Before we dive into this question, consider that a finished product is only as good as the raw materials used in its creation. Likewise, a statistical report is only as good as the raw data used in its analysis. So now, realistically, how good is the data in your MLS?

Well to be honest, it’s probably very good actually. You can rest assured that the overwhelming majority of your MLS data is quite accurate. However, typographical errors can and sometimes do happen which will unfortunately skew a statistical report. The extent of which depends on the severity of the typo.



For example, a house is listed for $3,900,000 but sells for $369,000. This is either a typographical error (by the listing agent) or the seller regrettably hired the worst negotiator in the history of real estate. It’s more likely that the agent accidentally added one too many zeros when entering the listing price.

How would Real Market Reports handle a situation like this? First, our system searches for and identifies these anomalous errors within the data set. The results are then displayed in a tabular report which is available to the client. It should be noted that, for practical reasons, we will not remove the listing from our data set, nor is it even possible for us to remove the listing from the source (the MLS database).

However, armed with this information, an agent is now able to quickly determine which listings, if any, are actively skewing the statistical analysis. It is our recommendation that the typo is immediately brought to the attention of your local MLS administrator so that they may take corrective action.