As with other professionals, a REALTOR® is as good as the information at his or her disposal. As a REALTOR® member of WinnipegREALTORS®, a salesperson is required to be a full-time professional, which entails keeping up on all the new facets and developments within a fast-paced real estate industry, including changes to Multiple Listing Service® platforms.
The Multiple Listing Service®, or MLS®, is a co-operative system used by REALTOR® members of Canada’s real estate boards and associations. It is different than the consumer website www.REALTOR.ca, which offers a brief description of most properties listed on MLS® systems.
WinnipegREALTORS® recently adopted, embraced and invested significant time and money in a new MLS® system called Matrix. It is considered a robust platform with speed and flexibility as its strengths, which are essential attributes coveted by the over 200,000 REALTORS® in North America who use Matrix.
Another important feature of Matrix is how well it integrates with REALTOR® personal digital assistants or PDAs. This becomes critical to a REALTOR®’s ability to deliver updated information in a timely and convenient fashion to buyers and sellers.
Overseeing the progression and seamless transition of this new MLS® platform is WinnipegREALTORS® technology committee. This active group of volunteer REALTORS® is always looking at ways to provide and improve tools used by members to deliver excellent service to clients.
For example, Matrix offers what is called a Client Portal. It is a website where a client can see and manipulate all the listings a REALTOR® sends them. They include photos as well as their locations on a Microsoft Virtual Earth map. Clients can peruse listings in single line, multi-row or full detail views. They are also able to categorize them as possibilities, favourites and discards.
WinnipegREALTORS® MLS® provides an ongoing inventory of available properties and other related information. With training, experience and access to this member-to-member co-operative database, a REALTOR® can provide invaluable assistance in buying or selling your next resale home.
For sellers, a REALTOR® can use the system to determine a fair listing price by performing a comparative market analysis. The analysis focuses on the geographical location of your property and describes it as accurately as possible. Accuracy is paramount to the integrity and reliability of the MLS®, as it is not only the database of record for REALTORS®, but is relied upon by other professionals, such as appraisers, to perform their specialized and important work.
The MLS® database can then be searched to reveal comparable sold, active and expired properties, retrieving information such as the sold price, list price and average time on the market to help determine a range of fair listing prices.
For buyers, a REALTOR® can match your very specific needs to all the properties listed.
Your REALTOR® can create a profile outlining your desired price range, location and specific details like the number of bathrooms, bedrooms and fireplaces.
For buyers who are geographically focused, your REALTOR® can even search all active listings on a particular street and retrieve all relevant information, including property description, a photograph and assessed value. The system is updated nightly, listing all the potential properties that meet your particular needs and can automatically e-mail them to you.
In helping you to determine an offer, your REALTOR® can also search specific properties’ historical data such as previous selling prices.
As well, the MLS® system allows REALTORS® to monitor monthly sold statistics to ensure property prices reflect current market conditions. It is an ongoing dynamic system which constantly is updating itself based on the status of the market at any given time.
Whether you are a buyer or a seller, the MLS® system supports your REALTOR® in helping you make informed decisions that lead to successful transactions.
WinnipegREALTORS® is committed to maintaining and enhancing its MLS® database so that REALTORS® continue to deliver the results Manitobans have come to expect.