When you are looking at homes, whether for purchasing or for dreaming, you want to know details about any home you are interested in. To do this you can find a realtor to show you homes or you can utilize the Internet and browse the MLS listings in the area that you are looking in. MLS simply stands for Multiple Listing Service.
Reading an MLS listing is not as difficult as it may appear. At first glance some listings might seem to be written in some form of top secret coding. Rest assured that this is not the case. For the most part all MLS listings will contain the same basic information about any home but some will include extra information. Below is a breakdown of what is covered in most listings and descriptions of abbreviations that are commonly used.
Most all of the listings will have at least one color picture, in the upper left corner of the listing, of the home for buyers to look at. Some listings will have more than one and others will have virtual inside and/or outside tours available. If the listing is new there may not be any pictures as it may take a few days to get suitable photos. To the right of the picture there will be the very basic details covering price, bedrooms (sometimes total rooms), bathrooms, city, county, zip code, style of the house, year it was built and square footage. There may be a ‘status’ listed that tells whether the house is actively for sale, pending sale, sold, etc…
Below the picture and the basic details will be more information. The MLS number of the listing which makes it possible for any realtor to bring up the information on that particular home. As long as the realtor has access to the MLS data base they will have access to all of the listings. Keeping this number handy makes finding a particular listing easy.
There will also be descriptions of type of listing (residential, commercial, etc), area or sub-division it is in, acreage of land, dimensions of lot, public school zone, levels (one story, two story), garage, number of fireplaces and type(s) of heating/cooling. Some descriptions may be left blank if the number is 0 or if it is unknown.
There is usually a section for remarks from the realtor selling it. Below the remarks section will be a final section for features or amenities. These include any ‘perks’ in the home such as ceiling fans, dishwasher and decks or patios.
Some abbreviations you will find in MLS listings are:
SF Detached - Single family detached dwelling.
Attachd - Two or more homes attached via common wall
Condo - Condominium
Housebt - Houseboat
In-Park - Manufactured House on rental property
Partown - Timeshare
Resid - Residence
Dbl-Wde - Double wide mobile home
Sin-Wde - Single wide mobile home
Towhhse - Townhouse
Manufhs - Manufactured house
This is a short list of some of the more common abbreviations and there very well may be other abbreviations in the MLS listings you are looking at. If you have troubles understanding any of them you can call any realtor or real estate office and ask what the abbreviation stands for. Most offices will be happy to help.
Do not let the seemingly secret code of MLS listings keep you from searching for either your next home or your dream home. Learn the basics, ask the questions and search till your heart is content.
