CREA introduced several enhancements to its www.mls.ca and www.icx.ca websites at the end of June.
“The new mls.ca includes a number of innovative tools and resources for consumers, including enhanced search functionality and open house information,” says CREA President Ann Bosley in a release.
New targeted search tabs allow consumers to search for residential, recreational, vacant land, and agricultural properties. These search tabs replace the “advanced search” feature. A new search tab for open houses has also been added to mls.ca, giving consumers the ability to search for open houses in their area of interest.
A number of useful online calculators have been added to mls.ca for consumers. These include an affordability calculator, land transfer tax calculator, and rent vs. own calculator. The site has also featured a mortgage calculator since it was launched in 1996.
The property ad listing pages have also been redesigned, providing consumers with a more compact and streamlined display. Agents will also have the flexibility to upload more photos to the property web pages.
An online survey of more than 10,000 visitors to the mls.ca web site conducted by CREA in June 2007 indicated that just over 25 per cent have never bought or sold property. Another 22 per cent of visitors to the website said they had bought or sold more than one property in the past five years. An earlier survey conducted by CREA in September 2006, shows the majority of consumers using the popular site visit mls.ca a few times a week.
The mls.ca web site was launched in 1996 and has grown to become one of the most popular Internet research tools for residential real estate in Canada.
The new version of icx.ca allows users to start their search from the moment they access the web site with a new splash page. The search options have been expanded to include a variety of real estate types including office, multi-family, business, agricultural, land, retail, and institutional.
The individual property pages have been redesigned to display information specific to the real estate type. Vacant land, for example, has different features than a multi-storey office building. Realtors can also upload an unlimited number of photos to appear with their ads.
The Realtor search feature has also been enhanced to allow consumers to obtain more detailed information about the individual member, such as languages spoken and designations.
