Why Is The MLS Bad For Agents?

It's not bad for agents. It provides agents with inventory to sell and is why sellers that have their home in the MLS are 90% more likely to sell their property vs. those who don't.

Agents not in the MLS tend to be lone-wolves that hope to sell both sides of the transaction and due a dis-service to their seller. Other words, they are greedy and are looking out for their own best interest instead of their client.

First of all, there is no such thing as a "private agent, acting without a Broker". All real estate agents must either hang their license under a broker or be a broker themsleves.

The MLS is generally a wonderful tool, so I can't think of any reasons why it would be "bad". It allows all agents in a market to show and sell all listed properties to the buyers they are working with, and allows the agent to search for features that buyers want before showing the property.

I'm thinking you are trying to sell some alternative, but you don't really seem to understand how the industry works.

I can't see any reason why the MLS would be bad.

Not sure what you mean by a "private agent". Any Real Estate Sales person must work through a broker.

The only reason one would be acting without a broker is if the agent is a broker themselves, or they are not really a licensed real estate salesperson, perhaps doing a for sale by owner. (FSBO).

And if the buyers are already working with an agent, they would not contact the agent themselves; that is their agent's job.

You may be unclear on how MLS works.

The fact that there are many properties for sale and too few buyers is the very reason why the MLS is a good service; it allows buyers and their agents to filter out the homes not meeting their criteria, and also to gain information such as how long the property has been on the market, comparable sales, and tax records.

A MLS listing is NOT bad for any agent, unless a listing agent expects to also procure a buyer without MLS exposure. Any listing agent makes nearly double a commission if he can list the property and ALSO procure a buyer. However, absent a MLS listing, the pool of potential buyers is drastically reduced. The purpose of the MLS is to make the listing available to ALL agents who share membership in said MLS. The more agents who are exposed to the listing, the larger the potential market for buyers.e

Understand that 'being at the top of the page' means precious little. Sure, a property will get more exposure, but if the buyer doesn't like the property, he will simply look for another property.

You seem a bit misguided here. As the other posters said, there is no reason the MLS is bad, at least IMHO.

Private agents in my area do very, very little business. Their listings are not in the MLS, the only way they are going to sell them is if a buyer stumbles upon them somewhere, such as a drive by. And chances are, those buyers are already working with someone.

I receive a variety of contacts because my listings are in the MLS, from agents and buyers. Most sellers want their houses to have MLS exposure, because there are no downsides.

Your theory about having too many houses in the MLS does not make sense to me, the MLS is like a house search engine, showing what is available in the market place. It is not at all like craigslist, at least not in my area.

I cannot think of one reason the MLS is bad for agents to promote their listings.