Communicating the Value of the MLS to Consumers
As you work to negotiate your value and services to consumers, hopefully converting leads into clientele, the MLS is an area of your discussion that you don’t want to skip over.
The reality is that the MLS offers potential clients all the tools and data they need for their benefit. Here are some talking points provided by the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) to ensure you have a vast knowledge and understanding when communicating effectively.
Talking points about the value of the MLS:
A strong MLS system is vital to the health, efficiency, and stability of the US real estate market.
Complete, accurate, and timely information about homes for sale empowers consumers and increases competition in the market. MLSs make consumers better informed and marketplaces more competitive.
MLSs promote fair housing and prevent discrimination by making all listings available to all subscribers and participants.
More information is better; buyers need to know what homes are on the market and sellers need to know how much comparable homes sold for so that they can price theirs appropriately. And agents can serve clients better when they have access to reliable and complete information.
MLSs lead to faster and more efficient transactions based on reliable data.
MLSs promote transparency and fairness to all consumers in the real estate market.
Why MLSs create competitive markets:
All participants have the same information.
MLSs empower consumers and therefore incentivize brokers to offer high quality services, so that consumers and brokers can partner in the process.
MLSs provide transparent markets and, therefore, increase consumer confidence in the real estate transaction process. Consumers and brokers know what they are getting.
Homes are exposed to the highest number of potential buyers and buyers have complete information to evaluate sales prices.
The more members and more information shared on the MLS means more benefits for real estate consumers. The value of an MLS increases as the number of properties listed on the MLS grows.
MLSs significantly reduce transaction costs and make it easier for consumers to buy and sell properties at competitive prices through accurate, high-quality data.