MLS Information -- A Forty-Year History

Shortly after the end of the nineteenth century, the term "Multiple Listing" was mentioned and has been mentioned as an activity of Boards of REALTORS^® since 1907. The Multiple List facilitates the exchange of information on individual listings. In the 1920's Multiple Listings became widely accepted and, in the succeeding years, continued to spread through the country. Through various means, Multiple Listing information is made available to other real estate professionals.

Listing Book (circa 1958) Listing information was sent to the local association. The local association would create and distribute listing pages to each member on a bi-weekly basis. Each member would update his or her information manually. Binders were used to store pieces of paper. Listing Card (circa 1965) Listing information was still sent to the local association. The local association continued to be responsible for creation and distribution of listing cards to each member on a regular basis. Each member would maintain his or her shoe box manually. Shoe boxes were used to store each listing card. Listing Printout (circa 1980's) With the advent of digital communication, real estate professionals began using dumb terminals to input and retrieve listing information. Often communications were very slow and the listing printouts highly cryptic due to the limitations of computers and transmission techniques at the time. Dumb Terminals (Circa 1970's - 1980's) The Dumb Terminal was the first computerized method real estate professionals used to obtain listing information. Often without a screen, the dumb terminal used thermal paper, much like early fax machines, to display all output and commands. On most dumb terminals, there was a cradle to place the handset of a telephone. This often limited character transmission speeds to a mere 300 characters per second. Today modems regularly achieve 5,600 characters per second and higher. Personal Computers (Circa 1990 - Present) With the explosion of the personal computer, agents discovered new levels of automation and customer service. Professional quality printouts, software, the Internet and higher communication speeds have opened new worlds of possibilities to real estate professionals. Today's Listing Today Agents can retrieve listing information in the blink of an eye and the slide of a mouse. Full color images and on-line maps are an essential part of the excellent customer service today's homebuyers expect from their real estate professional. Data Center (Circa 1970's - 1980's) Historically, accessing the computerized data was slow and difficult. Data transmission speeds were very slow. Storage space was at a premium. Computers were notoriously cryptic and difficult to use. All of these computers together could only hold the text of about 10,000 listings. A moderately-sized classroom could only support about 180 dial-in users at a time. Training Agents Historically, training agents to use MLS systems varied quite a bit. Often, office managers or other agents were responsible for getting new agents up-to-speed on the Multiple Listing System. Training Agents Today Today, real estate professionals are trained in all aspects of real estate information using hi-tech computer classrooms and professional trainers to maximize their effectiveness for their customers. Internet Listings With the rise in popularity of the Internet, there is an ever-growing wealth of information for agents, homebuyers and home sellers. The flagship of Internet-based real estate information for the public is at REALTOR.com, which touts "Over 3 million properties for sale!" MRIS also supplies other prominent real estate sites such as HomesDatabase.com and WashingtonPost.com, as well as many more such sites with listings of tens of thousands of properties listed for sale.