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Trying to Find comparables on the MLS......

By Ronda Myers-Waters

Real Estate Agent with Willems Realtors, Principal Broker

July 03, 2007 04:52 AM

Have any of you had trouble finding comps on your mls because each agent puts the listing in differently? I even call the association to see if I was doing something wrong. They did not get any properties either. I know that there have been listings down the street from the new listing that I am going to have since I drive down the street every day. I put in the address number the direction the street name the postal direction since it is a county road the city, state and zip and the system tells me it can't validate the address. It would be so much easier if everyone put their listings in the same way. I had to map the area to get some listings to show up.

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Chuck Christensen

Your Financial Coach - Bellingham, WA

Sure, I had the old....wrong amount of bedrooms, not enough bathrooms and year of house was wrong...wasted alot of time looking at houses that said 3 bedroom but were actually only 2 with a storage room behind the garage, no window...tryid to pass it off as a bedroom/office...no closet...seems to happen alot.

Jul 03, 2007 05:01 AM

Ronda Myers-Waters

Willems Realtors, Principal Broker - Chesterton, IN

Chuck,

We have that too. Along with incorrect square footage or counting the basement as square footage. Thanks for the comment.

Jul 03, 2007 05:17 AM

Don Fabrizio-Garcia

Fab Real Estate - Danbury, CT

Owner/Broker/Trainer - Fab Real Estate

Ronda - My own pet peeve is the exaggerated square footage/adding in the basement as square footage. Drives me nuts! Have to check the tax record on each home you want to use as a comp to make sure it's truly a valid comp.

We only have rare instances where the location doesn't take correctly. One condo complex in town shows up on the map in the next town, and on the water. Not good!

Jul 03, 2007 05:31 AM

Wayne McMullan

Royal LePage ProAlliance Realty - Belleville, ON

Quinte Real Estate

Here it is against the law to include the basement in the square footage total. I really think it is up to the local board to mandate adherence to the law asit can't be done at any other level.

Jul 03, 2007 05:42 AM

Linda Sanderson

Coldwell Banker Solano Pacific - Benicia, CA

It never fails to amaze me when I look for comps the variety of mistakes I find. I try to tell myself to remember patience is a virtue. Have a happy 4th!!!

Jul 03, 2007 10:45 AM

Don,

Part of the problem with comps for this listing is the county road number in town agents don't understand how to list them properly. Thanks for the comment.

Jul 05, 2007 07:09 AM

Wayne,

I agree when I talked with the rappatoni mls expert at the association she said it would be easier if they read and followed the rules. Unfortunately not all agents put in their own listings. Some are put in my secretaries. They probably get paid for each one the enter. Thanks for the comment.

Jul 05, 2007 07:12 AM

Linda,

Thanks for the comment. I hope you had a happy 4th. At least I know that my associations mls is not the only one messed up.

Jul 05, 2007 07:13 AM

Debbie DiFonzo

Debbie DiFonzo - United Country VIP Realty, SW Missouri - Lebanon, MO

Lebanon MO and Buffalo Missouri Real Estate

My main board is broker load. We have a whole host of problems as you describe.

Our secondary board is association input. The listings are much more uniform, all the abbreviations are the same, and listings are much easier to find. I'd love to have our main board get away from broker load.

Jul 15, 2007 04:03 PM

Sara Goodwin

Estimation Nation Corporation - Portland, OR

Portland, Oregon Appraiser

I certainly wish there were standards in our area. Anything from entering the wrong house design (a split-level house is so very rarely custom even if the owner did just install new hardwood floors!) to adding the basement square footage into the total square footage. Fortunately, one mls I use has fields for each floor level so that is usually avoided, but the other has no field for basements, so you have to read the notes carefully and then check it against tax information which is often incorrect.

I always check mls sources against tax records, but sometimes even those are incorrect... and not always because of additions or alterations. I just appraised a 1979 home in a cul-de-sac that was entered as a log home in tax records. I know that this (split-level) home that looked like all the other homes on the block was never built of logs.

In the metropolitan Portland area, I would like to point out that our Realtors are getting better all the time at entering accurate information into mls. Thank you!

Jul 15, 2007 04:19 PM

MAUREEN STACCATO

Springfield, MA

I hate it when you got to deal with such problems. It's amazing just how lazy some agents can be.

Jul 16, 2007 02:03 AM

Mike Klijanowicz

Cummings & Co. Realtors - Perry Hall, MD

Associate Broker @ Cummings & Co. Realtors

Sounds like it is a problem with your local MLS and uniformity and enforcement! I know my MLS system here in MD is very strict on regulations and what information must be entered and I have NEVER had the problems that you seem to have had experienced here!

Nov 21, 2007 11:12 AM

Trying to Find comparables on the MLS......

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