The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is an incredible tool for the Real Estate professional to match up buyers and sellers. It is only available to licensed Realtors who are members of their local Real Estate Board.

In a 'watered down' form the MLS is also available, over the Internet, to the consumer - but there are some things you should know before you use it:

read on:

Realtor.ca is a Canada wide, searchable, presentation of homes listed for sale across the country. This site is comprehensive, fast, and presented well.

However, keep in mind these things:

Working with a Realtor: Although Realtor.ca is great for browsing, if you're serious about buying a home it has some limitations. Why? First, there often is a lag time (it can vary between a day and a week) between a property being listed and actually showing up on this site. In that time the really good properties and really good deals are usually already gone. Plus, we all have busy schedules and it's difficult to check on something every day. As a service to our clients we provide automatic new listing information straight to your email inbox - customized for your criteria.

Second, there are some properties not there. A Realtor may choose, or forget, to include a photo - the rule is "no photo - no Realtor.ca". Also a Realtor may choose to not "display" the address, which prevents the property from showing up on the map.

Realtor.ca is NOT the database that your local MLS Realtor uses. They have access to a 'real time' MLS data base. This means that the instant a Property for sale is 'loaded' (listed) onto the MLS computer it is immediately available to all the member Realtors of that city, photo or not, with no lag time.