Public MLS Database?

[rankandfile]

The issue of MLS secrecy and accuracy came up when reading a NY Times Magazine article from a recent post as well as reading the following blog page (just do a search for MLS…it’s the really long post):

http://housingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/04/road-to-bubble.html#c111637586243284141

There is so much about this industry that I do not know about, having never purchased a home myself. One thing that really makes me scratch my head is that the measuring stick that (nearly) everyone uses to track value homes, the MLS, is actually a non-standardized hodgepodge (for lack of a better term) of listings that is not transparent and can be very different depending on whose administrating/accessing it.

My question is why isn’t there one public, monitored MLS database? I am sure that realtors will have some objections or answers to this question.

[powayseller]

As a consumer, my perception of the MLS is that it was started in the 1980’s as a tool for realtors to put in and share listings, and for the NAR to get real estate sales data. This data is made available to DataQuick, and also analyzed by NAR economist David Lereah, and published.

The MLS was made for the NAR and realtors to use, and not for Joe Q Public to get real estate data. It is private property of the NAR members. Nobody is entitled to information of a database owned by a private membership. It is not a public access database.

Who would support or fund a public access database? Why would anyone want to pay for that?

If you want to know what’s going on in real estate, get in touch with a good realtor and they can keep you posted. I gave the name of such a realtor once, but will not get him involved here again, because another realtor got real jealous and called him names. But there is a very good realtor here who published the MLS analysis every month. Go back through the forums, and you will find it.

[rankandfile]

Thanks for the info, powayseller, and I will take a look to see if I can find that realtor. I just find it strange that the prices for such a highly valued asset such as real estate are more or less secret. Stocks, bonds, gas, etc., all have benchmark prices that are based on open market transactions. One might say that home prices are also based on the open market. But is this true if potential buyers are being provided with only a portion of the available market, a portion that biased realtors want them to see?

Who would support or fund this? I would. It could easily be included as a public tax of some sort. Now, I personally hate taxes. But if it means I will pay the true market value for my home, rather than a smoke-and-mirror price, I think it would be worth it. The devil’s advocate will add that taxing everyone for this type of service is not democratic or fair because not everyone owns a home or existing homeowners don’t need it. But don’t we do this for freeways or other roads?

I know there are ethical realtors out there who will give me the straight scoop. Unfortunately, it’s hard for me to just “trust” this notion because, well, I guess I am just too skeptical a buyer. I would feel a lot more at ease if prices were based on a transparent, open market.

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