Frequently Asked Questions
Buyers: It’s how homes are found. The Multiple Listing Service makes it possible to see a full picture of what’s on the market.
How do I know if I'm seeing all the available homes for sale where I am looking?
Since your Realtor® is a member of the Coastal Carolinas Multiple Listing Service, you can be sure you're seeing every home for sale in Horry and Georgetown Counties. If your Realtor® is not a member of the Multiple Listing Service that covers the region you're looking in, you may need to find an agent who is. They may be able to help with that referral.
What's the difference between the listings I see on real estate search apps and websites and the listings my Realtor® sends me?
Properties that your Realtor® will share with you are coming from the Multiple Listing Service, which means their details and status are usually much more accurate than other search sites, which often pull data from all sorts of sources across the internet.
How do I know the prices I'm seeing are accurate?
If the price is coming from the Multiple Listing Service, the price is accurate. The rules are that any data displayed online needs to be attributed to the source (aka the Multiple Listing Service) that it is coming from. If you don’t see a data source attribution on a listing, it might not be accurate.
How do I know if the amenities listed are accurate?
Again, look for the Multiple Listing Service attribution on the data you're getting. If it's not attributed, it may not have come from a Multiple Listing Service. You can count on CCMLS data to be the most accurate out there because it's regulated by a set of industry-accepted standards, controlled by the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO).
How do I get access to the Multiple Listing Service?
Only Realtors® can get direct access to the Multiple Listing Service — so that sensitive and private information (things like front door codes, lock box entries, and times of day when the home is vacant) stays in the hands of professionals who must follow a code of ethics. You can visit our property search webpage to view current listings.
Sellers: The smartest way to sell a home. The Multiple Listing Service puts your home in front of the largest possible number of potential buyers.
How is the MLS different from other real estate websites?
Real estate websites are mainly advertising companies, meaning they display properties for sale to attract a large consumer audience. Some of these people are active buyers, some are just casual browsers.
The Multiple Listing Service, on the other hand, is the platform virtually all Realtors® in the marketplace working with serious, active buyers, rely on to serve those buyers.
The Multiple Listing Service is also how agents representing buyers get information on how to show buyers homes for sale outside of open house times. These “showings” are done under rules the Multiple Listing Service sets to ensure safety and privacy.
How do I know what my home is worth?
There are lots of home valuation tools online, but these all produce ballpark figures based on data scraped together from sometimes spotty sources.
For the most accurate and up-to-date home value, there’s simply no substitute for the expertise of a Realtor®. Realtors® have access to decades of data through the Multiple Listing Service, which tracks every detail of home listings and sales over the past several decades. That means they can make suggestions based on historical data and current market patterns.
How do I know that my agent will share my listing with every active buyer?
Once your home is listed on the Multiple Listing Service, it’s on display for every other Realtor® working with an active buyer. Those agents can search based on square footage, beds/baths, acreage, and more.
Will buyers outside of my agent’s brokerage be able to find out about my open house?
Yes. Open house information is stored and shared between agents on the Multiple Listing Service. Buyers’ agents can search and share open houses with their clients, so long as the information has been uploaded onto the Multiple Listing Service by the listing agent.
How does my listing get seen by buyers in other markets?
While there is no national Multiple Listing service, nearly all 600 local Multiple Listing Services across the United States are committed to the same set of rules around how they formulate and use their data.
This makes it easy to send your listing to nearly every destination online across the country and around the world.
Will my personal information be safe?
Yes. While some data on the Multiple Listing Service can be accessed by the public, private information like whether or not the home is vacant, times of day available for walk-throughs, and entry information are kept private, only accessible by registered members of the Multiple Listing Service.
