The Nashville MLS (sometimes also called multiple listing system or multiple listings service) is a suite of services that enables real estate brokers to establish contractual offers of compensation (among brokers), facilitates cooperation with other broker participants, accumulates and disseminates information to enable appraisals, and is a facility for the orderly correlation and dissemination of listing information to better serve broker’s clients, customers and the public. A mouthful, right?

nashville mlsThe short answer is: it’s a database. A massive database which records the details (even tiny ones you might not think about) about all homes for sale in a geographic area. The Nashville MLS actually covers all of middle Tennessee, for a long drive outside of Nashville.

What does that mean for home searches?

So, whether you’re looking at properties on Zillow, or on Realtor.com, or on an agent’s website (like mine!) you’re looking at the information made available on Nashville’s MLS. But… not all websites are made the same! For example, only licensed Nashville real estate agents and brokerages can display all the information available on the MLS the moment it is updated. Websites like Zillow.com and Trulia.com, since they do not represent licensed brokerages, pay the local MLS a fee to display some property information… and typically, not recent information. In some cases, it can be 30 to 90 days old!

In North America, the MLS systems are governed by private entities, and the rules are set by those entities with no state or federal oversight, beyond any individual state rules regarding real estate. MLS systems set their own rules for membership, access, and sharing of information, but are subject to nationwide rules laid down by NAR or CREA. An MLS may be owned and operated by a real estate company, a county or regional real estate board of realtors or association of realtors, or by a trade association. Membership of the MLS is not required for the practice of real estate brokerage.


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