Teamwork to Search (the Internet) for Homes

The US housing market’s MLS is the envy of the world — a mostly comprehensive, complete database of homes for sale. Built for cooperation between Realtors, the MLS is how we’ve searched for homes and analyzed the market for decades.

That comprehensiveness is under threat. Powerful players in the real estate industry are actively working to fragment the MLS, and the result is that no single source captures every home for sale anymore. It’s never been 100%.

What this means if you are buying (or selling) a home in the Charlottesville area

We need to search everywhere.

The Charlottesville MLS.
Zillow.
Redfin.
Builder sites.
Every other source we can find. Not because any one of them is bad — because none of them is complete.

This is a team effort. You searching. Me searching. Both of us casting a wide net.

But searching is only part of it.

What do we do first? We connect. Talk. Listen. We narrow and refine the search. And refine it some more.

Much of what I do when representing buyers in the Charlottesville area is helping them figure out where they need and want to live, how they want to commute — to work, grocery, school, life. What they need, what they want, and what they’re willing to compromise on.

Psychology + search = part of the good buyer representation equation.

This from the Seattle Times is good – “Fight over private home listings heats up in WA as real estate giants clash“

“Imagine you’re shopping for a home. You’ve been scouring Zillow and Redfin for months with no luck. But, unbeknown to you, your dream home is actually for sale — you’ll just never see it, let alone get a chance to compete for it.

That scenario is a nightmare for homebuyers, and for the group in charge of Washington’s real estate listing database.

For the past year, a group that collects home-sales listings in much of Washington and part of Oregon, called the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, has defended its ban on private listings in federal court against the real estate brokerage Compass. In a lawsuit filed last April by Compass, the New York-based company claims NWMLS’s ban — which virtually all other multiple listing services in the county lack — is anti-competitive.

But NWMLS has fired back, alleging in court filings last week that Compass’ marketing practices are a deceptive scheme to create a closed-door real estate system that violates Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.

The case is “a battle for the future of the American real estate market,” NWMLS said in a news release Friday.”

Background

Coming Soons – New to You Rules for Pocket Listings – 2020
Pocket listings in Charlottesville – 2015
Google, Garmin, and Realtors – 2009

More background on the value of the MLS

Between 2019 and Q1 2023, 84.0% of all homes that sold were listed on the MLS. Because most sellers out there recognize (or learn very quickly from their agents) that there are distinct advantages to on-MLS home sales:

More buyers see on-MLS homes compared to off-MLS homes
More visibility means offers come in sooner
More buyers also means more competition—and higher offers