[dbussone]

Originally Posted by NavyNJ

Good lord.....do people on this forum actually not know how to use Google (or Bing or whatever)?? Most of all of the "rumors", "things I/we heard", "things I/we were told", "things I/we understand" posted and re-posted on this and just about every other thread, could probably be figured out way more easily than posting in these threads.



But, since all of this has been bantered about, confirmed and contradicted multiple times here.....I'll throw my 2 cents in:



- Properties of The Villages Agents (i.e., VLS agents, Developer agents, etc.) are, in fact, licensed by the State of Florida.

- Outside Agents, working for various Real Estate Brokers/Companies (i.e., MLS agents) are, in fact, licensed by the vary same State of Florida.

- MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is just that....a Service. Not an entity or firm or anything one swears allegiance to. It's a service that Real Estate Brokers pay for annually to be given access to all those listings in the area served by a specific MLS (there's not a single MLS for the entire State).

- VLS (Villages Listing Service) is just that.....a Service. But, in this case, it's only accessible to agents working for Properties of The Villages, and is a private service.



There was a time, pre-VLS, that all agents played in the same sand box. Then as The Villages began to explode, friction between the organizations (mostly due to outside agents not having access to new construction) led to the birth of the VLS and the segregation of the two systems.



And, as most/many have suggested, if a home buyer truly wants to have the full measure of the marketplace to choose from, they should work with an agent of both services (MLS & VLS). Some find that too cumbersome, and land on just one and most likely end up doing just fine, notwithstanding the inability to buy a new home thru an MLS agent.



Hope that has cleared up at least of few of the rumors and points of contention.....oh, and yes, VLS agents are paid as independent contractors via a IRS 1099, but so are 99.9% of all real estate agents in the country, so that's a non-issue.

Good gosh! Why would I want to use Google when there are plenty of intelligent folks here on TOTV who know better than Google. I wasn't a real estate agent and plenty of posters here were.

I trust them more than Google, man. But thanks for your service.

P.S. I hope you don't believe everything you read on the Internet.


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