Obtaining access to NW Indiana MLS without a Real Estate License
Anybody have tips on obtaining access to the Northwest Indiana (Lake County Indiana) MLS without a Real Estate License just for Comparables?
I have worked with quite a few Realtors and all don't want to help an investor gain access to the NW Indiana MLS as an assistant just for Comparables. I have provided business to a realtor agent (selling homes for commissions) and mentioned I would continue to provide future business but still haven't found a realtor agent willing to give me access. I figured providing business would be enough and I have also mentioned I would run comps for the realtor agent if requested.
I'm thinking about obtaining my Real Estate License just for Comparables since I'm not having any luck as an unlicensed assistant.
Any tips or tricks would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
It is against MLS rules to give access to a non-licensed individual. If you don't want to get licensed, you need to seek an agent without ethics who doesn't care about the rules. Voila!
Here's a website mentioning you can obtain access to the MLS without a license (Working With a Real Estate Agent).
https://www.fortunebuilders.com/real-estate-license/
There are plenty of other websites that mention the same thing, this is just one example.
Then your problem's solved.
Problem is finding a Real Estate Agent to work with.
Should I just keep asking Agent after Agent?
Anything else I can provide to a Real Estate Agent?
Just get licensed. No one can run comps like you will. If you find an agent to do it- they will do a quick search and give you a number. There's nothing in it for them so why expend a ton of time on it. I would give my agent referral listings and the comps still weren't the best. They don't know the property, size, layout, etc like you so they just give random comps.
The issue with the admin access is a lot of regulation for GNIAR that isn't worth the time unless you really have an admin. It's not free either.
At the end of the day, it's faster and easier just to get your own license- plus it's an extra tool that produces $$$. Because I'm awesome, I get listings all the time from people who want to sell cash but can't/don't like my offer so I'll list it. An extra $2-3-4K in commission a month covers some marketing expenses.
Not going to happen. Assistant access is for employees of real eatate agents. There is a reason the MLS is not public. There is information in there on how to get into peoples homes. No one is risking losing their license or possibly jail time because you want to run comparables.
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Hi @Daniel Guerra, regarding your question on how to be able to pull your own comps, there are a few services that I currently use that will get you not only access to comps, it gets you access to a lot more info regarding properties. I don't want to mention the services here because I'm not sure if I'd be "breaking the rules". I actually remember meeting you briefly at the local REIA meeting in Schererville this past winter. Let's connect on here(check your inbox for an invite) and I'll let you know about the services that I'm currently using that can help you with your search for comps(without a RE License).
The mentoring sites like to talk about how easy it is to get access to the MLS; but, it just isn't true. When I started looking into real estate in NWI many years ago, most realtors hung up on me as soon as I told them I was an investor. So I just got my license in order to access the MLS. But I'll be honest with you. I am going to try to find some time in the next few months to analyze comps in GNIAR MLS and compare to Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com and Data Tree. If I find that they are close, I'm going to park my license. I am expecting that they will be close because GNIAR feeds into them for the listings. I just don't know how much for comps.
Originally posted by @Blaine B.:
On another note, it is somewhat annoying when I get hit up by investors who want me to run comps on dozens and dozens of properties for free. My time is valuable too, and I don't work for free! Always have to love those long distance investor calls, too. One time I had a guy call, he gave me a list of 54 properties to comp out, and then continued to send me about 20 emails with his own comps to compare. I wish I had hung up sooner, within milliseconds would have been preferable!
When I was on the Realtor side, I had an investor ask me not to just comp but analyze every property on the MLS to see if anything met his very specific criteria. Then I was supposed to "tell" him about the property so he could contact the seller. (No mention as to if/how I would get paid.) And I needed to do that for EVERY new property that would come to the mls if I wanted to continue to work "with" him. Then he finished the phone call be saying something about all Realtors being lazy and stupid.
Needless to say I understand both sides of the argument. But I do see a lot of broker/investor relationships that work very well.