Search for listings in connectMLS

So, a buyer reaches out to you and tells you what they are looking for and wants you to let them know what properties are currently available. What do you do?

Start off by going to www.smartmls.com and log in with your user name and password. That will open up the SmartMLS Member Dashboard, where you will see a whole bunch of options.

Click the connectMLS icon to get started:

Once the home page opens, you should see the main menu bar in the upper left of the screen.

To look for listings, regardless of whether they are currently available for sale or off market, go to the Search menu and place your mouse cursor over the Listings option. A menu will open up to the right that allows you to choose from each of the different property types:

A couple things to note:

• The top option, Single Family & Condo, covers both Single Family and Condo properties. When you open that search, it automatically defaults to looking for both Single Family and Condos simultaneously. If you would like to just search for one of these property types, use the Subtype check boxes:
  
  
  
  
• Cross Property allows you to search multiple property types at the same time. This is the only way to do a single search that spans all the different property types.

Once you have chosen the desired search (Single Family & Condo, for example), the screen opens and you may begin entering the criteria:

Two fields will fill in automatically: Property Type and Status. Property Type populates based on the option you clicked in the Search menu (in this case, Single Family and Condo). Status defaults to Active and Coming Soon, although you can certainly add other statuses to the search if need be.

If you would like to change the statuses included in this search, click within the Status field (or click the drop down arrow to the right of the field) and you will be able to choose from all of the statuses:

You can incorporate any combination of statuses (both Active and Off-Market) during your searches. For off-market statuses, you can also filter by days back or a specific date range.

Now, just enter the criteria of the properties you are looking for (price, town, beds, baths, etc.). You do not need to fill out every field on the screen. You only need to fill in the field that are relevant to your search.

Using range fields

One major difference with connectMLS searches is that several fields on the search screen (including Price, Bedrooms and Bathrooms) are range fields that have two boxes instead of just one. The first field is for the minimum value and the second is for the maximum value.

• If you are searching for properties with 3 or more bedrooms, for instance, you must enter 3 in the first box and leave the second box empty:

          If you enter 3+ it will generate an error and the search will fail to find any matches.

• The same principle applies to seaches that have a maximum but no minimum. For instance, if you're looking for properties with no more than 3 total bathrooms, it must be entered with the first box empty and a 3 in the second:

          If you enter 3- it will generate an error and the search will fail to find any matches.

There are far more fields in our database than will fit on the search screen. Even though we have tried to place the most used/relevant fields on the search by default, there may be some fields that you need to use that are not currently on the search screen. You can incorporate other fields into your search by using the Add/Remove Fields button at the bottom right of the screen:

Click here for instructions on adding fields to a search.

As you enter criteria, you can see the number of matching properties in the top right of the screen. You can also see a list of the criteria right beneath (in the Filters applied section):

Once you are done entering criteria, click the View Results button in the upper right to take a look at the properties that match your criteria.

There is also a Map Results button right next to the View Results button. Clicking Map Results will plot all the listings on a map, with a single line grid (List View) to the right:

To get rid of the map and just look at the listings, click the Hide Map button in the upper left corner.