The MLS is used by realtors and brokers to market homes in the county. Only those same entities can list homes on the MLS. Once they are listed on the MLS they are distributed from a third party entity to on line providers such as realtor.com, zillow, zip, sdlookup etc… All of these third parties get the same data which is again, rooted from the MLS. Some of the information that is on the MLS for each listing is distilled out.
Now many times when a home is in foreclosure and/or bank owned and the bank has hired a broker to sell the home BUT has not priced it yet, that broker MAY INDEED market the home with signs and advertising. However he/she cannot put it on the MLS. Why? Because you need to have a price. So you will indeed see signs or other advertising for the home. You can call the agent on the sign, you can even submit an offer, and the agent may send it into the bank even though the bank has not priced it yet.
So that is the most likely source of why you don’t see them on line yet. Perform an experiment and call one of the numbers on the sign to see what is going on and ask why you don’t see the property on line yet.
