The Multiple Listing Service or MLS has been an effective sales tool in the real estate trade for more than 60 years. A number of different industries depend on the tool being accurate, which it is. Realtors submit the listings and then they are checked by staffers at the real estate boards. Quality control by those specially trained in the nuances of real estate law is ongoing. That makes those from government agencies, economists and financial planners and anyone else using the MLS comfortable doing so. The MLS service is also used in computing property taxes.
There are other real estate websites out there, some that look deceptively like the MLS system used by realtors. One is www.realtor.ca which is a public website and not part of the MLS system. It is a privately owned advertizing website that gives people information about listings on MLS. Prior to 2008 it operated as www.mls.ca. This site gets almost half a million logins a month from B.C. and a total of four million nationwide. Information is pulled from the official MLS system but is not nearly as complete.
The MLS was created to help realtors sell homes. By sharing listings and having them all in one place, realtors could not only compete against each other, but work together to sell a property. More than one person looking for buyers tends to produce more and quicker sales. If the MLS system did not exist, a seller would have to list their home with one broker, and depend on that broker to show and sell that listing. This way the seller not only engages the services of his chosen broker, but with anyone else that accesses his listing on MLS.
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