One of my pet peeves with the New Orleans MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is that they have not kept up with the times in regards to how they share real estate listings with the agents that subscribe to the service or with the home buying and selling public.
There are literally hundreds and hundreds of online sites that buyers can go to find lists of homes for sale. Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, Yahoo!...heck, even just a google search will turn up page after page of national sites for your perusal in addition to a large number of local agent websites.
The problem from a home buyer and seller perspective is that the MLS doesn't allow every member agent to display every listing on their site, leading to confusion about what properties are actually for sale.
- Your favorite home search might be on Trulia or Zillow, but did you know that at least one of the major brokerages in New Orleans doesn't post their listings on either of those sites? Add in the boutique brokers who don't have much of an internet presence, and if you land on one of those sites your list of homes adds up to something less than 100% of the active listings.
- Realtor.com only has the listings of those brokerages that are members of the National Association of Realtors. Although I'll grant that it's the majority of homes for sale, it's still not everything that's available.
So, why can't you find all of the listings on all of the sites? Because real estate brokerages in New Orleans operate under a rule that forces the home buyer to their broker owned sites if they want to search for every active listing in the MLS.
What's wrong with the brokers controlling access to the information?
If you have spent the time researching New Orleans REALTORS® and finally found an agent that you connect with and want to work with, you are forced to leave that warm and fuzzy place when you are booted to the brokerage site for home searches. I don't know about you, but I get a little nervous when new windows start opening on my laptop because I clicked a link. Personally, if I decide to search on a particular site, I want to stay there - not be cyber directed to someplace else because of an antiquated and outdated rule that has absolutely nothing to do with serving me - the consumer.
Some brokerages have the habit of gathering your contact information and then collecting a substantial referral fee to let the agent you want to work with have access to you. Now, it's not quite as brusque as that sounds, but the bottom line is that it's a more than a little self serving for brokers to demand that all home searches be done on their sites AND to then take advantage of that rule to make more money. I know...you couldn't give a rat's behind how much your agent makes when you buy or sell a home. But, if they are doing the same amount of work for you that they are doing for someone that they don't have to pay a referral fee for, who do you think is going to get priority if there is a conflict with time or resources? If you are selling your home, one of the main goals of your agent is to get you the maximum amount of exposure to potential buyers.
When brokers limit the display of all listings to broker owned sites instead of to the sites of every agent in the metro area, they are also limiting your home's ability to be found by buyers. With so many buyers using the internet as their primary home search tool, shouldn't you be able to expect that your listing will be in as many places as possible?
From an agent's perspective
As a listing agent, I promise my sellers that I can bring the eyeballs and get their home included in the search results. I want my listings to be on as many sites as I can get them on, whether it's mine, another agent's or a third party real estate site. The current rules limit how agents are allowed to market a home. I've been actively working with a group to push the MLS board to change this rule but, sadly, we have not yet been successful. It's frustrating, because this is NOT the industry standard. If you've come from an area where open sharing is the norm, you will probably waste time figuring out that you can't find every listing everywhere.
From a consumer's perspective
I read this comment on a site one day and it really hit home as to why the current system is broken:
Realtors are pretty far behind the curve in terms of utilizing the internet, they post lousy photos, and do not provide enough information and make it difficult to quickly gather information. Generally most realtors appear to approach internet marketing as though they have something to hide instead of having something to show. Transparency in advertising builds trust with the public....
I have been looking for property to purchase, and am annoyed by the lack of complete information on New Orleans realtors websites, and the lousy photos, so I am using this story as an opportunity to vent, but I also know that all of the realtors in New Orleans will be reading this story, and I am hoping that they will read this post and think about what I am writing and improve their websites. Whoever does will find that they have more internet traffic and more business.
The bottom line is that the consumer should always come first.
Whether it's a buyer searching for a home or a seller who wants to be found during that search, every agent and broker has a duty to their client to put their needs first. Until this rule is changed, none of us is truly doing that.
Homes for sale in New Orleans (please don't freak out when a new window opens)
This post was originally published at West Bank Living
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