Investor With MLS Access

[Kevin Powell]

Hi BP. What advantages or what's the best way to take advantage of the MLS as an investor besides comps?

[Cara Lonsdale]

MLS is going to provide the most accurate, real time data for active listings, closed sales, and expired/cancelled listings. All others populate from the MLS through IDX, which can be hours or days later. This is why you can call on a property that you see on Redfin, or Trulia, or Zillow, and it is already sold, but the listing still states it is active. Those websites haven't updated yet.

MLS is also where you can find alot of tax record data (at least in my market, it is) that connects to the county recorder's office. So, you can pull foreclosure lists, farming lists and labels, and other useful items for marketing and/or research.

In my market, the MLS is also where I can pull new home inventory (new builds), and pull statistical data for my market, zip code, or time frame.