“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.
It's Simple...When You Have A Great Agent!
SarahGray Lamm is a licensed, full time, residential real estate professional in the Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina with over 60,000 hours of experience. She specializes in serving the real estate needs of home sellers, home buyers and investors in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham and Northern Chatham County and is proudly associated with Allen Tate Realtors, the Carolinas #1 independent realty company.
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You are right on the money (so to speak). I use searchable fields when I'm narrowing down choices for my buyers. If the listing agent doesn't fill it out right, it doesn't go out to the right buyers.
SarahGray,
How about the map-challenged listing agent who has the mapping miles away from the home?
Or the agent who spells the subdivision wrong, or makes up a new name, rather than the proper name for search purposes? Or spells the street wrong?
Or the foreclosure agent who lies about the foreclosure status to keep us from searching foreclosures accurately, so he can have first shot at both ends of the deal?
Or calls a condo a townhome?
Etc.
The tolerated level of professionalism in listing input reflects on all of us.
Julia and Mike - The examples we could come up with are endless, aren't they? I had to stop somewhere! Thanks for adding to the list! I KNOW you've had expired sellers ask you why their home didn't sell only to look it up and find out that MLS shows it in a different TOWN! Argghhh.
SarahGray - Great points abt effective use of the MLS. This is definitely not a time for limited service or a FSBO.
Beautifully, presented, SarahGray. And having a good MLS service, which we also do, helps.
Claude, I've seen some LS brokers who do a nice job with data entry but I've also been painfully aware that some simply mailed the form to the seller with instructions to 'fill it out.' They can't walk away from their liability that easily and dumping bad data into our system hurts us all!
Jane, thanks! We are lucky to have an MLS staff who really work hard to keep things on track. They are quick to fine the obvious offenders, as they should be, but nothing beats good old fashioned integrity!
SarahGray: As an ex-appraiser, I can tell you it is a real joy to find an agent that takes this task seriously and approaches it as a professional should. And, while an appraiser should never take the information supplied on a MLS listing as gospel, it was re-assuring to discover the information was indeed correct. Your use of the word integrity is simply spot-on ... as the "correctness" of the info provided on these listings is pretty much indicative of the effort the agent will make as a whole in the entire transaction. As with every profession ... it's all in the details. Thought-provoking post!
Gene
Gene, I didn't know you had been an appraiser! Cool! I love it when folks in one end of our business have experience in another... we call that well rounded!
You are absolutely correct. Very well said.
I always visit the home myself, take hundreds of photos, so I can then go through and use the best ones... I make copious notes about everything great about that house and write down details that I won't be able to use on the MLS, but I can certainly talk about, when asked. I immediately upload the information MYSELF, in order to avoid mistakes or something important to be missed. I upload the photos immediately - same time as the listing. No time to waste. Sometimes there is a virtual tour, sometimes not, but if there is, everything goes up at once.
I still see properties for sale now, that have last year's Winter photos on them.
I also see listings with a note where the photos should be: "photos coming soon"
Why soon? Why didn't you take photos when you were there?
What about the homes that are freehold, but are listed as condos or co-ops, because no one paid attention to the pull down menu options?
How can these people be looking after their client's best interests?
Sylvie, I am 100% on board with your process! I'm amazed when I hear agents say they never thought about the syndication issue. Once I explain this I never have a problem getting sellers who want to be "in MLS immediately" to understand why I need to get it all done and done right before I click ACTIVATE!