Kind of silly question about MLS access

[Sarah T.]

Hi, So I'm looking for a house to rehab in the San Antonio area. I'm relocating there soon so I don't know the place very well yet. I'm working with a realtor there and he set me up a login to look at MLS homes found by the auto feed he set up for me. Question is this: since I have this, is it possible for me to pull comps and use the system to research areas around town/learn trends, etc.? Do I have access since I have an agent? I'm obviously not going to ask him to mine lots of unrelated data for me, but wondering if I could so it myself? Thanks!

[Seth Teel]

@Sarah T.

Unless the agent has given you their personal login or set you up as an "assistant," which requires broker approval, you will not have full access to search the MLS. Texas is a non-disclosure state, which means the law does not require sales price to be reported publicly. This means only licensed agents have access to recorded sales prices via the MLS. This is something the local Board (SABOR) takes very seriously and people have been sued for disclosing sales prices without seller permission. Providing full access to MLS for a non-licensed person may be grounds for license revocation and certainly warrants a Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) complaint. That being said, I have heard of several Realtors doing it. I even heard of investors paying agents to become their "assistants."

The SABOR MLS does have a pretty comprehensive search function for non-agents. This allows you to search listed for sale and for lease properties by conducting manual queries or by simply drawing a polygon on a map. This feature will allow you to search "actives" beyond the properties your agent has pulled via the auto feed.

If you have a buyer's agency agreement with your Realtor, likely they will be happy to run comps for you (within reason).  There are also some proprietary software products out there that use IDX to run comps.  Again, due to the fact Texas is a non-disclosure state some Boards have elected not so share all of the data.  This is why running comps on Redfin, Zillow, or Trulia is basically worthless in San Antonio.  

I hope this helps.