Are MLS Housing Numbers Fraudulent?

The South Florida Bubble Trouble Blog reports:

When an agent inputs a record in the MLS much of the information comes via a link directly from the county tax records. Examples of this data are lot dimensions, room size, tax information, etc. . The agent cannot manipulate this information. However, since a sale is not posted in the tax records for days or even weeks or months after a sale, the agent must manually enter the sold price. The system assumes the agent will input the data honestly and correctly so there are no checks or balances. So any agent who wants to show that his listings always sell for close to list price or more just needs to fudge the figures a little, or a lot. Any agent who wants to show potential clients that prices are going up, up, up just needs to fudge the figures a little, or a lot.


Here’s an example:

3505 South Ocean Drive Hollywood, Fl. Last 20 sold listings. 14 MLS records matched the tax records. 6 did not. They were:

MLS M929875 shows sold for $445k tax records reflect $415k
MLS M998406 shows sold for $450k tax records reflect $410k
MLS D1069919 shows sold for $330k tax records reflect $300k
MLS H781865 shows sold for $455k tax records reflect $380k ouch!
MLS N243785 shows sold but there’s no tax record of the sale. Possibly the property didn’t even sell.
MLS D1046673 shows sold for $460k tax records reflect $392k ouch!

Rather amazing.