At Heartland MLS®, the regional Multiple Listing Service for the Greater Kansas City area, we
believe in “Property Data That Moves You.”
Whether you’re buying your first home, upgrading to a larger space, or preparing for your next
chapter. In today’s competitive market, knowing
your options when selling your home and seeking the trusted advice of your agent are the first
steps to empower you.
It’s critical for information about real estate to be transparent and open to all consumers.
There should be equitable access to homeownership.
The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is the source for accurate, transparent data that supports an
efficient real estate marketplace.
There are significant benefits to both sellers, as well as buyers, for listing your
property in
the MLS from day one.
SCALE. The MLS publishes your property to over 12,000 REALTORS® in the
Greater Kansas City Region as well as over 1 Million REALTORS® across the United
States.
SPEED. Your property is syndicated to websites such as Zillow, Realtor.com, and
hundreds
of brokerages. This gets your listing in
front of more buyers, faster.
SOLD. Real estate may be your largest financial asset. “Sold” is the desired
outcome for all sellers.
Scale. Speed. Sold.
You have options to market your properties. Let’s look at the merits of all three.
The MLS affords sellers to have the greatest number of homebuyers
see, tour and make an offer on a home. Brokers and agents input
accurate, detailed information about properties listed for sale by
distributing to the public market.
As the source of real estate data, the MLS provides a subset of data
downstream to consumer sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and hundreds
of brokerage websites which receive millions of consumer views. When
listing on the MLS, sellers can receive the most competitive offers
because their property is exposed to the greatest number of buyers.
A pocket listing is marketed privately instead of putting it in the MLS. Referred to an “office exclusive”, the agent markets the property solely within their brokerage. The listing is hidden “in the agent’s pocket” and shared only with a limited network of buyers, agents at the broker’s firm and select clients.
A private listing network (PLN) is a system where properties are marketed selectively within a brokerage, among a network of agents and their pre-qualified buyers. There are instances where a Private Listing Network makes sense, such as celebrities, divorce situations, security/privacy concerns, tenant-occupied properties or luxury homes targeting niche buyers.
Scale is automatic when you list in the MLS. This data is syndicated across property search sites like Realtor.com, Zillow and Redfin.
Properties that have limited reach have limited buyer demand. Listing in the MLS day one gets your property in front of more potential buyers.
Market research data shows that homes sold through a pocket or private listing network sell for 17% less that those sold via the MLS.
The MLS supports equitable access, discourages discriminatory patterns, steering and exclusionary practices.
The MLS is the source of real estate data and provides comparable sales data, pricing accuracy, market trends and days-on-market history.
Increase awareness, access potential buyers and create a fair playing field to generate more interest and potentially less days on market.
Sellers are losing their nest egg because pocket and private listings can sell for less.
After they don’t succeed, they are then exposed publicly, using the MLS to market.
Longer time to sell means listings can get stale and may result in lowering the price.
Less exposure often results in fewer showings, few offers and reduced competition, all of which can directly impact the final sale price.
The potential pool of buyers is limited and excludes opportunities of reaching out-of-area buyers, first-time home buyers, cash or relocation buyers.
When less buyers have access to the property, there is less competition and the likelihood of receiving multiple offers is diminished, which may result in a lower sale price.
“If you want to sell quickly and for the most money, your best bet is to list where the largest number of qualified buyers are able to view your home, on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS).”
“Listing on the MLS draws more competitive offers. On-MLS homes reach a greater audience. In 2022, a typical on-MLS seller received $53,890 over what they would have gotten by selling off-MLS.”
“Delayed marketing (pocket listings or private networks) are exempted from 29,850 local agent and broker websites. These ‘exclusive’ listings would be hidden from 145,000 agents and their buyers. What’s worse, hidden listings would not go out to 5 million emails per month to agent-connected clients.”
The numbers don’t lie. Get the scale, speed and result you’re looking for when you list your property in the MLS.
A REALTOR® is a licensed real estate agent or broker who is an active member of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). They are bound by a strict Code of Ethics and hold themselves to high professional standards.
What is MLS?
A Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a regional, web-accessible database of homes for sale that allows consumers and potential buyers to search listings that agents have authorized for public viewing. When a property is listed in the MLS, it is syndicated to Zillow, Homes.com, Realtor.com and hundreds of brokerages sites allowing for more views, more showings, more offers and ultimately more scale. The MLS shares properties with 1,500,000+ REALTORS®.
What is a pocket listing?
A pocket listing is when the listing agent keeps a property in their "pocket" and shares it privately with a select network of buyers or agents, rather than being listed in a MLS.
What is a private listing network?
A private network listing (or Private Listing Network - PLN) is where a property is marketed exclusively to a select group of agents, brokers, or buyers, rather than being listed in a MLS.
What is the benefit of listing your property for sale in the MLS?
When a property is listed in a MLS, you increase the scale, speed and reach of that property listing. That means more interested buyers can see your home for sale, more property showings and more offers to buy your home.
Why is it important to list your property for sale in the MLS on day one?
When you list in a MLS on day one, you aren’t playing a game of “wait and see”. Your property will have instant exposure and serious buyers right away. It’s opportunity for you to get your property sold at the highest price, quicker.
Why is listing in the MLS right for 99.9% of home sellers?
Unless you’re a professional athlete, TV star, elected official or extremely high net worth person, privacy when selling a property is counterproductive. It can lead to fewer showings and lowball offers. Or worse, a dead listing no one ever saw. For everyone else, there’s the MLS. Marketing your home to the widest audience, leading to more urgency and accelerating written offers.
So how do I ask my REALTOR® to list in Heartland MLS®?
Marketing your property is your choice. We want you to know the risk and reward. Exclusive pocket listings are restricted to one brokerage. Private networks are controlled, often resulting in fewer offers, for less money. Listing in the MLS blows it wide open. When it comes to your money, don’t limit the options with one of your biggest assets. The MLS promises scale, speed and ultimately sold.