When I perform surveys of real estate brokers and agents, I see the following two complaints about MLS systems all the time: \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t the MLS have [this cool feature]?\u201d and \u201cWhy can\u2019t the MLS system be easier to use?\u201d<\/p>\n
The first question – \u201cWhy isn\u2019t the MLS system isn\u2019t as full featured as some would like?\u201d – comes down to two things: money and politics. <\/p>\n
Some people might think that MLS software providers are making a huge amount of money, and that the providers can put more resources into adding software features. That\u2019s just not the case. The money isn\u2019t there. Think about it: MLS vendors have had to put resources into making their systems work cross-browser and on an expanding number of tablets and phones. <\/p>\n
They have added increasingly more sophisticated prospecting and client collaboration features, numerous local information and mapping layers, and so much more over the past decade. All this while, the wholesale cost for MLS systems has not increased, and in many cases has trended lower due to fierce competition for strategic accounts.<\/p>\n
As for the politics, there is a constant push and pull over the future of MLS systems. For every professional that wants the MLS system to evolve and improve, there is one that doesn\u2019t want the system to change. I often hear, \u201cWhat we have now works fine.\u201d <\/p>\n
If MLS staff and software providers only listened to those latter voices, we\u2019d still be using \u201cthe MLS book\u201d instead of electronic tools. But even when an MLS is selecting a brand new system and options are being compared, committee members will often say something like, \u201cWe should choose this system because it is the most like our current one and so will be easier to learn.\u201d What that means is that the most innovative system is penalized for being different! <\/p>\n
Sometimes subscribers who sit on an MLS board of directors or committee don\u2019t want the MLS to improve its functionality. Quite often, an MLS system will be deployed with some features disabled. During a recent demonstration of system features by an MLS vendor, visitors from the neighboring MLS (which used that vendor) commented, \u201cIs this the same system as what we have?\u201d <\/p>\n
Even when the features are enabled, sometimes professionals don\u2019t know what they have.<\/em> <\/p>\n I see this in surveys all the time \u2013 an agent will ask, \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t the system do this?\u201d where this is a feature the system already has.<\/p>\n Looking at the second question \u2014 \u201cWhy can\u2019t the MLS system be easier to use?\u201d \u2014 the answer is a lot simpler: the more features a system has and the more ways there are to customize it, the harder the system will be to use. <\/p>\n Since the MLS is a business system with significant complexity, and since subscribers often want it to be customizable to fit their business needs, preferences, branding, and so forth, ease of use can suffer. <\/p>\n For example, it\u2019s easier to enter a listing when there are few required fields, but the fewer required fields there are, the more agents will complain about data inaccuracy and missing data. Likewise, an MLS-generated report with fewer fields on it is easier to read and more attractive. <\/p>\n However, without all the fields accessible, the agent can\u2019t fine-tune the search on behalf of his or her client and must call the listing agent for the information\u2014which is, in actuality, more difficult. <\/p>\n Also, it\u2019s easier to click once to download a pre-built statistical report. Despite this, in order to make the reports more useful to many users, the reports need to be customizable based on the part of the market the user specializes in (i.e., by area, price range, and property type), and need to be styled so the chart can be downloaded and embedded in a newsletter. That means more complexity and a system that is more difficult to use. <\/p>\n MLS software providers try to make good choices when designing the MLS system, balancing out the need for robust features and customization with the desire for an easy-to-use system, but it\u2019s impossible to please everybody.<\/p>\n What this all comes down to is that, if you as a subscriber want to shape how full-featured and easy-to-use tomorrow\u2019s MLS system is going to be, there\u2019s a way for you to do it. Get involved with your local MLS leadership, including with the system evaluation, selection, and implementation processes. <\/p>\n I work with many local MLSs to make sure their leadership is aware of innovation going on in the MLS technology space so they can be smarter shoppers when looking at MLS software providers. When it comes to ease of use, while there sometimes are usability gaffes on the part of the software provider, it is more often the case that system complexity simply reflects the complex needs of active real estate professionals. <\/p>\n Expecting a professional-grade MLS system to be as clean and easy-looking as a consumer-grade real estate search site like Zillow or Trulia is simply unrealistic. Now that you know why your MLS system is so \u201cMeh,\u201d you don\u2019t have to sit back and complain about it. Get involved in your local MLS organization and help take charge of your future!<\/p>\n This editorial was first published here in May of 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many in the real estate industry complain about their MLS, but why is that the case and what can be done about it? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":335823,"featured_media":2139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[332,1234,299],"class_list":["post-2137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","tag-mls","tag-real-estate-news","tag-real-estate-technology-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/05\/meh.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/335823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2137"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14275,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2137\/revisions\/14275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why is the MLS so difficult to use?<\/h3>\n
What you can do about all of this<\/h3>\n