Editorial
Front Page - Monday, October 19, 2009
Maximizing that MLS listing
Ethan C. Nobles
One of the most effective marketing tools available to Realtors – and their sellers – is the multiple listing service.
The MLS, simply put, is a database where Realtors list properties for sellers. The listings can be seen by other Realtors who are members of the area MLS and shown to people interested in purchasing homes.
Amanda Tester, executive officer for Cooperative Arkansas Realtors MLS in Little Rock, said there are some mistakes that both Realtors and sellers should avoid so as to make sure homes are represented in the best light possible. After all, the first contact most buyers have with a property is through information entered into the MLS – first impressions count for a lot, Tester said.
Donna Moore, assistant executive officer for CARMLS, said there are 4,500 to 5,000 listings in CARMLS at any given time and over one-third of the 7,800 Realtors in Arkansas are members. CARMLS covers all six counties in central Arkansas and is the primary MLS in other areas such as Fulton County, Hot Spring County, Hot Springs Village, Izard County, Mena, Paragould, Pine Bluff, Searcy and Van Buren County.
Moore said as soon as a property is entered, it can be accessible to all members of the MLS. Also, information entered into the MLS is sent to places like Realtor.com where buyers around the country routinely start looking for homes first. In a competitive market, bad photos, incomplete information, incorrect information, spelling errors, poor directions and other mistakes can cause a prospective buyer to skip over a listing and look for other ones, Tester said.
She said good photographs are particularly important.
“Poor picture quality will be a listing killer,” she said, adding that CARMLS allows Realtors to add up to 14 photos.
“I would advise all agents to take advantage of what their MLS offers,” Tester said. “If they allow nine photos, put nine in.”
Because the MLS is often the first information a buyer gets about a home, making sure high quality photos are included can make the difference between a potential sale and a shopper who looks elsewhere for a home. Tester pointed out that getting good photos is a relatively simple matter – digital cameras don’t cost much and there are plenty of sites on the Internet that are free and will help agents size, crop and edit pictures.
Tester said CARMLS is like most similar companies in that it offers support and training for people who want to do things like include great photos with listings. In the case of CARMLS, support can be reached by phone or through the company’s Internet site at CARMLS.com.
Tester said taking full of the MLS often boils down to using common sense – a listing that contains an accurate and complete description of a property is more likely to attract interest than one that does not.
“People want as much information as they can get,” Tester said.
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