THE MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE (MLS)
The MLS is the most effective and powerful way to promote your property to the thousands of local licensed Realtors® who represent serious and qualified buyers.
The Multiple Listing Service is a tool available exclusively to the 800,000 members of the National Association of Realtors, 90,000 members of the Florida Association of Realtors and the 12,000 plus real estate companies that make up the local MLS boards in Florida.
Being listed on the local Realtor MLS is crucial for anyone serious about selling. More than 75% of all home buyers use the services of a Realtor. The Realtor uses the MLS to search for available houses on the market.
Most buyers use a Realtor in their search to find a home because it doesn’t cost them anything and it usually saves the buyer a lot of time, effort, and frustration.
According to indusrty experts four out of every five homes are sold through the Multiple Listing Service.
The local Realtors® Association is a part of the National Association of Realtors® and is an organized entity designed to help real estate agents from many different companies cooperate with each other, establish guidelines for service and ethical issues, and strive to make the real estate community more professional.
It also oversees the “MLS” computer system – the source agents turn to first to find properties for their buyers.
It is through the “MLS” that most of the residential real estate deals are brought together. As real estate professionals, we have all agreed to exchange information about properties for sale in order to help sell homes for the best price possible in the least amount of time.
We pay an annual fee to the Realtors® Association for the right to publish information about your home in the computer system and agree to pay a commission to any agent that has a buyer for your home.
One of the most important jobs we do to help market your home to other Realtors® on the MLS is to offer detailed listing information and multiple photos of your homes best selling features.
Best of all, you don’t give up your flexibility to sell your home “BY-OWNER.” If you find a buyer on your own, you’ll still pay no commission.
If a Realtor® brings you a buyer, just pay the Realtor® a reduced commission, usually around 3% of the selling price, at closing.
