SarahGray Lamm ~ Chapel Hill / Carrboro / Durham Real Estate Blog ~ Agent Outlier

“If I can just get my home in MLS, I’ll pay an agent to sell it.” Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? I’ve written before about how MLS is an important part of my ‘magic marketing bag of tricks’ but don’t be confused…it’s only magic if I make it that way.

A little history of MLS (multiple listing services) may be in order here. MLS’s were originally designed as dissemination services for professionals – a way for professionals to provide other professionals with information necessary to do their jobs effectively. This includes appraisers as well as real estate agents representing sellers and buyers. Consumers expect professionals to provide them with accurate data and other information as well as expecting us to be able to demonstrate an ability to interpret and employ that data to provide guidance they couldn’t necessarily provide for themselves.

With the advent of consumer technology, MLS has become all that and more; allowing not only ease of access to data but an opportunity for professionals to add value to the basic system and actually use our knowledge of the system, how it works and how it is used, to benefit our clients.

MLS now provides data feeds to many consumer friendly sites and has saved countless hours of valuable time for professionals as well as consumers when it comes to “previewing” property. So how impressed are you when you come across a listing with NO PICTURES? What about a listing with NO ROOM SIZES? How about a description that reads “Cute as a button. Will sell fast. Must see. Sq. Ft. not guaranteed - buyer agent to verify.”

Our TMLS (Triangle Multiple Listing Service) has 200 available fields of which 73 are required. Sure, some may not apply to your listing but many of the non-required fields are very important to a consumer. Like room measurements. Is it important to know if the buyers king sized bed will fit in the master bedroom? Do some buyers care if the master or laundry room is upstairs or down? Will the living room accommodate a piano?

What about ‘features’? We have the option to include your home’s best features. Would a buyer like to know if you have a fenced yard, detached workshop, granite countertops or a community pool? How about a screened porch, security system or audio/video system? Does it matter if these features are reported in the appropriate SEARCHABLE data fields or if they are abbreviated in the “Remarks” section? You bet it does.

In the Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill area, our MLS allows for 12 pictures of your home but requires only 3 which are to be uploaded within 7 days of activating the listing. SEVEN DAYS? That’s the most important part of your marketing period! The chance of getting full price for your home is the greatest during the initial marketing period. What if your home doesn’t have any pictures? Listing syndication (the option brokers have to include their listing information in data feeds that supply home listings to all those consumer home search websites) occurs quickly, usually within a few hours, but certainly within 3 days. No pictures when syndicated means NO PICTURES anywhere the feed is picked up. Somehow I don’t think this is working in my seller’s best interest.

When it comes to computers and end users there is one truism that matters: GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. It is my professional opinion that anyone allowed to participate in the entering of data that our clients want and need to make informed decisions about the largest purchase of their lives, should be doing so with the highest degree of integrity and attention to detail. We are accountable for the accuracy of the information we provide; always. Simply not providing it, to avoid liability, is NOT the answer.

This requires that we, as professional Realtors®, actually visit the property, verify the information given us by the seller and DO OUR BEST to ensure the accuracy of the data we are obligated to and responsible for providing. Leaving out crucial data, even if not required, or failing to present the seller’s property in it’s best light whether that is by using well written prose or by uploading attractive photos immediately at the time of activation in MLS, is inexcusable.

There is a reason I take pride in being a real estate professional. I approach my business and my obligation to my clients as if my reputation and my clients’ money matter: because they do.