Each month, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors releases the number of single-family, multi-family and condominium sales in Rhode Island. State-Wide MLS Board of Directors 2009 President Alyce Kleczek spoke with Providence Business News about the process that’s behind reporting those statistics.
PBN: How does the Multiple Listings Service work in Rhode Island?
KLECZEK: We are fortunate that all Realtor-assisted sales go through State-Wide MLS and the vast majority of properties for sale and upcoming open houses entered into MLS are posted on RILiving.com for consumers. Rhode Island is the only state with one MLS system like that. In other states, consumers may have to check multiple sites to view all the properties for sale. By the same token, our Realtors only need to join one MLS if they want to advertise the properties they have for sale and to make them known to consumers or other Realtors. It’s a much easier system to market properties.
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PBN: How does the timing of a sale – because there is sometimes time between the closing and when the municipality gets the paperwork – affect recording?
KLECZEK: The time of when the municipality gets the paperwork doesn’t affect our statistics at all. Our sales stats are generated when the property is entered into the system as sold. In most cases there is only a slight lag, if any, in reporting a sale in MLS.
PBN: And RIAR statistics are culled from MLS numbers – could you give me a little insight into that process?
KLECZEK: RIAR statistics are MLS statistics. RIAR pulls sales data that is logged into the MLS system at different points in the transaction process. For example, we can tell how much inventory is on the market by looking at the listings that are put into the system. We know when a property goes into “pending” – that is under contract but not yet closed – because the agents enter that into MLS. And of course, when the listing is entered into the system as sold, we have access to all the sale information as well.
PBN: Is this an ever-changing system?
KLECZEK: We are constantly updating the MLS system to make it more valuable for consumers and our members. We just revamped RILiving.com to include expanded search capabilities for properties for sale and for rent. We also now update our listing information hourly – no other information source comes close to that.
PBN: How has technology changed the system?
KLECZEK: Years ago, consumers accessed information about properties for sale through a Realtor. Realtors would pass on what they could find out about listings based on what they accessed through MLS books – which came out twice a month – and a primitive computer system. Now consumers have all the information at their fingertips through RILiving.com. Consumers are coming to our agents more educated than ever. In most cases, they’ve already narrowed down their search and focused in on the homes they’re interested in. The Realtor’s role has become one of a trusted adviser and negotiator, whereas, in the past, they were the gateway to information.
