The MLS – an informative guide to the Multiple Listing Service
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The MLS - the Multiple Listing Service

Takeaways

  • Decide whether it's better to "sell by owner" or use an agent.
  • Selling by owner has a number of drawbacks.
  • Taking the FSBO route keeps the property out of the MLS system.

Did you know?

  • Some sell-by-owners create websites for their property to market it online.
Selling a home yourself can be difficult. You often hear the term "MLS" used by real estate agents and on real estate sites. What is it? Well, you can think of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as the online “catalog” for all local real estate listings.

Here's how it works: When a new property is listed for sale with a real estate agent, he or she gathers as much information as possible about the property, including photographs of the exterior and special features. Now, the information is loaded into a local database that is available on the internet, usually for all real estate brokers who are members of the MLS system to use and display on their own sites.

You can learn more about various aspects of the MLS by exploring these articles:

Even before the advent of the internet, the MLS still existed.

About a half-century ago, the real estate industry began compiling and recording printed booklets of information about property offered for sale. These books were disseminated bi-weekly and provided an invaluable resource to real estate agents, buyers, and sellers about the scope of real estate availability in a given geographic area.

Thanks to the Internet, the cumbersome process of gathering data and reprinting it has been replaced by a more simplified process that enables information to be shared almost as soon as the ink is dry on a real estate contract. Also as a result of the internet real estate offerings far from home can be considered with the click of a mouse.

With access to MLS listings available via the internet to almost all home buyers (New York City, for example, is an exception), visitors to the sites of local brokers have access to all homes represented by licensed agents in that area. For Sale By Owner listings (link to FSBO article on page 2) typically are not loaded into the MLS database, and get less exposure than agent represented listings.

Learn More about the MLS or Use it to Find a Home

To learn more, explore the advice on the MLS in this section of our site. You can view local MLS listings by visiting the websites of local GMAC Offices.