Good post TG and its nice to see you get this.
The truth is many MLS’s across the country have open access to consumers. Sandicor has rejected this concept for a long time but finally opened their eyes with a consumer site a few weeks ago. The front end still leaves a lot to be desired (i.e. redfin’s kicks their butt) but hopefully it will get better over time. It took these other sites to bring the change and thats a good thing. But beyond that most serve no useful purpose other than to try to skim leads and sell them to less experienced/skilled agents who have no other way of getting business. In the long run, its unecessary and of no long term benefit to buyers.
Its time for the MLS’s across the country to take control of what they have and provide access to consumers in a clear and easy to use format. iN the end that is what buyers want and need. One good dependable source of information.
There should be no reason to go any where else for the data. All the other “preferred sites” are drawn from the MLS source data. They are all less up to date, more prone to mistakes and secondary sources. Why go to a secondary source when you can go to the primary source the others are drawing from.
Here is the link if anyone wants to see what they got so far. I know the portal sucks but its a start.
