Dear MLS: ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’
For the record, I was not one of the agents whose “calls, emails, and feedback forms” prompted the local MLS to dramatically overhaul the look and feel of its site.
In my — and many other Twin Cities Realtors’ opinion — the old system worked just fine, and the new one that launched this week . . . . doesn’t.
So, basic information that I could easily find before — like who the Listing Agent is — is AWOL.
Meanwhile, my search results now include initials and symbols I’ve never seen before.
Not to worry, though — MLS just put out a new, 20(!) page User Manual to explain everything.
“Bloatware”
At least to me, the “new-and-improved” MLS site recalls the evolution in Microsoft Excel from — once upon a time — a spare, functional program to a bloated, confusing piece of dreck.
Also ala Microsoft, the new MLS software makes unwitting beta testers out of existing customers (in this case, the 10,000 or so Twin Cities Realtors).
So, it turns out that the answer to the missing Listing Agent info (above), is that all searches now default to a more limited report format called “Customer Full.”
The new software was supposed to allow agents to reset the default to the more detailed “Property Agent Full” report — but as MLS Tech Support and I discovered an hour ago . . . . the reset doesn’t work.
