What is the multiple listing service or MLS

The Multiple Listing Service or MLS is the official service of the Florida Association of Realtors, where real estate agents register all properties that are available for sale and rent. It has become the largest property sales history database with more information than even public records. How does the MLS work?

• Those who wish to buy or rent receive a list of all the units available on the market, without having to limit themselves only to the inventory managed by their real estate broker and without the need to request different inventories from other agents, since all of them have the same access. to the MLS and therefore, to the same information about the available properties.
• The MLS allows specific searches to be carried out thanks to agents entering the criteria that correspond to the needs of their clients. Example: number of rooms, price, city, type of property (house, apartment, townhouse, commercial premises, among others). This list comes to you electronically.
• The system allows the buyer or tenant to receive updates automatically when new properties are published that have the search criteria that were established.
• An interested client can receive information about a property at the same time it goes on the market and could bid on it quickly. This advantage would not be available to a client who decides to sell or rent their property without using the services of a real estate broker.
• When the client chooses a property, their agent will contact the broker who has the property, to make an appointment to show it.
• Every time a property is sold or rented and the process is closed, the system records and archives the data, allowing comparisons to be made with them and knowing, for example, if the price of a property corresponds to what the market dictates, or helping to the owners of the same, to set a fair price for their property.

Can I continue using the services of websites like Zillow or Realtor.com? There are sites on the web that allow limited access to properties that appear in the MLS. Websites like Zillow.com, Realtor.com, are examples of this. Some of these pages do not have their databases updated, which is why it is not surprising that properties shown as active are no longer available. That’s why the listing your broker sends you is the most reliable source since it comes directly from the MLS. However, you can send your real estate agent photographs or screenshots of the properties you see on these websites and they will be able to confirm if they are still active and if they match all the characteristics you require.