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How A Multiple Listing Service Benefits Everybody – From The Seller To The Buyer, To The Brokers

If you have been involved with any real estate transactions in the past, you’ve probably already heard of a multiple listing service or MLS. In essence, it is a listing of virtually all properties on the market in a certain area. Beyond that, it also amounts to an agreement between brokers to compensate whoever is able to bring a buyer for a property listed. The amount is usually specified or may range from one half up to three percent of the selling price.

Who owns the MLS of your area? These days the trend is for smaller MLS companies to consolidate with other MLS groups in their general vicinity to create a bigger regional MLS. An MLS can be privately owned or be an affiliate of an association of realtors.

It is important for brokers to actively participate in their area’s MLS as it is the main source for most online real estate listing websites across the Internet. It also generally has the listing monopoly on any given area; such is the power of the MLS. People who are in any way interested in real estate would find it extremely beneficial to have access to the MLS of their chosen location.

Multiple listing services are influential in that they are vastly beneficial to all parties with vested interest in a real estate transaction. Why else would brokers bother to subscribe to them if they don’t find the service useful? As mentioned, an MLS is a collection of real estate services offered by brokers in aid of property acquisition. With the kind of exposure a property gets in an MLS, its chances of being sold for a good price are higher.

Through the MLS:

  • A buyer is indirectly able to access non-publicly listed properties and probably swiftly locate one that suits him or her.
  • The brokers involved are able to fulfill with greater efficiency their responsibility to their respective clients.
  • The seller is guaranteed exposure for his or her property on a whole other level (like being represented by a legion of brokers, but for the price of one).

The real estate industry has a very volatile market. What the MLS offers is certainly a comforting and time-saving resource for brokers, especially in such an unsteady economy. For a satisfying real estate transaction, buyers and sellers will definitely do well to hire brokers who are subscribed to the MLS of their chosen area.