What is MLS?
Multiple Listing Service is a service provided for International REALTOR® Members .
- a facility for the orderly correlation and dissemination of listing information so participants may better serve their clients and customers and the public
- a means by which authorized participants make blanket unilateral offers of compensation to other participants or
- a means of enhancing cooperation among participants
- a means by which information is accumulated and disseminated to enable authorized participants to prepare appraisals, analysis, and other valuations of real property for bonafide clients and customers
- a means by which participants engaging in real estate appraisal contribute to common databases
The most basic element of an MLS is that it is a compilation of the currently listed properties for sale or lease in an area. This information can be compiled in hard copy publication or more often today in a computerize and often web-based system.
MLS is more than just a list of properties for sale. There are numerous publications or websites where you can go to find properties for sale, and those aren’t MLS. They’re missing a key element to what makes an MLS unique and that is a unilateral offer of compensation from the listing broker to cooperating brokers who find the buyer. In an MLS, listing brokers agree to pay cooperating brokers a percentage of the sales price or a flat Peso amount if they find the buyer for a property they have listed.
MLS – simply put – is the exchange of property information for sale or lease and offers of compensation that lead to cooperative sales and lease transactions.