MLS question for realtors (sale, house, buy)

[synthnut]

I'm not sure if this is a country wide situation or if it depends on the area .....I find that I will look at MLS listings and they appear to be available properties, however , when contacting the listing realtor , I find that properties are being closed on or not available ..... To me , it borders on a " bait and switch " tactic and leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes me not want to venture any further .... This has happened on quite a few properties that I have looked at .... It's not like there is a landslide market , and there is not enough time to post " Under Contract " on any properties that ARE under contract .... What's the story with this ? .....I would think that a listing agency like MLS would have no problem putting an " Under Contract " on properties that are in this state of sale ......Thanks, Jim

[Bill Hitchcock]

It's somewhat of a loaded question, but let me try to explain.
The Multiple Listing Service that a Realtor belongs to is instant. On market, pending, sold, etc is a keystroke away from being posted.
Some Realtors have a public MLS they offer potential clients that allows everyone a degree of access to all listings. This is a service the Realtor pays for buy offers to the public at no charge.
Company websites are run by each individual agency and who knows how often they get updated. Other services will pull from public MLS listings and sometimes there is a delay. I've seen 2-3 week delays when a third party pulls from the public MLS.
If you are using the public version of the MLS that a Realtor is paying to use you should be able to access current information.

[synthnut]

Hi Bill ,
Thanks for the info ....A lot of times to make things go quickly, I will get info from Realtor.com .......It's fast and you can narrow down a search quickly ....THIS is the site that I find gives me info that is outdated and in a lot of cases , the info is more like MONTHS late .....For example ....One house that I had been looking at I finally decided to call on ....I was then going to contact you to make an offer on this house .....The house will be closed on in a WEEK !!.....Nothing is mentioned at all on Realtor.com about the house even being under contract ..... I thought that Realtor.com was basically just a MLS site ...?????.....Thanks again , Jim

[Jkgourmet]

No, realtor.com is not an MLS site. Realtors pay to put their listings on realtor.com and realtor.com also digs for listings from the MLS. But it is NOT updated instantly like the mls.

To really get good, current to the day information, you have to go to a site that is on the mls, which you can only get through a realtor. Sorry, but most realtors will give you access if you are their client. If they won't, I'd find another realtor who will - IF you are their client.

[Bill Hitchcock]

Realtor.com is one of those third party sites. Believe it or not-Few Realtors will pay to have a public MLS at their site. I can't say anymore without getting in trouble.