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Homes and Land in Sunny Sequim, Washington

Homes and Land in Sunny Sequim, Washington

Sequim's No.1 Buyer's Agent Where Knowledge & Experience Count.

(360) 775-5424
Email: ChuckMarunde@gmail.com

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125 Olympic Ranch Ln, Sequim, WA 98382

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Why National MLS Sites Can Mislead You

by Chuck Marunde / Saturday, 15 March 2014 / Published in Search Sequim MLS

When you look at MLS sites (multiple listing service sites) to search for your home, you probably assume that the information you are looking at is accurate. Think again. Buyers call and email me several times a week asking about information they find on a national MLS site that turns out to be slightly wrong or totally wrong. If you are comparing properties and narrowing your list of homes to look at, wrong information could certainly eliminate homes you would actually like, and could keep homes you would filter out on the list. And one of the biggest frustrations for buyers is large variations in values listed for properties on various national MLS sites. This article will help you objectively get this right.

MLS SitesNational MLS Sites Not All Perfect

National MLS sites include sites like Zillow.com, Trulia.com, Homes.com, Realtor.com, HomeFinder.com, BackPage.com, Oodle.com, HomeGain.com, Google.com, RealtyStore.com, Homes.Yahoo.com, Kijiji.com (ebay), eLookyloo.com, and hundreds of other real estate sites where listings can be syndicated.

Here’s what the public and buyers like you may not know about national MLS sites. They are not always accurate, and sometimes the information is terribly incorrect. Sometimes the prices are wrong, the estimates of value are wrong, the specific information is wrong, and sometimes the home is not actually for sale although it is showing as “For Sale” on a national MLS site.

How can that happen? Once I tell you, you will totally get it. Listings originate with a local listing broker. The broker inputs the listing data and photos into the local MLS. Some MLSs syndicate listings to dozens and sometimes hundreds of other real estate sites. While that sounds simple enough, technically it is very complicated. Local MLSs around the U.S. have different software, different data fields, and use different formatted photo sizes. MLSs use what is called an IDX data feed to syndicate, but not all MLS IDX data feeds include the same data fields or the same names of data fields. Some resize photos in different ways, too, which can result in distortion.

National MLS Sites – Data Fields Different

On the receiving end of the MLS data, these national MLS sites all have different software also and different data fields. These syndications are all done with software, and no humans are involved. So you have the merging of data from one system to many other national MLS sites that may not match up, and often do not. So you can lose important data, like the property taxes, the actual tax assessed value, the square footage, the acreage, the number of rooms in a house, or the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, whether there is a guest house or not, whether the garage is attached or separate, and so on.

Some of these national MLS sites are pretty and they sure look good, but that doesn’t mean your information is all good. I have a client whose listing shows up twice on Zillow with different values and different information. We can’t get rid of the second one either.

On top of all this, many national MLS sites are illegally “scraping” data off the internet without permission from the sources. This information is then sold to other companies who do not know it is illegally obtained. Then the data is propagated again on other sites, and errors can be repeated ad infinitum.

Now that you know national MLS sites are not necessarily reliable, would you like to use a Sequim MLS site that is 100% accurate and includes 100% of the local listings? This data comes directly from the local listing agents, and it is reliable. You’ll find this site easy to use, and it’s pretty too: Sequim Real Estate. I think you’ll be glad you used this local Sequim MLS site, not one of the national MLS sites.

Possibly Related Posts:

  • The Best MLS: The Northwest MLS and the Olympic MLS
  • No Building Permit Spells Trouble
  • How to Find a Sequim Home
  • The Three Best Sequim MLS Sites
  • Why I Do Not Recommend Open Houses

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About Chuck Marunde

After practicing real estate law for 20 years in Washington, Chuck opened iRealty Virtual Brokers covering the Sequim and the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. Chuck is the author of numerous magazine and Internet articles with a primary focus on real estate. He is also the author of over a dozen books, mostly about Sequim real estate. Chuck is a photographer, videographer, and Registered FAA Drone Pilot. Chuck has combined his love for real estate and technology to create a growing Internet presence in his market, and enjoys building his websites and blogs, including SequimBlog.com and Sequim4Sale.com and LuxuryWaterViewHomes.com. Chuck has degrees in Economics, Law, and Education.

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Chuck E. Marunde, J.D.

Sequim Buyer's Agent
(Atty Ret.)
Founder and Broker of
Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate dba iRealty Virtual Brokers
125 Olympic Ranch Ln,
Sequim, WA 98382
(360) 775-5424
ChuckMarunde@gmail.com

Blog Articles by Date

From Los Angeles

It's rare, but once in awhile life provides the perfect collaborator for an important endeavor such as buying your new home. For me that person was Chuck Marunde. His two decade background as a Real Estate Attorney, his prolific career as an author of articles and books on Real Estate and his forthright and moral character made choosing Chuck a no-brainer. Chuck is dedicated, thorough, incredible at the negotiating table, knowledgeable about all local laws & regs but, most importantly, Chuck loves what he does. And what he does is find his client the perfect property. Chuck isn't about making the sale, he's about making the sale that is OPTIMUM for his CLIENT and this makes Chuck a rare bird indeed. I love my new home in Sequim and I am indebted to Chuck for making it happen. Kevin E.

From Seattle

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Chuck over the past three years in selling my parent's estate. It was a tough time to sell during the housing recession, but Chuck always kept things on the positive side. With his real estate law background, he offers sound, practical advice. He helps you along with the process using discussions and reason, rather than opinions and speculations. If Chuck doesn’t know the answers, he will get them for you. In several instances, Chuck took the initiative to meet with county officials to get up-to-date facts about zoning and regulations. I was always impressed with his company’s tech savvy communi-cations and internet presence: weekly email updates, blogs, videos, links, Linked-in networking, etc. He is truly pioneering the future of buying & selling real estate. Brian M.

From California

"Andy Romano is a successful motion picture character actor with over 40 years in 'the Biz.' Mr. Romano has a home in beautiful Santa Barbara, California, but he chooses to live most of the time in Sequim, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula in the great Pacific Northwest. Why? In his own words, 'Because it's even more beautiful and surrounded by more beauty in this incredibly peaceful and quiet place. With respect to real estate agents or brokers, well my friend Chuck Marunde, owner of Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate, is hands down the best there" Andy R.

Intro by Chuck Marunde

From Florida

We do our homework for the task at hand and we look for and expect to enlist partners that do the same. It was our good fortune to select Chuck Marunde of Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate to represent us as a buyer's broker in our search for a home in the Sequim/Port Angeles area. Chuck's site is all encompassing and super fast compared to many others, he knows the market at every conceivable level and his guidance through the process of selecting and purchasing a home is priceless - above and beyond that of anyone with whom we have ever worked. Add to all this his 20 year background in real estate law and you have discovered a superb asset in the adventure of purchasing a home. Greg and Marilyn

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