In the days when real estate agents carried MLS books around tightly clutched to their chests, a few typos and boo-boos might have been forgiven because only other agents saw the listings. But, things have changed, says Connecticut broker Bob Mori. Sloppy-looking listing data is now routinely viewed by clients via e-mail, faxes, and Internet listings services. And the impressions many listings give of agents is far from favorable.

"There are problems with spelling, codes, comments, lack of photos," says Mori, "and it's getting worse. I would say there is something wrong with 20 percent of the listings I pull up.

"There are listings that have been in there for a month with no photos," elaborates Mori. "If I were the seller and found that out, I would ask to be released from the listing."

Mori is concerned that sloppy listings is a contributing factor to the downward pressure on commissions in his area. "And one of the reasons is the way we present listings to clients. We don't look as professional as we should."

As an example, Mori is currently working with a Texas transferee. "This buyer is looking at $750,000 homes," says Mori. "You'd think the listings at that price range would be impeccable, but there are misspellings and incorrect codes there, too. The way we put ourselves forward makes it more difficult to justify our commissions."

"I find it embarrassing," Mori says, "and I find it a great disservice to the homes we are trying to sell."

Another problem caused by sloppy listings is lost productivity for the listing agent as well as selling agents, says Tennessee Realtor, Kathie Moore.

"I wouldn't say I have ever lost a listing because of sloppy input but there are a lot of times when it has cost me extra work and nearly cost the listing agent a chance to sell a home," says Moore. "Sometimes you'll see a listing when you're driving, but you have to spend extra time looking for it because there are so many ways to misspell a street name.

"If a street is Glen Haven, it may be in the MLS as Glennhaven, or Glenhaven," says Moore. "It is hard to get all those subtleties and you have to think of the misspelling, or you have to go to the price range, and sometimes you have to pull up 200 listings to find the one you are looking for.

Listing agents need to be vigilant, adds Mori, "if your client wants a home with a fireplace and an eat-in kitchen, and the listing agent has improperly coded those features, then that house is going to be eliminated from our search."

Can technology help?

Seattle Realtor Kent Welsh says that the level of professionalism among Seattle agents is high, but all the agents could use more support from their technology service providers. It needs to be easier to use, he says.

"I can't spell," admits Walsh, "so I do my work on Microsoft Word where I can use the spell-checker and then I have to print out a hardcopy to input into the MLS. I would love to see MLS software that allows autopopulation from a Word document, or that would have some kind of checker for abbreviations and codes that would help make input more consistent.

"Our software is changing," says Walsh, "from a DOS-based MLS access to Web-based. It is going to take some time to get used to any MLS access software. I think the people who have the most trouble are the ones who don't use the system often, because they have to go through the learning curve every time they submit a listing. If you use it frequently, it becomes intuitive, but if you don't, then I can understand how an agent might get frustrated and say, "The heck with it. That's good enough.""

Autopopulated information is a feature Moore and Mori would like to have in their access software, too. Information fields are a problem on many MLS systems, points out Mori. "Some software only allows so many characters, so if you want to make remarks about the home, it is nearly impossible to make them clearly. Most software provides very little space, so we have to use abbreviations, and that is where you get into trouble. Because we are trying to economize on space, you get remarks that make very little sense to the client. I can tell an agent that the home has w/hw, but will a buyer understand what that means?"

Mori says the same problem exists for the listings sites. "We put our listings on multiple Web sites, but on most we are only allowed 1000 characters and some only allow 200 characters. You can't say anything with 200 letters."

Adds Moore. "There is no common way to abbreviate, and that can lead to hours of frustration, making it much more difficult to do comps. Automation could help us with that. Moore suggests that the MLS software makers take a hint from drop down menus and offer preselected choices such as St for street, Pl for Place and CT for Court, and if an agent inputs a contrary code, the system can direct the agent to the most commonly used abbreviation.

"Automated search codes would be helpful," she adds, "but it won't do much to help with misspellings."

Too much competition among MLS vendors is a problem, too, says Mori. "My wife, Judy, and I are members of two boards with two completely different MLS access software," he explains. "It is remarkable how different they are. One problem is in the required data fields. In the New Haven board listings, the street frontage is a required field, but isn't required by the Fairfield board. If you are used to one board and get a listing in the other board's area, and you don't have that information, your listing is going to be delayed."

Until the software vendors can pitch in with new intuitive software designs, "I think the answer is to know your own limitations and use the appropriate software that will help you overcome it," advises Walsh.