THE BOTTOM LINE

If you will only play poker with a full deck, perhaps you should ask a real estate agent about their MLS affiliation before you hire them.Â
You could be playing with half a deck in your real estate transaction.

There have recently been some changes in the way property listings are handled in Whatcom County.  While they aren’t particularly obvious to the public at large, they can have a huge impact on buyers and sellers. 

For years, agents have banded together in  Multiple Listing Services.  The agreement is that all member agents will pool their listings and make them available to each other to show and sell.  This gives buyers and sellers greater access to each other in a very efficient manner.  These MLSs  were typically formed on a local basis.  An example is the Bellingham Whatcom County Multiple Listing Service (BWCMLS).

Recent years have seen the growth of regional multiple listing organizations, such as the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS), which serves much of the State of Washington.  Over the past 24 months some real estate companies in Whatcom County have joined NWMLS to give their listed properties broader exposure.  Recently, some of those companies have withdrawn from the BWCMLS, so their listed properties show up only to agents who are members of the NWMLS…and therein lies the impact on buyers and sellers.

If you are a seller and your agent’s office is a member exclusively of the NWMLS or the BWCMLS, many of the local agents are unaware of it and have no access to information about it.  Their buyers never see you.  If you are a buyer and your agent’s office is a member exclusively of the NWMLS or BWCMLS, they don’t know about all the properties available for sale in Whatcom County and neither do you.  Either way, it is your bottom line that is affected.

The Johnson Team and The Muljat Group
 Members NWMLS & BWCMLS