with websites powered by Internet Data Exchange (IDX) such as Realtor.com.
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Use
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In real estate transactions are all conducted by real estate brokers, but most commonly the clients of these brokers interact with real estate agents who work for the real estate brokers. If you are selling a home a real estate agent will come to your home, collect necessary data about your home, have you sign a listing agreement, and then submit the listing to the Multiple Listing Service on behalf of the real estate broker. Following listing in the MLS it will be available to other brokers and their agents so they know which properties are for sale.
Information Available
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A real estate listing in the MLS contains many pieces of data specific to a property. Primarily it provides the address, photos and a description of the property, size of the property lot in acres, the number of rooms and their dimensions, tax information including the tax ID number, most recent assessment, and most recent tax bill. Additionally for the real estate brokers and agents it provides the compensation offered to the buyer's broker and contact information for the listing broker and agent.
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Public View
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The information in the MLS is restricted to distribution to licensed real estate brokers and agents in the state that the MLS operates. However, real estate agents are able to email or print out summaries of the listing information available for their clients or prospects. Also through the use of Internet Data Exchange (IDX) a website of a real estate brokerage or agent can offer the general public a way to search the MLS they are a member of. Some of these searches do not include the addresses or other pertinent information about the property so clients or prospects must contact an agent for more information.
Local and Regional
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Multiple Listings Services are usually local or regional. They can often grow larger by purchasing or merging with other MLS operations in their area. This can be helpful to expand the housing selections in a large region. There can also be overlap of listings and brokers may belong to more than one MLS. For instance in the Washington, DC area the Metropolitan Regional Information Service (MRIS) has agents that list properties as far south as Richmond, Virginia, 90 miles away. Richmond is served by the Central Virginia Multiple Listing Service (CVMLS). Agents that are members of both services can list the same property in both. While there is no national MLS there are websites that allow searching multiple listing services across the country. One example of this type of website is Realtor.com hosted by the National Association of Realtors.
Other Services
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The MLS is not just a tool for listing houses. It also provides an accurate and up-to-date record of properties under contract and sold and those properties that did not sell such as withdrawn or expired listings. This data helps real estate brokers educate clients on how to price their properties for sale by showing them the price people have paid for comparable properties. It also helps organizations like the National Association of Realtors to report to the public the number of homes in inventory and existing home sales for the previous month. These numbers are indicators of the health of the real estate market.
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