Multiple Listing Service (MLS): What Is It?
Prior to 2006, real estate agents in San Carlos regularly distributed paper flyers to share information about properties they were trying to sell. They agreed to compensate other agents who helped sell those properties. This was a system that many of the agents were comfortable using in the United States in Canada called the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) which was first established in the late 1800’s. The fundamental principle that is unique to organized real estate: Help me sell my inventory and I’ll help you sell yours.
In 2006 this same group of real estate agents combined the idea of a MLS with the already established national ethics organization Asociacion Mexicana de Prfesionales Inmobilarios (AMPI) and formed a local chapter. The local chapter is registered as Asociacion Mexicana Profesionales Inmobilarions Guaymas-San Carlos (SCMAR). Within the acta de consitutiva we hold all of our members to the highest standards of excellence. Each of our members is required to be a licensed real estate license agent in the state of Sonora as well as being members in good standing with AMPI National.
Today there are more than 50 SCMAR members that share information on properties they have listed and invite other agents to cooperate in their sale in exchange for compensation if they produce the buyer. Our association uses the latest technology to share information between members and distribute. We used a web based system for our Multiple Listing service. This on-line system has a public website in which any one can access at www.sancarloslistings.com. Today this MLS system is the primary source of information for all resale properties available in San Carlos and Guaymas. Sellers benefit by increased exposure to their property. Buyers benefit because they can obtain information about all MLS-listed properties while working with only one broker.
The real estate market is competitive, and the business is unique in that competitors must also cooperate with each other to ensure a successful transaction. SCMAR facilitates that cooperation and ensures that all parties of the transaction are protected and all the SCMAR Code of Ethics is observed.
The MLS is a tool to help listing brokers find cooperative brokers working with buyers to help sell their clients’ homes. Without the collaborative incentive of the existing MLS, brokers would create their own separate systems of cooperation, fragmenting rather than consolidating property information.
Pam Donnermeyer Brame