Does it Matter Which MLS Your CT Home For Sale is Listed in?

You may think of the MLS as just a database of homes, and you would be essentially correct. However, 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 incorporate 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 this is 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 7,500 local agents (except that Greenwich, New Canaan and Darien's listings are served primarily by another MLS, and not always placed on GFC-CMLS)

The CTmls.ctreal covers the entire state, however, the Fairfield County listings are quite sparse on this site. If you are listing your home, or looking to purchase a home in New Haven County, New London County, Tolland or Litchfield Counties, this MLS is absolutely the place to be.

The other night, 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.

Case in point: A search for all Fairfield homes for sale in the statewide MLS  (ctmls.ctreal) turned up just 15 results, where the GFC-CMLS turned up 330.

So, in order to effectively and properly represent this particular client, it is imperative to list it within the GFC-CMLS service area. That's where it would get the most exposure.

I am not saying that listing it in the statewide MLS would do any harm, it would just be in addition to. It would be most important 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 ;)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Featured Home of the Week is at 125 Norton Road in Easton  for $1.4M. See the virtual tour HERE

Buying or Selling a Home in Fairfield County?  Contact us!

If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in  Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me. I know the market like the back of my hand, know marketing inside and out, am a skilled negotiator- and I'd love to be on your side :) - Judy

Search for properties on any of our sites, or get the very best visibility available for your home. Visit us online wherever you like:

www.CThomesAndRealEstate.com      www.TheCTrealtyBlog.com     www.TheCTRB.com    and   www.CTfeaturedHomes.com 

 Email us or  call Toll Free (855) GET-JUDY

The listing contract with the Realtor is about to expire. Do you re-list right away?

Some people think its wise to wait, some people have it re-listed the very next day. I'll ask you that  question,  think about your answer, and then I'll tell you an experience that I had with a seller. Your answer may change.  

One day in October, I ran across a listing that had just expired. The house looked pretty neat, and I wondered why it didn't sell, so I called up the owner.  I asked her about her home, and she invited me over to look, but was adamant about not listing it right away. The property was on the market for a good seven and a half months, and with a VERY Good agent,  AND the holidays were coming up. So who is going to buy her house now? And yes, she  may have had a point or two.

As I looked at the listing, I saw that some of the very best marketable features of her home were nowhere to be found! I saw that the listing wasn't filled out as well as it could be, and I am pretty particular about everything being as descriptive and informative as it can be, and as truthful as it can be on the listing so the most interested and best qualified buyers come to see it.

This home had  a stone turret and an incredible amount of charm with rolling acreage and lots of privacy, yet in a very easy location. None of that was brought out on the listing.  A house with a two and a half story stone turret, and the picture of the property didn't focus on it? You couldn't miss it once you drove up. And that's one of those things that you either REALLY like, or REALLY hate. There's not an in-between.  So I told the owner what I thought. She was this great Irish lady with a thick accent. I told her  that if she wanted to sell the home,  that we shouldn't wait, and that we should get it on the market as soon as possible. And I said, "No one is going to buy  your home if they don't know that it's available". She heeded my advice, I brought out the finer unique points of her home, and it sold close to asking in less than three weeks, and that was right before the holidays. Oh and by the way, I didn't reduce the price. It didn't need it!

Her house may have sat on the market for another seven months had she not listened to my advice. Instead, the house sold and she got to move into a nice condominium.

So if your homes listing contract is about to expire, and you haven't had any bites, or very few showings, take a look at the listing. Better yet, have me take a look at the listing- and don't give the house a rest on marketing. No one will buy your home if it's it's not actively and appropriately marketed by a great agent. That's me!

Choosing the Best Real Estate Agency to represent you in CT

When it comes time to hire a real estate agent to sell your home, there are a multitude of agencies to choose from, so how do you choose? Company A tells you that they are #1 in sales,  company B tells you that THEY are #1 in sales, and company C tells you that THEY are #1 in sales. How are you supposed to figure that one out? 

Well we figured it out a few years ago when a bunch of other Office owners/ Brokers and I were sitting down for coffee, and that exact subject came up. The owner of one company said, "I (my company) must be number two, 'cos everybody else is number one." Everyone sitting at the table laughed pretty hard over that one, but guess what? He was right.  Forget about those number one claims that brokers make. Everyone can be number one in a specially defined niche, and maybe just maybe, you don't WANT that numebr one company. There are reasons for it.Honestly and truly,  do you want to know who number one REALLY is? It's YOU, the client.

So what are the main type of agencies to choose form, and which one is best for you?

