If you found this page as a result of the link on one of the the Browse Listings pages, good on ya for clickin’: information is power.
If you're here as a result of clicking on a "pop-up" message on the site, our apologies: We're not fans of pop-ups… HOWEVER
there are instances where they're useful because they’re of benefit to website users.
We feel this is one of those instances because it's information folks should know so they're aware of how and why things display - or don't display - the way they do on this site at times.
Nobody we know wants to be "required" to sign up to get info from a website. Fair enough. Us too.
We get a fair bit of "flack" from people who object to having to sign up to view homes... presumably because folks think we're simply forcing them to give us their information so we can "spam" & harass them.
BUT that's not accurate: registration is not required in order to view the majority of listings on our website. Please note the images ⬇️ at the bottom of this page.
In order to offer you the best intel on EVERY MLS®-listed property available for sale, we use multiple data feeds, including what's called a "VOW" (Virtual Office Website) feed.
The VOW data feed we offer you includes more listings for a very simple reason: some sellers elect to NOT have their information displayed openly across the internet. This decision is made in conjunction with the listing agent when a seller puts their property on the market and - specifically - how the seller opts to complete that particular data field ⬇️ on the data sheet that forms a part of their MLS® listing contract.
But there's another huge advantage to creating an account on our VOW-fed website: You also gain access to all the sold and other historic data (listing expiry information, terminations, etc.)... invaluable to be better educated about market values in areas you're considering moving to - not to mention gaining access to that same kind of intel about your current neighbourhood.
You can use the Neighbourhood Update page to get that info....:
Here's the rub: While some sellers have decided to not openly display all their info on the open web, the way you gain access to that listing info is by giving up a bit of your own info. Creating an account is easy and costs you nothing. We don't "stalk" people. And we protect your info.
Just how many more listings the VOW feed contains versus the basic IDX feed depends to a degree on market conditions, but it's generally somewhere in the range of 10-20%.
If a platform / website displaying MLS® listings doesn't require you to sign up to see certain listings, that website isn't utilizing a VOW data feed - which means it's not showing you all the listings, and you'll not have access to sold & other "historical" info about individual properties. Such platforms are utilizing, generally speaking, that more common, basic IDX feed. ⬇️
