Charlotte Area MLS (Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota: for sale, insurance, condos)

[Carbondated]

FYI... the Department of Justice has an Anti-Trust lawsuit against NAR (National Association of Realtors) and MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for denying access to MLS listings.

This lawsuit is about the lack of the access to the MLS website for certain brokers.

However, I would not be surprised if there is an investigation into the recent privatization of MLS listing websites.

[Fishermark]

We met with a member of Mid Florida Regional at our office today - we were told that they expect to have public access up and running by August.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by Carbondated

Great point!

About a month ago I checked the Venice Area MLS, which had over 1200 listings. A couple of days later the original website was passworded and there was a new Venice Area MLS "public" site and . The new "public" site had only 800 listings.

Something smells very fishy.

Makes me wonder if we should not contact our elected officials to find out if this transition toward privatizing MLS listing websites is really ethical and above board.

"Elected"? LOFL

Askiing the thieves to comment on the ethics of the realtor association? Now that's funny!

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by Carbondated

FYI...

However, I would not be surprised if there is an investigation into the recent privatization of MLS listing websites.

Dept of "Justice" is an oxymoron.

When was the MLS a government entity?

[Carbondated]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Dept of "Justice" is an oxymoron.

When was the MLS a government entity?

Of course the MLS is not a government entity.
The US Attorney General in cooperation with the FTC can bring charges against any corporation/company/business entity that displays anti-competitive behavior.

However, my point is that the real estate industry, in an effort to keep a sinking ship sailing, is using practices that appear to regulate consumer information.
For example, in just one day, one quarter of the Venice Area MLS listings simply disappeared from the website.

Several communities across the country are facing closed door policies when it comes accessing MLS listings. If the real estate industry is as healthy as they portray themselves to be, than open access to MLS listings for all citizens would not be a problem.

[MDJ]

That's a shame there's no longer public access. I emailed the PC-NP-PG Ass'n of Realtors twice and got no response about it. I assumed it was a maintenance or software updating issue. I guess they're just so busy selling houses (ha) that they didn't have time to respond to me or put up a note explaining things on their website.

I've got an open-ended rental (monthly renewal). I have made an offer on a house (rejected) and could make another at any time. I'd been checking the MLS almost every day for about a year now (and occasionally for several months before that) to spot new homes particular to my interests, look at the number of homes available in that category, watch for price changes, etc. I've tried to use realtor website searches before - they're far from ideal. They don't narrow down the search options enough if you want to look in a particular area.

I just used the new one via my realtor's page. I can't seach by a section of Sarasota or Charlotte Co anymore - I have to each search by the entire county, an entire city, or a specific subdivision. I used to only search in particular areas (e.g., "East County Central" of Charlotte). Now, I'd have to sort through all of Punta Gorda for find homes in that area (or at least the entire zip code). The other MLS used to give the total number of properties that met my requirements (which is always a lot because the screening tools don't consider some of my most important criteria, such as lot size...it was an issue with the other MLS, too). This one just says "over 200" and only will show up to 200 properties in your search. It lists them all from most expensive to cheapest, with no option otherwise. And the "print flyer" option will only print the main photo and no others. If you want to make prints of all the home images, you have to do a manual print screen into MS Paint or another software, apparently, because there is no print option from that screen. The listings have less information than before (the "Flood Zone Y/N" is gone, for example, as is how soon it's available for possession).

I don't know if that's just how my realtor has access set up or if that's how this MLS operates for everyone. But I'm not happy with the new format and especially not happy that it was done silently. I guess I could always just hound my realtor daily instead!!!

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by MDJ

That's a shame there's no longer public access. I emailed the PC-NP-PG Ass'n of Realtors twice and got no response about it. I assumed it was a maintenance or software updating issue. I guess they're just so busy selling houses (ha) that they didn't have time to respond to me or put up a note explaining things on their website.

I've got an open-ended rental (monthly renewal). I have made an offer on a house (rejected) and could make another at any time. I'd been checking the MLS almost every day for about a year now (and occasionally for several months before that) to spot new homes particular to my interests, look at the number of homes available in that category, watch for price changes, etc. I've tried to use realtor website searches before - they're far from ideal. They don't narrow down the search options enough if you want to look in a particular area.

