"Door County Real Estate" by: Kevin Nordahl, REALTOR®
What is a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and how do I use it?
For as often as we REALTORS® use this powerful tool to do our business we rarely get asked this question. There are a lot of misconceptions on what an MLS does and why we have one in the first place.
In a single word the Multiple Listing Service is "cooperation." Nearly every brokerage in Door and Kewaunee county has agreed to cooperate with one another to publish their listings to a single reference source. This resource, based upon the cooperation of each listing member, is the crux of what the MLS actually is.
For ages the Door County Board or REALTORS® along with the Door County Multiple Listing Service has published a REALTOR® only book twice per month that lists every property by area and property type. Each listing (where the word 'listing' originates) in the MLS contains an introductory amount of information for agents to share with their prospects and clients. Additional information is cooperatively shared among members upon request. This allows agents in one office to obtain information on properties in every single office in the Door/Kewaunee territory. The agent who lists the property in the MLS is called the "listing agent."
Naturally, the use of listing books is fading with the advent of technology. Today, in addition to the books, the entire Door/Kewaunee MLS is online in a secured site for each real estate agent to access immediately. Limited public access is also available on most of the area brokerage websites. One such resource is www.doorcountyrealestate.com.
The cooperation doesn't stop at just sharing information. By cooperating with one another each brokerage also agrees to allow licensed real estate agents to represent listed properties to their prospects, which includes scheduling showings with the listing agent. The cooperating agent bringing the prospects to the door becomes the "selling agent" after obtaining a contract for sale.
The final cooperation is the splitting of commissions with the cooperative agency. Each office independently sets its own rate to which they cooperate with other agencies in the dispersal of brokerage fees. This is always done in house at each agency and should be a consideration for anyone to ask their listing agent about, (i.e. how much are you paying other agents to notice my property). The question to ask is, "how much is your MLS split?" Your agent can explain this further for you as it pertains to each office separately.
When you walk into a real estate office you are basically walking into nearly every real estate office in the county. The MLS is the most powerful tool available to assist in the successful marketing and sale of your property and only available to REALTORS®. Think of it as the one tool that gets your property in front of every agent in the cooperating territory. The measure of success is how well your agent matches the countless number of listings to your criteria.
So for those of you who think your real estate agent is an all knowing seer of property please know that the crystal ball they are looking into is the culmination of everyone's hard work in cooperation with an entire field of licensed professionals. Good luck and happy searching.
Kevin Nordahl is a life-long resident of Door County, a REALTOR® and a member of the Door County MLS. He is the incoming Door County Board of REALTORS® President for 2003-04 and has been a Sales Consultant at Coldwell Banker Door County Horizons in Fish Creek since 1996. He may be reached online at www.doorcountyrealestate.com or by phone at (920) 493-4004.
Kevin Nordahl is a life-long resident of Door County, a REALTOR® and a member of the Door County MLS. He is the incoming Door County Board of REALTORS® President for 2003-04 and has been a Sales Consultant at Coldwell Banker Door County Horizons in Fish Creek since 1996. He may be reached online at www.doorcountyrealestate.com or by phone at (920) 493-4004.