National Franchise - While a large well known franchise has great name recognition, buyers really don't care which sign is out in front of your house. If they want to buy it, they will. the internet has taken that argument out of the large franchise arsenal. A concern with a large franchise is the very real possibility of dual agency.

Franchise Boutique- I think this type of company is best for sellers, and this is the type of company that I am affiliated with. A nationally franchise company that is locally owned and operated offers the best of all worlds. Local expertise, national exposure, and less possibility of dual agency.

Local Company- There are a few types of local companies- either the low key or the little powerhouse. Not a bad choice if the property has only a limited VERY local market.

Discount Agency- I'm not a fan, period.  You, as a seller, do the vast majority of the work that can get quite complicated for someone who does not deal with real estate on a daily basis. It makes no sense at all. I hate to say it, but do you know what some agents think when they see a listing with a discount brokerage? They figure that they are getting paid less for the same amount of work, and they figure you won't negotiate at all, whether it's true or not.


So what's best for you? If one doesn't stand out clearly over another, conduct a few interviews.  Or, you can just call me and we'll get started!



The best way to find a real estate listing site that is current. HINT: (it's not Realtor.com)

In the last week, three different people have contacted me to  see a particular property that they found online, and in each instance, I've had to tell them that the property was under deposit, and no longer available. It just doesn't sound right, does it?

Yes, the market is coming back,  but to get three calls in one week on listings that are unavailable is just awful. It's awful for  the people who think they are looking at a current real listing site- and trust me, its no fun to tell a potential client that the house that they want to see is under deposit.

And the biggest offender? Realtor.com.. Really!  This site can be up to 30 days out of date. YES, that's right. At least in Fairfield County, that's right. Realtor.com does not recognize one of the deposit statuses in our area. That's unfortunate. Homes.com does not have all of the listings, and then some of them are OLD OLD OLD. Trulia and  Zillow are incomplete AND out of date.

So what do you do?  Work with ONE agent, who will allow you access to the MLS. I offer both MLSPulse and Listingbook to my clients or potential clients FREE of charge, and FREE of spam.  If you care to sign up for either one, it's free and easy, just click on the respective links below

Listingbook at www.BestAgentinCT.com   and MLSPulse at www.searchMLSdatabase.com

Reading Between the Lines of an MLS Listing

Do you remember the first MLS listing your agent gave you? Was it somewhat confusing? There's a lot  of information on those data sheets. Realtors are accustomed to looking at them, but when you begin to look at houses, those MLS sheets look like a lot of gobbledy-gook. There are a few things to take note of right away, and you learn where that information is on the sheet pretty quickly, but there is also lots of information that almost seems hidden if you don't know what you are looking for, or should be looking at.

The first thing your eyes will be drawn to is the picture, of course. Then you'll see the price, and some particulars on the house, such as total number of rooms, how many bedrooms, and how many baths. Lesser known information that is on the MLS home sheet is the annual property taxes, property assessment, school information, and room features, besides the biggie, which is how long the home has been on the market. In our area, hidden in plain sight on the listing sheet  is  "MT 145", and unless your agent told you where it was, and what that meant, you probably wouldn't know. It means The Market Time on that house is 145 days.

Another very important thing to look at is the listing agent remarks. There are MANY subliminal messages here, and they ring true the vast majority of the time.

I'm going to ask you to look at the remarks on that listing in a different way. Think of yourself as an agent, and if you know that these remarks are  THAT important to help sell the house, it would behoove you to point our the finer features of the home in this section.

I don't care how lazy an agent might be, or how busy that agent might be, they still want to sell that house.  There are only so many alphabetic characters that an agent is allowed in this section, so its important that nothing is redundant. As a real estate agent, you would want to make sure that you have everything covered, right? Of course, you would.  So when you look at the remarks section of a listing, and there is redundancy, what should that indicate? There may not be any great things to say about that house, because the agent could't even fill up a small area of advertising space with anything other than what's already on the listing.  And another thing while we're on the remarks section- if all the MLS says is how great the neighborhood is,and nothing about the interior of the house, you can pretty much expect that the house may need some cosmetics.

Yes, I think you can tell I am passionate about my work.  I want the very best for my clients, whether they be buyers, or sellers.  Even the most seemingly minor details to someon else are very important to you when it comes to your  biggest investment. I'm always happy to share my knowledge, and help my clients  in the very best way that I know how. So when you're ready to buy or sell  real estate in Fairfield County, CT , I'm honored to help you, and eager to assist. :)