Our site now includes GAMLS listings, in addition to FMLS

You probably know that an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is a system that agents use to market their listings to other agents. Through something called IDX (Internet Data eXchange), agents can display all of the homes listed in the MLS on our websites, so you as a homebuyer can participate in your own home search. You may or may not be aware, but we have two MLS's in the metro Atlanta area, First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS) and Georgia Multiple Listing Service (GAMLS). Most Intown Atlanta agents use FMLS as our primary MLS. Everything in our geographical market niche is in the FMLS "mandatory" area, meaning agents who list properties in Intown Atlanta are supposed to enter their listings into FMLS. So, our website has always pulled listings from FMLS, since that should capture all of the homes and condos listed for sale in Intown Atlanta. But sometimes I see Intown Atlanta homes listed in GAMLS and not FMLS. In theory, that shouldn't happen, but in reality, sometimes it does. Often it's when agent from the south suburbs (where GAMLS is more prominent) comes into Atlanta and lists a property. It's also common with REO (bank-owned foreclosures), and either their agents don't know this is an FMLS mandatory area, or they're actually not members of FMLS.

Either way, we want IntownElite.com to be your go-to site for Intown Atlanta real estate, so we need to make sure our site has all of the listings. So, we added GAMLS to our IDX feed, meaning we have all listings from both local MLS systems, so you don't miss any listings. It's one of the things that makes IntownElite.com better than the big national websites. This also paves the way for something more in the very-near future: sold listings. Some of the most valuable information for both home buyers and sellers is the sale price of recently-sold homes in their area of interest. Previously, we weren't allowed to display sold data from the most accurate source, the MLS. There are some sites which show sold prices based on tax records but they are very slow to update, often several months behind. But with a recent policy change, some MLS's have decided to now allow the display of sold listings along with their sale price. FMLS has told me they don't have plans to make sold data available, but GAMLS said they will, later this year. So, adding GAMLS to our site means we'll be ready to show sold listings on our site as soon as GAMLS makes them available. Stay tuned for more on that soon!