Don’t Fire Your Agent Yet – New Free Consumer Website for Connecticut Multiple Listing Service Lacks Vital Info

The new free MLS site, www.CTREAL.com, is good news.

Connecticut home buyers and sellers can access some really great information about real estate, such as:

• Active and Sold Listings
• Open House Information
• Search listings by your criteria or by map - this is a great feature, by the way.  Not only does it show you listings within a wide or limited area, but it shows you where the schools and other landmarks are.  And each listing appears as a little house with a pop-up that has a picture and a brief description. 
• Saveable Search
• School and Community Information

Below is a screen-shot of a search I did for active listings in Old Wethersfield (see the dark grey area).  Note the pop-up for one of the listings as well as the icons for area schools and hospitals.

But if you think this site will replace the need for a buyer’s agent, think again.  Too much really important information is missing, such as:

• Actual Sold Amount – I checked a few random sold listings and CTREAL.com leaves out the actual sold data.  It looks like the sold amount is the last list price.
• Days on Market – you probably want to know if the house has been on the market for 2 years.
• Seller Concessions – this affects sales price
• Tax Information
• Doesn’t Distinguish Between Active and Show listings

CTReal.com is a great marketing tool for listing agents and offers better information than Realtor.com.  But it’s not exactly free access to the Multiple Listing Service – not yet anyway.

I am going to attend the launch party next week and hope to find out if and when they plan to add any additional information.

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