Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Jeff Martinez (right), a customer support representative at ReInfoLink in Campbell, updates and corrects information posted on MLS.
Online listings help shoppers do homework
By Sue Stone
Realtors provide many services to their clients during a transaction. For sellers, marketing the home to attract buyers is probably one of the most visible forms of service. Newspaper advertisements, FOR SALE signs on the property and flyers left in brochure boxes are all ways Realtors help their clients market their homes.
One of the most effective tools for marketing is the Multiple Listing Service or MLS. The multiple listing service has been a staple of the real estate industry for decades. There are roughly 1,000 multiple listing services in the United States that track home sales in a particular region. Traditionally, clients would visit their local real estate office and leaf through the MLS catalogs, or computer listings to view potential homes.
Now, MLS listings appear in several home-search websites, as well as individual broker sites. In the Silicon Valley, www.mlslistings.com is the local service provider for five counties, from Monterey to San Mateo. The site is hosted by RE InfoLink, that is owned and operated by the seven local real estate associations. RE InfoLink has more than 11,600 Realtor members who subscribe to the service and provide more than 40,000 listings per year.
"It has been estimated by the National Association of Realtors that 50 to 70 percent of buyers will research properties online before they ever pick up a phone to contact a real estate agent," said Mike Johnson, CEO, RE InfoLink. "Homebuyers today have the opportunity to do a lot of homework online about communities, home styles and individual multifamily complexes prior to making that first driving tour of homes."
According to Johnson, listings on the site during the first and second quarter of 2000 would receive 10 to 20 offers the day after being posted, and homes sold on average 105 percent over the asking price.
"We believe that properties not listed on a multiple listing service do not receive the same level of exposure in the market," adds Johnson. "It doesn't cost the seller anything to have his or her Realtor list the property yet it could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the price of the home if the listing receives multiple offers."
RE InfoLink is also linked with Realtor.com, Homes.com, HomeAdvisor.com, Yahoo! Homes, and other real estate related websites. Each of these sites are updated daily while www.mlslistings.com is updated every 15 minutes.
Realtor.com, the website of the National Association of Realtors, lists homes around the nation, estimating their total listings at 1.3 million per year. In addition to home searches, visitors to the site can locate communities, find a Realtor, plan a move, research schools by area, and ask questions of an experienced real estate expert.
According to a recent study by U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray Inc., the average customer who doesn't use the Internet to shop for a home will look at 28 homes, while a shopper doing a web-assisted search will look at only eight homes.
"We have made it a standard policy in our office to list a home for at least one week, including a weekend, as we have found that in this 'seller's' market the MLS is a very powerful tool in getting the word out quickly," said Kim Richman, manager of Century 21 Seville Contempo in Saratoga.
Buyers conducting a home search on www.mlslistings.com, or a related site, set the search criteria of city/location; price range; number of bedrooms, bathrooms and amenities, such as a fireplace or pool, and then the computer displays all the current listings that fit the specific criteria including recent sales activity such as a Sale Pending. For example, a recent search for homes in Los Gatos that cost between $800,000 and $1.2 million displayed 36 listings, 12 of which were Sale Pending.
"Homes listed on the MLS have typically sold faster than private listings, although there are the exceptions where a home sells before it ever hits the web," adds Richman. "Highly desired properties go very quickly in a hot market."
So, recognizing the multiple listing service as a tool for maximum exposure in a limited period of time, why wouldn't a seller request that his or her home be listed? According to the National Association of Realtors, some clients wish to maintain some privacy by having just one realtor control the flow of prospects through the home. In this case, the real estate agent will contact potential buyers directly, or advertise the listing only to selected offices and/or prospects.
One case study in particular demonstrates the multiple listing service in action. Last February a San Jose woman sold her five-year-old condominium in the Santa Teresa region. She selected a Realtor who had sold several units in her complex since she felt that his knowledge of the community would be valuable in the selling process. He recommended that the home be listed on the local MLS for at least a week.
The last comparable condo to sell in the complex sold for $270,000, so the agent recommended an asking price of $275,000. The listing went on MLS for one week, including a weekend and the home was toured by several Realtors and their clients. The following week the woman was called in to review the written offers. There were nine total. None of the offers were for the $275,000 asking price. The lowest offer was for $285,000. The highest was $312,000.
She accepted the $312,000 offer, closed escrow in two weeks and received a check for $40,000 more than she hoped when she initially listed the home.
In a seller's market where the prices are double and triple the values of one year ago, the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors recommends that homeowners give their home as much exposure to the market as possible.
"The more demand for the home the higher the offers," commented Penny Pompei, executive vice president, Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. "Using the MLS service is a win-win for the seller and the Realtor."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
