How to Look for MLS House Listings

MLS house listings is a property database that many real estate agents use for selling homes. It’s also a great resource for beginner investors.

Table of Contents

1. What Are MLS House Listings?
2. How Do Agents Use MLS House Listings?
3. How to Find House Listings on the MLS
4. Why Should You Use MLS Listings?
5. The Benefits of Using Mashvisor for MLS Listings
6. To Conclude

What Are MLS House Listings?

MLS house listings are exactly as the name suggests; the tool compiles all the available properties for sale. It’s mostly used by real estate agents who wish to check out the listings. When agents post their house MLS listings, they’re able to see the listings of other real estate agents and companies as well. This particular feature is extremely helpful when it comes to connecting the potential buyers with the sellers.

A home doesn’t even have to be marked for sale for MLS house listings to allow the real estate agent to look it up. And in case the potential buyer chooses a property that’s listed by another agent, the two agents will still share the commission. This makes house listings MLS the perfect tool for real estate agents as it makes their job considerably easier. Not to mention that there’s always the commission profit involved. The tool is also efficient when it comes to finding the right kind of properties for the potential buyer’s criteria.

Now, it’s clear that MLS house listings are extremely useful to real estate agents. But what about real estate investors who are just starting to get into the market and want to find investment properties on their own? The good news is that the MLS database can be accessed even without an agent. That way, investors can get valuable insight into the available properties as well as other important information. It’s true that this process may be a bit more challenging without an agent to help, but it’s still manageable.

Related: The Ultimate Investment Property Search Tool

How Do Agents Use MLS House Listings?

There’s not just one single MLS house listings database. When you want to look up MLS house listings near me, you can use a specific MLS database for your own region. And to gain access to this database, it’s necessary to pay the fee and provide a broker’s license. When you have access, you can easily see all the property listings as well as info such as rental and sale prices, the size of the property, neighborhood, and more.

In general, real estate agents agree that MLS house listings can be sold by any agent who has a membership regardless of whether they’re the one who listed the property in question or not. As mentioned, this practice helps all agents to make a sale faster and earn a shared commission.

How to Find House Listings on the MLS

So, what can you do with MLS house listings when you’re a real estate investor? There are a couple of different strategies that you can try in order to successfully search the MLS database.

Use an Agent’s or Your Own Broker’s License

One way to get into the MLS listings and find the information you need is to obtain a broker’s license or team up with an agent who already has one. Of course, you might want to avoid working with a real estate agent, but there are some benefits to partnering with one. For instance, the agent can share the MLS login credentials with you.

On the other hand, if you’re set on making real estate investment your recurring endeavor, you can obtain the broker’s license yourself. Once you’re officially a licensed real estate broker, you can easily become an MLS member as well. Getting a broker’s license isn’t free, but it might suit your needs better if you’re 100% against working with an agent.

Related: 10 Benefits of Hiring a Real Estate Agent

Pay the Fee for the MLS Membership

Not all regions where there’s an MLS database require you to have a broker’s license. If this is true for the region you’re interested in, you could easily gain access to MLS house listings simply by paying the flat membership fee. Again, depending on the specific region, this fee may vary.

Make the Most Out of Public MLS

Certain regions also have a public MLS database. While the public listings will provide you with some insight into the available properties, it’s important to mention that their information won’t always be complete. For instance, you can’t learn about commission rates or agent schedules when using a public MLS database.

That’s not all, however. Most of the public listings lack other valuable metrics such as appreciation value, rental prices, cap rates by city, etc. If you’re a complete beginner when it comes to real estate investing, even a public MLS database might prove to be useful. But, it’s definitely not enough to cover your needs once you start delving deeper into this career.

Check Other Websites With MLS Listings

It’s not uncommon for other real estate websites to share information about MLS house listings. Obviously, some information will still be missing, but the fact of the matter is that these websites usually still have more data compared to public MLS. And the access to these sites won’t depend on any specific region.

For instance, you can use Mashvisor to check out the collected MLS listings hassle-free.

What About Non MLS House Listings?

As an investor, you should also pay attention to non MLS house listings. Essentially, these are off market properties that sellers usually put up to avoid real estate agencies, thus saving on commissions. Of course, there’s usually just one agent involved as a negotiator between the seller and the buyer. Even though these listings won’t be in an MLS database, they’re worth checking out as you gain access to more potential inventory and deal with less competition.

Related: The Complete Guide on How to Access Off Market Properties in 2022

How Long Does It Take for a Newly Listed House to Appear on MLS Listings?

In general, most listings will show up on the MLS database anywhere between two and 24 hours after being posted. However, if you, as a potential buyer, want to use other websites such as Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, and similar to view them, you might never be able to. Again, this depends on the specific region of the MLS. In some cases, buyers have to set up their MLS system specifically for sharing their listings on those websites.

