Show me the “Solds” – Good or Bad?

Reil, now MLS Listings Pro, has recently allowed Sold Listings to show on an Agent’s site.  While there are many opinions on both sides of the table about Multiple Listing Service (MLS) management, this is a good thing for agents, clients, and online searchers using the data, either from the agent’s website or from MLSlistings.com.  As we continue to move forward into the “mega-information” age, holding back information isn’t going to benefit anyone.  We gave a proper burial to the MLS Book “ages” ago.  The real estate world is online and MLS systems need to get on board…or someone else will do it instead (hmmm, like Zillow?!).  We are quickly moving from 2.0 and now into 3.0 (don’t ask me to explain that one yet!). 

Even though a one-on-one meeting with a client will include Sold Listings, why shouldn’t consumers doing their own research – all 90+% percent of us – be privey to the same information without having to register or log-in.

A sold listing is not a commodity – yet it has been treated as such.  The board to which agents pay a fee for membership includes MLS privileges.  Displaying MLS data on an agent website for the benefit of their online visitors, including Sold listings, is part of the package.