It’s how homes are found.
The Multiple Listing Service makes it possible to see a full picture of what’s on the market.
Search the market
Those real estate search apps and websites that everyone uses? They rely on the Multiple Listing Service, and the real estate brokers and agents that participate in it, to show you a full and up-to-date picture of homes for sale.
Outside North America, where no Multiple Listing Service exists, searchers are stymied by fragmentary and frequently inaccurate information. That’s no way to search!
Go deeper and get closer
When you find a home or homes you like, your agent will use the Multiple Listing Service to get you detailed information not available on public apps and websites, and arrange showings.
Know how much to offer
This is a BIG decision. Your agent will use the Multiple Listing Service to analyze up-to-the-minute information on comparable homes and recent sale prices in order to guide you.
Get In The Know™
Ready to start working with an agent, or already are? Make sure
you – and your agent – are In The Know™. Here are some important
points to understand at the onset of your buying journey.
If an Agent belongs to the Multiple Listing Service that covers the geographic area you’re looking to buy in, then you can be sure you’re seeing every home for sale. If an agent is not a member of the Multiple Listing Service that covers the region you’re looking in, you may need to find an agent who is.
Properties agents share with you are coming from a Multiple Listing Service, which means their details and status are usually much more accurate than other search sites, which often pull data from all sorts of sources across the internet.
If the price is coming from a Multiple Listing Service, the price is accurate. The rules are that any data displayed online needs to be attributed to the source (aka the Multiple Listing Service) that it is coming from. If you don’t see a data source attribution on a listing, it might not be accurate.
Again, look for the Multiple Listing Service attribution on the data you’re getting. If it’s not attributed, it may not have come from a Multiple Listing Service. You can count on Multiple Listing Service data to be the most accurate out there because it’s regulated by a set of industry-accepted standards, controlled by the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO).
Only real estate agents can get direct access to the Multiple Listing Service — so that sensitive and private information (things like front door codes, lock box combinations, and times of day when the home is vacant) stays in the hands of professionals. In some markets, a Multiple Listing Service may maintain a website buyers can access too.
Talk to your local or state Board of REALTORS® to find out how to take the real estate exam in your state.