One of the hardest concepts for the general public to understand in realty is the MLS. Whether you are looking for real estate here in Kitchener or back in Toronto, real estate agents you have talked to have certainly mentioned this database. If you ask the average person what the MLS is, you will probably get an answer which contains some truth, but is not entirely accurate. Here is the breakdown of what the MLS actually is.
MLS stands for multiple listing service. As opposed to localized systems, such as Windsor Ontario real estate listings you may find in the paper, the MLS contains thousands of different listings of a wide number of properties.
Those listings include properties all over Canada. While in the United States the MLS system is different from one location to the next, and can even be applied to a service offered by a single company, Canada's MLS system is cooperative. All the members of the Canadian Real Estate Association have access to, and use, the same MLS. It doesn't matter if you are looking for Mississauga condominiums or Nunavut cabins, if they are listed they will be in Canada's MLS.
One of the biggest misunderstandings about the MLS is that it is a tool available to the public in general. This is not the case. It wouldn't do much good, after all, for realtors to make their knowledge of Ontario commercial real estate known to everyone, only to have no compensation out of the deal.
Instead, the MLS is truly open only to brokerages and their agents. There may be some details on a public system that claims to be the MLS on homes for sale in London Ontario, but generally these listings are not complete. They tell some of the information, but not as much as a qualified agent could give.
Beyond realtor's own careers, the reason for the strict monitoring of the Canadian MLS is to prevent a real estate market run amok. Agents do have specific training in real estate procedures and law which the general public does not have. It's common knowledge that part of the reason for the worldwide economic meltdown was the faulty approach to real estate in the US. In part, that crash was due to not enough participation by educated individuals in the market. Having a system which only qualified agents can tap into helps to lessen the odds of a similar crisis in Canada.
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