In any profession, it’s interesting to look back to the place from which you came. I’ve been a Realtor for 25 years, and it’s amazing to see the evolution of technology and increased access to data and how we’re better equipped to serve our clients and community.
It seems far-fetched now, but there was a time when showing a property to an interested buyer involved picking up the physical house key, showing the property and then returning the key to a listing agent.
Now – thanks to technology – I’m able to press a few buttons on my phone to open a house. For my listings, I can access a record of everyone who accessed the key box to view the property, including how much time they spent at each property.
It’s a secure and accessible system and allows you to know who has, or has not, been to a property. How great is that?
Another advancement is Greater Chattanooga Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service, or MLS for short.
When I first got into the business, our MLS was a book. Newer Realtors can’t believe me when I tell them this. But it was a big book, with black and white pictures, and each property listing included just one picture.
And by the time we got the book, it was already outdated. There was no automatic way to know about new listings, price changes, open houses, or that a property already was under contract.
Thanks to technology, our MLS has advanced, which enables us to arm clients with the most current data about the local inventory.
And it’s not just having access to property images. Thanks to the MLS, we now have far more statistical knowledge and more comprehensive market data, which puts Realtors on the edge of market trends.
The ability to drill down deep into the data isn’t just about getting numbers, but it’s also key to marketing a property.
At Greater Chattanooga Realtors, the association-owned MLS is making the market work. There are many benefits to our MLS system, with these three being key:
Confidence
Greater Chattanooga Realtors’ MLS safeguards market information and enforces rules that govern market participation.
This allows local real estate professionals to do their jobs with a confidence that would not otherwise exist because they have access to verified, trusted, detailed and accurate property information.
Let’s say you’re looking for a piece of property to build on. You would want to know the exact amount of land, right? Our MLS gives buyers confidence in knowing the property listed is correct.
Connections
Greater Chattanooga Realtors’ MLS creates connections between local, informed professionals with properties to sell and those with clients who might buy them. It’s the platform on which those who make transactions happen come together.
Our MLS facilitates cooperation between the buyer and seller. Without it, buyers and sellers would likely have to pay a fee to list on websites.
Community
Greater Chattanooga Realtors’ MLS sustains a dynamic community of local professionals where competitors cooperate to make homeownership happen.
With our MLS, it’s easy to find the local agent who happens to be selling the home. It also provides equal opportunity for all homebuyers and sellers.
Without the MLS system, residents would have few options available for their home buying or selling needs.
No matter your profession, we all have come to appreciate advances in technology that not only make our job easier but also serve the customer better. Our MLS is crucial in making sure Realtors serve their clients with absolute knowledge.
Realtors embrace technology. That’s Who We R.
Founded in 1912, Greater Chattanooga Realtors is a regional organization with more than 2,500 members servicing Hamilton and Sequatchie counties in southeast Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in Northwest Georgia. The association is one of approximately 1,100 local associations and boards of Realtors nationwide that comprise the National Association of Realtors. Greater Chattanooga Realtors owns and operates a Multiple Listing Service, which is one of approximately 600 MLSs in the country, and services more than 2,700 MLS users.