What is a Multiple Listing Service (MLS)?
A Multiple Listing Service is compilation of real estate listings for sale within a specific area.
MLSs provide online platforms that compile home listings from brokerages in a given market. They enable agents to efficiently see available homes for sale and get helpful marketplace data and typically share listing information to national and local websites that advertise property information. There are many MLSs across the U.S., and each has its own rules to make sure its information is complete, accurate, and transparent.
What value does an MLS provide?
MLSs allow real estate professionals to see, share, and promote homes for sale so they can be found by the largest pool of potential buyers. MLSs provide the most accurate, reliable, and detailed information about properties (both that have sold and are for sale), including listing price, address, features, disclosures, and square footage. MLSs also help promote fair housing and equal opportunity by giving real estate professionals and their clients access to consistent information.
The-MLS-System-In-Action-20250424As a seller, how can an MLS help me sell my home?
When you work with a member of the MLS, you can be assured that your home will be placed in front of nearly every real estate professional currently working with active buyers in your local area. This is more powerful than any marketing or advertising.
As a buyer, how can an MLS help me buy a home?
When you work with an MLS member, you are assured that you will always have access to the most current and reliable set of available properties in your search area and have assurances that brokers representing sellers will work with you.
In New Mexico all real estate licensees are known as brokers. Qualifying Brokers join the MLS as participants. Their affiliated Associate Brokers join as subscribers. Brokers may often work in multiple marketplaces and become participants in more than one MLS. Subscribers will join the MLSs that the participant is already participating in and that serve their business objectives. Subscribers cannot join an MLS without their Qualifying Broker/Participant first joining.
Much of a broker’s data is input into MLS systems, which is why appraisers also join the MLS for property valuation data. The MLS serves as the data repository that houses single-broker and multi-broker data sets for the participants to use in their businesses. Though not the only place that brokers source data from, the MLS data set is often the most important.
A brokers’ ability to access MLS data is critical to the operation and success of their business in a modern real estate environment. Brokers employ technology staff or hire outside vendors to manage their MLS data and technology needs. MLS data is used for internal brokerage purposes as well as for public display of listings on broker websites and applications.
While MLS participants can display some MLS data publicly to consumers, these participants may not imply to consumers that their company or website is the MLS. The websites that brokers and their licensees use may only display a limited portion of the information in the MLS. Confidential client and customer information that is also contained in the MLS is not a part of these broker displays.
