Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED), the Chicago-area multiple listing service that serves northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana, has added a 12th Realtor association as a member, and said it hopes to capitalize on inquiries it has received from other associations.
MRED’s newest member, the Kankakee-Iroquois-Ford Association of Realtors (KIFAR), is located in a rural area about an hour’s drive south of Chicago. KIFAR has operated its own MLS since 1957, when it served 21 Realtors.
Today, KIFAR has 248 members, and its MLS also serves members of other boards who purchase its services. During March, the KIFAR MLS provided access to information on 1,774 listings with a total asking price of $321.7 million, including 1,182 residential properties with an average list price of $140,393.
MRED, by comparison, serves nearly 8,000 real estate offices and 40,000 real estate professionals, including brokers, agents and appraisers. Because it can leverage its size to take advantage of economies of scale, MRED says it’s able to provide real estate tools to its customers at a much lower cost than smaller organizations trying to operate their own MLS.
"Many of our members have been purchasing services outside of our current MLS system," KIFAR Executive Officer Connie Legris said in a statement.
"They are very impressed with the programs available to them as part of the overall MRED technology package. We look forward to working with a company that is constantly looking for ways to bring the latest technology to our members, helping them to better serve their clients."
MRED President Rob Schaid, broker-owner of the Re/Max Plaza Group, said MRED leadership "continues to look for more opportunities to expand our service area, which ultimately will benefit any new organization as well as MRED. We have already received inquiries from throughout the state and hope to capitalize on those opportunities."
