MLS (Multiple Listing Service)
The agent-controlled database of properties listed for sale. The on-market counterpart to the off-market deals most investors pursue.
The MLS is the regional database real estate agents use to list properties and share them with other agents and the public portals that syndicate from it. It's the definition of on-market: anything on the MLS is publicly for sale and visible to every buyer at once, which means competition and offers at or near retail.
Investors interact with the MLS in two ways — as a source of comps for valuing properties, and as a place to send letters of intent on listings that have sat too long. But the bulk of investor deal flow lives off-market, precisely because MLS listings already have the exposure that drives prices up.
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