The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a shared database of real estate listings used by real estate agents to both advertise and search for homes. The purpose of the Multiple Listing Service is to encourage cooperation between listing agents who represent sellers and buyer’s agents who represent prospective purchasers.
Listing agents submit their properties into the MLS to generate exposure to buyer’s agents. Buyer brokers use the Multiple Listing Service to search for and send suitable listings to clients. Buyer agents feel comfortable showing MLS listings to prospective purchasers because listings in the MLS offer buyer brokers a congratulate assurance of getting paid for procuring a buyer.
Listing a home on the MLS is essential because the vast majority of home buyers are represented. The specific buyer agent commission varies by listing depending on what’s negotiated with the listing agent and included in the listing agreement. Each listing in the MLS displays the buyer agent commission percentage being offered.
Sellers customarily pay all real estate commissions, including the buyer agent commission.
The buyer agent commission is often referred to as the co-broke. If you overhear an agent asking “What is the co-broke?”, they’re inquiring as to the buyer agent commission percentage.
MLS databases encourage cooperation (i.e. co-broking) between agents by requiring participants to adhere to a set of rules. In NYC for example, members of the REBNY RLS broker database agree to abide by the REBNY RLS Universal Co-Brokerage Agreement (UCBA).
Among other provisions, the UCBA requires listing agents to share no less than 50% of the total commission with a cooperating broker (i.e. the buyer’s agent) in the case the buyer has an agent. If a seller is paying a total of 6% commission, this means that the listing agent may offer no less than 3% in the REBNY RLS broker database.
There is no single national Multiple Listing Service. Instead, each region has its own MLS. For example, Miami and adjacent areas in South Florida use the South East Florida MLS. Long Island in New York uses the OneKey MLS.
The public does not have direct access to the Multiple Listing Service. However, some MLS databases have a consumer facing website which allows non-agents to pursue listings in the MLS.
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