Not to sound rude, but go ahead and report the National Association of Realtors and a couple 100 other affiliate associations to the Justice Department and see if they do anything.
Give me a break. Anybody can get access to the MLS if they become a member of the local association. But to become a member you must have the proper license, pay various dues, and do a couple other things.
If every private entity is required to offer all their services and products to everyone, then answer these questions. Why do country clubs exist? Why do credit unions exist? Why do mutual insurance companies exist? Why do some health insurance companies only offer certain plans to groups and not individuals? Why do some doctors say they aren’t accepting any new patients? Why does Sam’s Club and Costco not let non-members shop in their stores?
The MLS is a password protected, members only database. Usually the members are part of the local board of REALTORS. Some boards do have “affiliate memberships” for certain non-REALTOR groups.
Contact your local board of REALTORS for more info about affiliate membership.
Otherwise try to establish a relationship with a good REALTOR.
Realtor.com is a good source. However, it is about a week behind the actual MLS. In my neck of the woods, about 1/2 of the good deals get swiped up by an investor by the time that week passes.
Plus I’m not convinced ALL the local boards add their listings here (yet). For example, my board just started doing this within the last 2 months - before that, it was optional with a fee so you KNOW the brokers clicked “No thank you!”
I am very curious why you think providing this info would only be what a “not so good” REALTOR would do?
Our local association heavily encourages sending MLS info to our clients via email. We even have sophisticated software designed specifically for this very thing. Do you know how much time this saves me???
Just the other day, I sent out an investor 10 listings of junker homes. She picked 4 that really interested her and we went and saw them. I probably saved 2+ hours by just simply emailing the MLS info directly to her instead of driving her around to 10 different houses.
Please respond, I would like to hear your opinions on this.
Posted by Anthony - OH on June 04, 2000 at 18:40:07:
Just walk into the local brokers office and ask to look at the book. If he hands you the book tell him you can be out of his hair if he lets you sit down at a terminal and get the info. Most will.
I don’t use books in my brokerage. Too technologically outdated. Especially with 1500 or so new listings every month in our area.
As for the computer database, the association charge $500 fines for first time offenses around here for letting members of the public access the database. Things may differ in your area.
