| What is the Multiple Listing Service? |
 The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a computer-based system with a membership composed of licensed real estate brokers and agents. Through the MLS, access to properties that are for sale is shared so every real estate salesperson who is a member of the MLS has the opportunity to show and sell any of the properties listed with the MLS. | |
| About the MLS in LA County | Importance of MLS Information |
| Advantages of a Keysafe | About Broker Caravans |
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Since almost all serious, qualified buyers choose to work with a real estate agent to find and buy a home, the MLS gives you, as a seller, exposure to almost every potential buyer in the marketplace. |
There are four MLS systems in Los Angeles County, each serving a particular geographic area. Sometimes having a property in just one MLS system is adequate exposure, but we feel that if a seller's property is located near the "dividing line" of two MLS systems, our sellers will get the widest exposure to potential buyers' agents by having their property placed into both of those MLS systems. This is why we maintain membership and customarily market our listings through more than one MLS. |
| How your property is presented in the MLS can make a big difference in whether or not an agent chooses to preview and show your property to a potential buyer. |  |
Information shown in the MLS includes the address of the property, number of bedrooms and baths, price of the property and finite sets of descriptive fields that are "searchable" when a buyer's agent is accessing the MLS system to find a property. The MLS listing also has an area for a descriptive paragraph and the capability to display photos of your home. We pay special attention to the description and the photos (we provide photos to the MLS instead of trusting the MLS photographer to show your home to its best advantage). |
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The MLS also has "showing instructions" for agents to follow. Properties which are the easiest for agents to show are usually previewed and shown the most, and sell fastest and for the highest price. |
For this reason, most of our seller clients choose to use an electronic keysafe. After checking with our office to make sure a property is still available, a buyer's agent can leave a message on the seller's answering machine or voice mail as to the time of the previewing or showing, and then go. Having an electronic keysafe for broker showings is like having a little computer on your door. The keysafe contains a key to your property, but to gain access to that key, the showing broker (1) must be real estate licensee, a member in good standing of the MLS and have a personal keypad issued by the MLS that's been updated within the past 30 days; (2) must use a secret code that's unique to the agent and that personal keypad; (3) must be accessing the keysafe during timed hours set in the keysafe's memory. By using the keysafe, the agent is recording into the "little computer on your door" the agent's name, company, phone number, date and time of entry. This is especially useful, because I can "read" your keysafe with my own keypad and upload the data to a central MLS keysafe computer system to check on showing activity for follow-up. |
| A broker helping a buyer whose needs seem to fit the description of your home will probably preview your home anyway. But sometimes it's advantageous to invite all area brokers to preview your home. |  |
 Most MLS areas have a regularly scheduled Broker Caravan (sometimes also referred to as a Brokers' Open or Brokers' Open House). The day set aside for caravan is determined geographically. In some MLS systems, the caravan day for a particular MLS area is every week; in others, it is on alternating weeks. The Broker Caravan is an opportunity for us to invite all the brokers in the area to preview your property. Return to "Selling Your Home" Page |