I just used the new one via my realtor's page. I can't search by a section of Sarasota or Charlotte Co anymore - I have to each search by the entire county, an entire city, or a specific subdivision. I used to only search in particular areas (e.g., "East County Central" of Charlotte). Now, I'd have to sort through all of Punta Gorda for find homes in that area (or at least the entire zip code). The other MLS used to give the total number of properties that met my requirements (which is always a lot because the screening tools don't consider some of my most important criteria, such as lot size...it was an issue with the other MLS, too). This one just says "over 200" and only will show up to 200 properties in your search. It lists them all from most expensive to cheapest, with no option otherwise. And the "print flyer" option will only print the main photo and no others. If you want to make prints of all the home images, you have to do a manual print screen into MS Paint or another software, apparently, because there is no print option from that screen. The listings have less information than before (the "Flood Zone Y/N" is gone, for example, as is how soon it's available for possession).

I don't know if that's just how my realtor has access set up or if that's how this MLS operates for everyone. But I'm not happy with the new format and especially not happy that it was done silently. I guess I could always just hound my realtor daily instead!!!

The way the Mid-Florida MLS system has the search criteria set up is that you can search by county, zip code or subdivision name. As a Realtor, I can put in lots of criteria that is not shown on the pubic view. Sarasota has been using this system for quite some time now and I am familiar with how the system works. To me it seems a bit cumbersome and much more difficult than the old system-Innovia.

This issue is a big debate between Realtors. There is a group of Realtors that is for the new MLS and then there is a group that is strongly against it. The two groups keep going back and forth with their opinions. We had to spend a lot of time and money getting all of our websites switched over from the old MLS to the new MLS. I'm for the system that is most user friendly. I forwarded your comments to the president of the MLS.

[SoFLGal]

Originally Posted by SoFLGal

The way the Mid-Florida MLS system has the search criteria set up is that you can search by county, zip code or subdivision name. As a Realtor, I can put in lots of criteria that is not shown on the pubic view. Sarasota has been using this system for quite some time now and I am familiar with how the system works. To me it seems a bit cumbersome and much more difficult than the old system-Innovia.

This issue is a big debate between Realtors. There is a group of Realtors that is for the new MLS and then there is a group that is strongly against it. The two groups keep going back and forth with their opinions. We had to spend a lot of time and money getting all of our websites switched over from the old MLS to the new MLS. I'm for the system that is most user friendly. I forwarded your comments to the president of the MLS.

This was emailed to me from Cynthia Logan-the president of the local MLS.

Shannon – Thank you for your email. I am copying Linda Pizarro-Board President, and Marty Hunt. We have three issues here:

1. Our association website that has been long standing apparently is not active now. I can imagine that this is creating problems and I want to explore what can be done. In the meantime, hopefully the agents can get the IDX access to their customers to give them access to the active listings.
2. MFRMLS is within 60 to 90 days from launching a world class public website that will solve much of this frustration.
3. IDX – I have not yet explored how the listing information is being displayed or searched by the customer. This person has a high degree of frustration and I think this needs to be checked out. I know Marty will forward this to the appropriate party. I will check my own IDX links when I get a breather to see if we can start addressing the issues mentioned in your email.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

[SoFLGal]

I would say if you are having issues call this person with your complaints/comments maybe they can help. This is what they emailed to another agent and copied me. Marty Hunt is the 2008-2009 President of MFRMLS. The Leadership and Board of Directors roster is on www.MFRMLS.com for anyone to see:

I'm happy to help. Even if Shannon wants to post my name and email address on the message board offering that we are here on site to help!

Marty Hunt, 2008-2009 President of MFMLS
407-619-2640
Email: marty@martyhunt.com

[Carbondated]

SoFLGal-
I don't know if you will be able to answer these questions, but...

Do I understand this correctly, the "world class public website" that MFRMLS will be launching will only be available to paying customers of Realtors?

And will the "public" website have all listings in our area or just certain ones, as is the case with the new "public area" Venice Area MLS website?

Thanks for the previous information.