Recently, we've had a number of people contacting us with questions about properties or information regarding those properties they had found online. Sometimes the answers we give are unfavorable because the property in question is off the market or the online site was displaying inaccurate information. How does that happen? Today, we wanted to take a little time to discuss how REALTOR.com and other third party sites like Trulia.com and Yahoo.com receive their information.

When a seller decides to list their home, they contact a REALTOR® to plan out a marketing scheme. Every REALTOR® belongs to a local association that provides a Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The MLS is a database where a REALTOR® can store precise details about the seller's property. This allows other REALTORS® in the association who have access to the MLS know which houses are available for sale and all the details they need to relay to a buyer.

Third party sites like REALTOR.com, Trulia.com and Yahoo.com are NOT an MLS. In actuality, these sites, upon written request (and sometimes for a fee), pull the data directly from the local MLS's database. Just like making a copy from an original, it doesn't always come out exactly the same. The third party sites will have some discrepencies. What's more, these sites are only allowed to pull public information. There is more complete information on the MLS database.

While we think that these third party sites are a great tool to get you started, we urge you to take the information you find with a grain of salt. NOTHING is more complete, accurate and up-to-date than your REALTOR®'s MLS. If you are serious about finding a new home, put your REALTOR® to work!