The local MLS (WFRMLS) gives you search capabilities you just can not get from public sites like realtor.com, utahrealestate.com, or redfin.com. It is nice to have a Realtor handy to do a search for you and then set that search to run automatically every day or week. Here are a few of my favorite searches that I like to run when looking for homes. If you want me to set up a variation of any of the following for you, let me know.

The just listed search. I will go back a few days on the search to see what has come on the market recently. This is a great way to keep on top of the market and on the lookout for fresh deals.

The listed for 90 days search. The opposite of the just listed search but with the same intent. You are looking for deals. And in this case you are hoping to find sellers that have been listed for a while and are now getting desperate.

The REO/Short Sale/Seller Financing search. You are looking for sellers with unique circumstances. Short sales, REOs, and Seller Financing deals, each have their risk and rewards. Being able to search for them on the WFRMLS can save you a lot of time narrowing down to the specific seller that fits your situation.

The sold search. This is the one I do when I figure out my absorption rates for neighborhoods in Salt Lake. I just look a the number of homes that have sold in a zip code in the last 30 days and divide that number by the number on the market. Then I have a great snapshot of current market conditions

The mother-in-law search. A handy search since there is no way to do this easily on public sites. I search for all homes with 2 or more kitchens and most of the time it brings up the mother in laws in the area. Unless the agent forgot to mark two kitchens of course.