i'm not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt.
there are roughly 800 MLS's in North America. most are organized
along county lines, though there are some that cross many states
(TREND is a large one in the Phila area that covers parts of NJ. The
DC-area has a huge one too spanning many states).
the MLS's typically are owned and operated by the local Association of
Realtors, which is run by local real estate brokers (the "Board"), and
is usually loosely affiliated with the National Association of
REALTORS ("NAR"). a handful of MLS's are privately-owned (i think
Virginia Beach might be). agents work for brokers, and they pay dues
to belong to the local MLS. brokers, in turn, can either be
franchisees for an area (Coldwell Banker, Prudential, ERA, Century 21,
Re/Max, etc.) or independent owners.
the agents' MLS dues cover the cost of maintaining the MLS database,
among other things. good MLS's also train agents on how to use
technology. some offer websites to agents. nearly all offer brokers
and their agents access to the full MLS data. this is important
because the MLS represents the most up-to-date, robust list of homes
for sale in that community. the brokers (who actually own the
listings, not the agents) pool their listings in the MLS database for
purposes of making the market. listing agents/brokers can specify in
the MLS how they want to split their commission with the buy-side
agents (confusingly called "selling agents" because they sell the home
to the buyer). a typical deal might be 6% of the home price with 3%
going to each side. the agent on each side, in turn, must split that
piece with their broker. thus, there are 4 mouths to feed in each
deal (not to mention title, escrow, mortgage) which is why it's so
expensive to transact real estate in the US.
roughly 20%-25% of US consumers start off selling for sale by owner
("fsbo") in the hope that they can avoid paying about 3% (they still
have to pay the buy-side agent who brings the buyer). after realizing
what a pain in the neck it is, about half give up and hire a listing
agent. i think the net result is that only 15% of closed sales are
FSBO.
consumers generally do not have access to the true MLS. agents and
brokers want to be the gatekeepers of that inventory. they are
looking at how expedia, travelocity, etc. wiped out the travel agent
industry. there are many hidden battles fought over who has access to
MLS data and under what privileges. one thing is certain-- the people
paying dues to the MLS generally have the best access (i.e., local
brokers and agents). about the best consumers can do is
www.realtor.com, which is run by NAR. the trouble there is that not
every local Associaion plays ball with NAR. some don't send the data
at all. most send delayed or partial information (e.g., strip off the
addresses of the property). in general, the local associations don't
want to give up so much data that their members have little value to
add.
the only legal way you can get mls listings on your website is if you
are a member of the local mls. they have strict rules on whether you
can display the listings and under what circumstances. some mls'
won't even let agents display the listings; in those markets only
brokers can access the listings for display on a website. there are
two paradigms for online listings display: IDX (no registration
required) and VOW (consumer registration required). IDX feeds exclude
brokers' listings who have opted out. VOW is pretty much the full
MLS, but if you have a VOW site, you must register the consumer and
authenticate their email address before you display MLS data. check
with your local MLS as each MLS' rules vary slightly.
it sounds like you are in the NYC area. you can probably belong to
multiple MLS's if you are actually doing business across MLS lines.
you will almost certainly need to pay dues at each though, which can
be a downer. there is a relatively new MLS for New York City, but it
is just getting started. the de facto MLS in that area is the New
York Times. Long Island has a strong MLS as do other areas where
single family homes are more common. In NYC it is mostly rentals and
co-ops, so not as much need for a traditional MLS (though a rental MLS
is an interesting concept). |
