The Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

What is the MLS, and how does it work for you?  The MLS is a database of properties currently on the market in the area.  Brokers participating in the MLS (which includes virtually all Brokers in the area) list all the homes they have for sale and agree to share in the sales commission of the properties.  This means that if I list your property on the MLS for you, but another agent finds a buyer for your house, that other broker or agent is entitled to part of the commission.  The big advantage to you, as the seller, is that every single broker and agent participating in the MLS has an incentive to sell your home.  This effectively puts every agent in the area to work selling your home!  The first place a buyers agent looks is always the MLS.  There is simply no better way to gain instant and widespread exposure for your home than listing it on the MLS.

So, the first thing I'll do as your agent is get your home listed on the MLS!  When another agent is searching for a home to meet the needs of a buyer, the agent will search the MLS based on the buyers criteria for price range and features.  So I'll enter all the important information about your home, such as the size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, associations fees if applicable, rules and regulations if applicable, and any special features.

Details can make a tremendous difference; the best attitude is always to indicate everything we can about the property as we never know what specific feature matters most and may be the most attractive to certain buyers.  I'll also take photos of your house and include them with your MLS listing.  Agents and buyers alike are always more likely to look at listings with photos.

I will also include, unless agreed otherwise, a visual tour of your property.  Here is what Blanche Evans, the award-winning editor of Realty Times, the Internet's largest independent real estate news service, where she oversees the nation's leading real estate writers and columnists had to say about Visual Tours. Blanche has also been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, recognized as one of nine "Notables," and was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR." (Delahaye-Bacon's, 2005)

" Imagine a home tour beginning with an agent profile, cutting to a sweeping panorama of a gated community, and finally settling on shots of the home and its interior. Augmented by voice, text, and additional links, the virtual home tour could be the most significant visual marketing tool of all time. When compared to the one-dimensional and very expensive photos in local newspapers, a real-time tour online looks mighty attractive, especially when you can use advertising to drive people to view the tours. Add phone technologies that call the agent directly from the buyer's PC, and you have a heckuva lead generation tool."

For an additional great article about MLS, its importance, role and the potential, have a peak at MLS Marketing: Four Ways to Maximize Showings by Jim Remley.