Why Should You Use MLS Listings?

You might be unsure as to why you’d even need to bother with the MLS database when you can simply use the real estate websites mentioned to view available properties. The thing is that MLS is still rather useful for investment property search in various regions. That said, consider the following benefits of utilizing MLS house listings.

Find the Ideal Property for Your Investment Portfolio

Obviously, the biggest benefit of the MLS database is the ability to view plenty of different listings. After all, this database contains almost all available properties for sale. In that sense, you’re bound to find the perfect investment property that matches your needs and goals in no time. Regardless of whether you’re searching for a vacation rental or a duplex for sale, you’re pretty much all set.

Expand the Listing Reach

For investors, it’s not only important to buy the right kind of property but also to rent it out and even sell it later on. MLS is a good tool for that as well. The MLS is one of the largest databases available, meaning that it also has thousands of users. Posting your own listing there would attract a ton of traffic and traction. With such a big reach, you’re bound to sell or rent out your property faster as well.

Count on Real Estate Data Accuracy

One of the biggest issues that real estate investors face is inaccurate data regarding available properties. There’s no need to worry about that when it comes to MLS house listings. Since the information in the database is backed up by licensed real estate agents, you can be 100% sure that the data is accurate and up-to-date.

The Benefits of Using Mashvisor for MLS Listings

If you’re still not sold on using the MLS database or simply don’t want to go through the trouble of accessing it, you can always turn to Mashvisor. Namely, Mashvisor is one of the most reliable tools when it comes to gathering all the data and listings from the MLS.

Essentially, you will have full insight into the listings across all regions as well as information associated with them. That’s not all, though. Mashvisor also lets you analyze just how lucrative a certain deal may be before you jump to buy investment properties. That said, there are several different ways that you could utilize Mashvisor tools.  

Thorough Data Analysis

Mashvisor is not just a comprehensive real estate website with property listings. Its biggest use is as a data analytics tool. Basically, Mashvisor gathers all the data from MLS listings as well as other real estate websites such as Airbnb. This is true for every single region on the market. Once you log in to Mashvisor, you will be able to find listings that were uploaded to the MLS database.

Depending on what you’re looking for, you can utilize the filters and narrow down your listings as much as you want to.

Improved Property Search

Not only will you be able to sort out and go through available properties in specific regions, but Mashvisor’s Heatmap tool will make this entire search more comprehensive and efficient.

To put it simply, the Heatmap labels the neighborhoods in different cities across the country. When you segment your search with your own criteria, the Heatmap will highlight the areas that offer the best available deals. For instance, the color will be green for properties that have the highest rental value or the properties that present the most cost-efficient investment.

That said, you get all the information and data from the MLS database, but with an additional benefit of having access to refined real estate analysis of what all that data means. This is instrumental for investors who want to make sure that they get to secure the most lucrative deals.

Real Estate Comps Analysis

A feature that’s unique to Mashvisor is the comprehensive comparative analysis between different properties. For instance, once you find the best place to buy rental property, you can pick all the properties that fit your criteria and then use the comparison tool to finally pinpoint which one will bring you the best return on investment.

In order to provide the most accurate analysis when real estate comps are concerned, Mashvisor considers several different metrics. These include potential rental income by strategy, sale price, number of rooms and amenities, property location, sale time frame, and walk score.

That said, even the first-time investor can clearly see just how different properties fare against one another. You’ll be able to make sense of both traditional and short-term rental listings since Mashvisor pulls both the MLS and Airbnb data. 

Therefore, you get full insight into everything that’s available on the MLS database plus the much-needed analysis of different neighborhoods and properties.

Rental Property Calculator

The usefulness of Mashvisor doesn’t stop there. If you’re looking for a rental investment property, the Mashvisor tool called Rental Property Calculator will provide you with suggested rental prices for every single property.

Basically, the algorithm takes the rental prices of relatively similar properties into account in order to estimate the best rental price for the property you’re interested in. You can also calculate other important metrics such as taxes and mortgage, HOA fees, repair and maintenance costs, and more.

The first step of calculations involves pulling the data from the MLS database. In the next step, the calculator considers your own investment budget in order to further refine the final result.

To Conclude

It’s clear that having access to MLS house listings is extremely useful for real estate investors, regardless of their experience. However, it’s also true that gaining access to the MLS database is not the easiest thing to do without a broker’s license or a real estate agent. This is why Mashvisor can prove to be essential for your investment journey as the users gain instant access to MLS without having to go through any of the additional steps.

What’s more, aside from the open access to all MLS listings, Mashvisor users will also be able to quickly and accurately perform thorough analysis and comps. In that sense, Mashvisor is like a one-stop shop for all real estate investors who are looking for their ideal property, be it for sale or rent.

If you wish to try out Mashvisor yourself and check MLS house listings, don’t hesitate to sign up for a 7-day free trial.