Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors tackle listings' accuracy

The Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors is working to make its property listing database more accurate.

The association is in a testing phase of a new system that automatically scans the Multiple Listing Service checking for fields that are blank or have errors, said Laura Crowther, the CEO of the association. The program flags the mistakes and sends a message to the real estate agent that created the listing.

"It's really hard to police every single thing," she said, but added that the new system seems to be picking up on errors and helping accuracy.

Individual agents add information to the system for the properties that they are selling and the changes are an attempt to limit the errors, Crowther said.

Certain information is required when Realtors add a property to the database, like details about square footage. If a Realtor omits one of those fields, or puts information in the public information section that should be kept private, they will get a call or an e-mail from an association employee asking them to fix the problem. If errors aren't fixed within 24 or 48 hours, the Realtor can be fined $20 to $50.

Another change the association is making to limit errors, especially typos, is to give Realtors a drop-down menu of options to choose from, rather than having them type in the information.

"The more accurate the data the better," Crowther said. "Information is not pertinent if it's not accurate."

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors recently eliminated the grace period given to Realtors who enter incorrect data. Realtors in the Charleston area now are immediately liable for the mistakes and can be fined between $50 and $250. Crowther said the Coastal Carolinas association doesn't have plans to be as strict.

Many Realtors have searches available on their websites of properties that automatically bring in information from the MLS database, which means errors can directly get to the public.

"It's very important that information is as accurate as possible and people can identify what area they're looking for and the specific property," Crowther said.