A Work in Progress

Though MRED’s recent initiatives have brought welcome changes for agents and consumers, the MLS will never be everything for everyone. In its existing form, the MLS poses some challenges for agents like Barbara Binik, a broker associate with Baird & Warner.

Binik has found that key details about listings do not find their way into MRED search results. For example, one of Binik’s current listings — a townhouse on Irving Park Road — is priced under market value compared to others with the quare footage in the area.

“It’s very much like a single-family home, but because it is part of a larger development, MRED does not allow the property to be listed as a single-family home,” she says, adding that she wonders how the property can be seen as both attached and detached. “It would be great to have the option to select this in the initial listing process where agents, in terms of looking and searches created, will see it both ways.”

That particular property’s four balconies, and the fact that it has a den, do not appear in search listings. Binik believes the MLS can further expand its required fields. Square footage, the name of school districts, the actual names of schools in the area, and the percentage of rental units in a building are all areas that she would like to see as required for a listing.

Binik says the challenge for the MLS is that it needs to be ahead of the game so agents have what they need when they need it. She is not alone: in NAR’s 2013-2014 Realtor Technology Survey Report, 62 percent of Realtors says they want their MLS to expand the services and technology offered.

MRED is actively working toward making improvements. Gregory says the MLS’s “Help Desk” staff has garnered multiple awards from within the industry for providing a high level of customer service. The service is open to agents for more than 60 hours each week, providing support to agents and brokers with what Gregory describes as “virtually no hold time.”

MRED also offers a training department, featuring a library stocked with hundreds of online training videos, many geared toward agents seeking MLS support. Additionally, online and in-person classes are available at no cost, and MRED will even send instructors to offices for groups of 10 or more.

What’s next for MRED?

“In the coming months, we are increasing our focus on brokerage outreach, enhancing our mobile functionality within the MLS system, and working with MLSs across the country to lay the foundation for a new analytics platform,” Jensen says. “There is a lot more to come.”