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I never understood this, in order to gain access to the real MLS, you MUST be a licensed real estate age. WHY?
1) Only the real MLS has the actual property tax + condo fees and other important details that are missing from all the public listings, it's really annoying to call up the agent asking for that info on every property you might be interested in.
2) If i a willing to pay the monthly fees to access the MLS, why do i have to be a licensed agent?
3) Is it just a way for the industry to protect their own?
First and foremost you need to understand the MLS is paid for and run by real estate agents as a means to help sell properties by sharing information with other licensed agents. Each MLS is independantly owned and managed by the local realtors and there are 1000's of them across the country. Each MLS is a little different since they are independantly owned. For example, in my MLS the taxes and HOA fees are included in the public information. To join the MLS we have to undergo background checks since we have access to private information. The access to that private info is the most important reason why the public cannot have access.
1-Private info such as if a home is vacant, or what the owners work schedule and contact info is, etc would be dangerous if accessable by anyone. I would think most sellers would not that info public but the the theives would love it.
2-It is paid for for and managed by real estates agents for real estate agents. It is not "free public info." For the public version look at Realtor.com which feeds off of the MLS.
There are quite a few threads on this and if you'll do the search link you'll get a lot more info.
Licensed agents do not have access to MLS's just because they are licensed.
MLS's are private databases, owned by their local members, most often Realtors, but that is not the case in all MLS's.
As the MLS is private property of the owners, no one can jsut demand access. In my region, you have to be a member of the MLS, licensed as an agent, and be a Realtor, or assistant to a Realtor. My Board of Realtors owns the MLS, so that seems reasonable.
1-Private info such as if a home is vacant, or what the owners work schedule and contact info is, etc would be dangerous if accessable by anyone. I would think most sellers would not that info public but the the theives would love it.
No offense, but I wouldn't trust that information to a salesperson, either.
Real estate agents are not "salespeople". They are licensed, they have background checks done, they have (in some states) their fingerprints taken or they can't have a license (and thus can't get access to the MLS).
I never understood this, in order to gain access to the real MLS, you MUST be a licensed real estate age. WHY?
1) Only the real MLS has the actual property tax + condo fees and other important details that are missing from all the public listings, it's really annoying to call up the agent asking for that info on every property you might be interested in.
2) If i a willing to pay the monthly fees to access the MLS, why do i have to be a licensed agent?
3) Is it just a way for the industry to protect their own?
can someone please enlighten.
Even if the public was allowed it is not cost effective for most people. My MLS costs $2,000 to join and then $75 a month. Many buyers look at information for a year or so. So in one year you would spend $2,900 to be able to get tax and condo information at your fingertips...that just doesn't seem like a good way to spend your money.
Especially out there you can look it up online easily at the county. You would also be sorely disappointed with many agents in my area since they aren't required fields, that information is often NOT in the MLS.
ditto to what Mike and Brandon just mentioned. In addition - Members/Agents also contribute to the information - not only do we pay to use, but we add to the information and spend hours doing the research to compile the data into system. It would kinda be like showing up to a pot luck dinner with nothing but one plate and one fork. Also there is information about agents that I would consider private. Everyone would have access to the compensation/sold fields placing our approx. gross into public access as well. An agent working extremely hard to locate potential buyers for a seller that has offered a selling bonus could after the fact be subject to buyers trying to negotiate that out.
No offense, but I wouldn't trust that information to a salesperson, either.
As an agent -- no offense taken -- but most sellers don't worry about it too much, but I can't imagine if the personal and private info was available to everyone on the planet that sellers would want to use the MLS -- if that were case, well, it wouldn't exist.
Last edited by eric#1; 05-09-2009 at 03:46 PM..
Reason: clarification
I never understood this, in order to gain access to the real MLS, you MUST be a licensed real estate age. WHY? GREAT QUESTION! WOW SOMEONE TO REP!!!
1) Only the real MLS has the actual property tax + condo fees and other important details that are missing from all the public listings, it's really annoying to call up the agent asking for that info on every property you might be interested in. AGREE
2) If i a willing to pay the monthly fees to access the MLS, why do i have to be a licensed agent? THE ANSWER IS IN QUESTION 3
3) Is it just a way for the industry to protect their own? YES
can someone please enlighten. LOOKS TO ME THAT YOU ARE ENLIGHTEN, S*CKS, HUH?
I've never understood why anyone would be confused as to why they can't have access to a proprietary data base. It's like a compilation of another industry's database. It's proprietary and not for general consumption. Before the mls there were just brokers with their own proprietary listings...you would have had to call all the different brokers to get the information, as we as agents would have had to do so also, and ask permission to co-broke. All the mls is is the individual brokers compiling and sharing their listings with one another. Why would it be confusing? It's a business. If you're in the business, you can join. If you're not, then you hire someone who is who will go through the system and weed out those that aren't in your price range or HOA/condo fee range. Either that or get out, find fsbo's on your own, research the association and go for it.
Last edited by palmcoasting; 05-09-2009 at 04:03 PM..
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