MLS listings for La Costa and Greater San Diego housing and real estate
In the vast State of California, there are so many Multiple Listing Services in existence that it would be nearly impossible to list them all. While the popular Southern California MLS or SoCal MLS covers nearly all of Southern California, cities or entire regions such as San Diego, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, and Orange County also have alternate MLS systems.
In addition to SoCal MSL membership, San Diego real estate professionals may also become members of Sandicor Inc. MLS. Sandicor is owned by five Associations of REALTORS and offers thousands of La Costa listings to its members throughout East San Diego and North San Diego counties as well as Coronado, to name a few.
About San Diego MLS
In simple terms, the San Diego Multiple Listing Service or Sandicor Inc. MLS is a database of homes for sale in the La Costa 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. San Diego, depending on your 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 San Diego, it's important to utilize both Sandicor Inc. MLS and the SoCal Multiple Listing Service when buying or selling a home.
The MLS also serves as a compensation offer between brokers. If one San Diego broker represents a buyer who purchases a property that is listed by another San Diego 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 San Diego 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 San Diego 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 San Diego MLS systems are excellent tools for participating members, buyers, and sellers. The San Diego MLS offers maximum exposure to houses for sale in San Diego neighborhoods and it allows agents and brokers to quickly and easily find properties that are listed. San Diego 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 San Diego MLS membership is in the tens of thousands for both the SoCal MLS (www.socalmls.com) and the Sandicor Inc. MLS (www.sandicor.com), not all brokers participate. This means that while the San Diego MLS services do list a significant number of properties for sale, they does not list all properties for sale in La Costa and the San Diego area.