Recently the California Association of Realtors approved a motion that could lead to a state wide Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is an unprecedented move in the real estate industry and hopefully more states within the US will follow. Many professionals within the US real estate industry have been pushing for these changes and hopefully they will result in greater efficiency within the real estate profession and provide the end consumer (home buyers and home sellers) with a broader, more timely, information base.

For those who are unfamiliar with the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), the MLS is the online listing service that Realtors use to market their home and property listings. Typically MLS's are local and very regional in coverage. Licensed Realtors, appraisers, and other industry professionals are the exclusive users of the MLS and listing information in the MLS is made public by IDX data feed on various local Real Estate board sites, on www.realtor.com, and on individual Realtor sites. End consumers (home buyers and home sellers) typically use these different sites when searching for homes.

Some within the real estate industry believe that state wide MLS's as proposed in California or even a national MLS system would allow Real Estate Professionals to be more efficient, competitive, and ultimately lead to reduced costs that could be passed on to final consumers. The only real losers in a state wide MLS would be the local MLS boards that charge fees to real estate brokers and Realtors for access to their data.

Hopefully the approved motion by California to create a state wide MLS will lead other US states to do so as well and hopefully these changes will result in a more efficient real estate industry that is better for the end consumer and real estate professional alike.

Jonathan Edwards Kostyra, e-Pro & Greenville Real Estate Agent Open House Realty, Servicing Greenville SC Real Estate,
Downtown Greenville Condominiums, & Lake Keowee Real Estate

Source: www.isnare.com