MLS Does NOT Stand for "Multiple Location Service"

Tuesday July 7, 2009

I've been waiting for my MLS to help me with some research before posting this. First, let me make it clear that:

I have no problem with brokerages doing limited service.
I have no problem with brokerages doing MLS Only listing.
I have no problem with charging flat fees, even small ones.

BUT, I have a large problem with misleading my site visitors who come to my Taos, New Mexico MLS IDX search page to look for homes in the Taos, New Mexico MLS area, mainly our county. I have a huge problem when they find homes listed in my MLS that are sitting in Idaho, Minnesota, and many other states. It confuses my searchers, and requires my time to set them straight that the "too good to be true" home for $85,000 is really too good to be true. It's 1500 miles away!

It is apparently OK for a brokerage licensed in this state, or working with a licensee in this state, to list a home anywhere in the world in my MLS. The company doing this the most just happens to be a flat fee, MLS Only, listing company. That isn't the problem.

It's the fact that they have no problem in telling their customers that they're providing them with great service by exposing their listings in places where they will get NO attention that will EVER result in a sale. There is no way that someone looking for a vacation home near a stream in an alpine environment will be purchasing a subdivision tract home near downtown in a state a thousand miles away.

So, the fact that they want to mis-inform their customers about this service with no value is bad enough. But, when my site visitors keep sending me emails to ask about the really low price on these homes, it's worse. This is not the MULTIPLE LOCATION SERVICE.