What is the MLS?
Being in real estate, we take advantage of the fact that we have our own language, and we often speak it without realizing exactly how foreign it may sound to some people.
If you have ever bought, sold, rented, or worked with a realtor, you have probably heard them, or someone else talk about the MLS, but what exactly is it?
According to the NAR, (national association of realtors)
The MLS is a tool to help listing brokers find cooperative brokers working with buyers to help sell their clients' homes. Without the collaborative incentive of the existing MLS, brokers would create their own separate systems of cooperation, fragmenting rather than consolidating property information.
Wait, what was that? My head is hurting...is yours?
Basically, the MLS, is how we as agents, communicate not only with other agents, but appraisers, the title companies, the lenders, and you the customer about the status of a property and the particulars of the size, characteristics and listing conditions.
This helps accomplish a few things.
1. It levels the playing field.
2. It ensures a level of accuracy you can't get with other third party sites.
3. Information is publicly available through a brokerage.
4. It gives you access to the largest pool of properties in the area.
Without the MLS, people would just be piecing together information from various sources, with no real way to check the validity of the information.
Thanks for reading!