MLS listings for Agoura Hills, CA and Los Angeles area housing and real estate
In the state of California, there are so many Multiple Listing Services that it would be nearly impossible to list them all. While the Southern California MLS or SoCal MLS covers nearly all of Southern California, cities or entire regions such as Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego also have alternate MLS systems.
The MLS/CLAW specifically serves Agoura Hills, Los Angeles and its surrounding counties. The MLS/CLAW is REALTOR-owned and it offers access to properties, news, legal issues, and more for its members.
So what is the Los Angeles MLS and how does it work?
In simple terms, the Los Angeles MLS/CLAW and SoCal MLS are databases of homes for sale in the Agoura Hills area. While the MLS® trademark is owned by the Canada Real Estate Association (CREA) -- as is the REALTOR® trademark -- MLS systems across the country are typically set up as separate corporations. The MLS in any given area is affiliated with its local association of realtors. Now, here's where it gets tricky. Any city or region may have several associations. Los Angeles, depending on the specific neighborhood, has at least two. Some of these associations will integrate their MLS systems, while other will remain separate, which means neighboring areas may be listed on different systems that will not necessarily overlap. In Los Angeles, it's important to utilize both the SoCal Multiple Listing Service and the MLS/CLAW when buying or selling a home.
The MLS also serves as a compensation offer between brokers. If one Los Angeles broker represents a buyer who purchases a property that is listed by another Los Angeles MLS broker, they will typically share the commission, and this information is listed in the MLS.
The overabundance of MLS systems available can also create confusion and frustration for many Los Angeles agents and brokers. Real estate agents who are not members of a certain MLS service have difficulty gaining access to properties that are exclusively listed with that service. The Los Angeles MLS systems help to protect the listings for a given neighborhood or larger community by controlling who has access to them. This ensures that local agents have an advantage over real estate agents from other areas. While this can be beneficial for the local agents, some also consider it to be a tactic by the MLS systems to earn more fees and recruit more members.
The cons to operating individual MLS systems (as opposed to one large MLS) mainly affect non-members. The individual Los Angeles MLS systems are excellent tools for participating members, buyers, and sellers. The Los Angeles MLS offers maximum exposure to houses for sale in Los Angeles neighborhoods and it allows agents and brokers to quickly and easily find properties that are listed. Los Angeles real estate agents and brokers can also examine commission rates and browse through an extensive amount of data about any given property for sale.
It is important to keep in mind that while Los Angeles MLS membership is in the tens of thousands for both the SoCal MLS (www.socalmls.com) and the MLS/CLAW (www.themls.com), not all brokers participate. This means that while the Los Angeles MLS services do list a significant number of properties for sale, they do not list all properties for sale in Agoura Hills and the Los Angeles area.