A licensed real estate agent in Connecticut can sell a home anywhere in the state. However, it is not always the best idea to hire an out of area Realtor to service you and your home selling needs. Yes, they will place it on the MLS, but which one? It DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
Really, in its most basic form, the MLS is just a database of homes for agents-but that's not all. Realtors utilize the MLS and its power to get your home sold in ways that you may not have thought of.
The MLS ( Multiple Listing Service ) is essentially an agreement between brokers that incorporatse the amount of compensation offered to the buyers agent upon completion of a sale. Listing Brokers want to get your home sold, and buyers brokers want to find their client a home, and the MLS serves as a great tool for both.
In Connecticut, there are two highly dominant MLS service areas, as well as a few local MLS regions which are mostly in the southernmost part of Fairfield County.
The Greater Fairfield County MLS (GFC-CMLS) serves all of Fairfield County and 8,000 local agents (except that Greenwich, New Canaan and Darien's listings are served primarily by local MLS's, and those homes are not always placed on GFC-CMLS)
The CTmls.ctreal covers most of the state, however, you will find thatt the Fairfield County listings are quite sparse here. If you are listing your home, or looking to purchase a home in New Haven County, New London County, Tolland or Litchfield Counties, this is the MLS that your home just absolutely needs to be listed in.
I happen to be a member of our local GFC- CMLS as well as the statewide MLS. It's just smart to do so. The out of area agents who don't use our local MLS are missing the boat on marketing here, but my buyer clients won't ever miss a home because I didn't think enough to belong to a supplemental MLS service.
Recently, a seller client asked me if I would place her home on the statewide MLS. (Her home is in Fairfield County) Now while that seems to be like a good idea, the vast majority of the thousands of agents of the Fairfield County MLS (the GFC-CMLS) DO NOT BELONG to the statewide MLS, for the simple reason that it does not effectively cover their service area. Certain out of area homes benefit from the additional listing, though.
This may be of interest: A search for all Fairfield homes for sale in the statewide MLS (ctmls.ctreal) turned up just 13 results, where the GFC-CMLS turned up 483. Similarly, Westport shows only four active listings, while there are 344 active single family homes available in the immediate area MLS system.
So, in order to effectively and properly represent a particular client in Fairfield County, it is imperative to list it within the GFC-CMLS service area. That's where it would get the most exposure.
Listing a Fairfield County home in the statewide MLS won't do any harm, it should just be looked at as supplemental marketing, and it would be most beneficial to utilize the statewide MLS in addition to the local MLS when a home is very unique in some way.
Incidentally, if you have noticed duplicate listings on Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia, it is primarily because the home has been listed in two separate MLS areas.
PLEASE NOTE: My www.CTfeaturedHomes.com incorporates ALL of the state's MLS systems, so you won't miss any property anywhere ;)