The findings are clear: Homes promoted through the MLS sell faster and for more money.

Real estate professionals who market properties using the full power of the MLS create the opportunity to deliver better results, more often to home sellers than any other marketing option. Home sellers enjoy a financial gain from working with a REALTOR® who markets their property through the MLS, achieving maximum distribution to all potential buyers, regardless of who they know or where they live, and obtaining median sale prices higher than other options, including going it alone.

The two-year study showed sale records of homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service and promoted to the entire Bright MLS network of 95,000 real estate professionals sold for more compared to homes sold off the Multiple Listing Service. The median sales price for homes sold on-MLS was 16.98% higher than homes sold off-MLS. Similar results are demonstrated across Bright MLS’s MSA markets of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

We also analyzed sales of office exclusives—listings promoted only within a brokerage office. Our analysis found that office exclusives make up a small percentage of transactions, and nearly two-thirds (63%) ultimately end up not selling as an office exclusive and are instead promoted through the MLS. And, like our findings from off-MLS sales, homes marketed on the MLS sold for a median sales price of 16.84% more than those marketed through office exclusive arrangements. Those office-exclusive sales also typically took longer: homes entered on the MLS from the start went under contract faster than properties that started as an office exclusive and then were marketed on the MLS.

Real estate agents and brokers depend on the MLS every day to accomplish their important work, and this study clearly shows the power of the MLS network of real estate professionals. The substantial difference in prices between homes marketed on-MLS and those that are not is evidence that the open, clear, and competitive marketplace of properties through the MLS most often provides the best financial outcome for sellers. Additionally, that result is achieved fastest by working with a real estate professional who markets the property by harnessing the full power of the MLS.

Read the full report: Bright_MLS_On-Off_MLS_Study.pdf (ctfassets.net) 

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With extreme exception, RE/MAX Centre Realty endorses listing your home in the MLS instead of as an Office Exclusive.