Blog

In summary, IMLS does not gather about 1 in 8 or 12% of closed sale in Ada County.

I define IMLS Sale as.

1. Reported as sold and includes a below item.
    A. Single Family
    B. Single Family with Acreage
    C. Townhouse
    D. Condo
    E. Manf Home (owned lot)

2. Reported as "Ada County" in IMLS. I realize some are NOT in Ada County,   like sales in 1450 (Boise County) which get reported wrong, about 6 in 2010.

I define Tax Records sale as

1. Starts with "R" for parcel number
2. Sold date reported in Tax Records feature (within IMLS)

I realize I may miss a few "S" parcels, which are really Single Family, but it only a few.

Also, Tax records will "OVERRIDE" the previous sale. Therefore homes which sold twice in IMLS, will usually only be counted once in Tax Records (all depends when the data is collected).

MONTHLY SOLD HOMES
2010 MLS vs Tax Records
Month	IMLS	Tax Records	Difference
Jan	313	345	10.2%
Feb	388	443	14.2%
Mar	645	713	10.5%
Apr	758	829	9.4%
May	746	824	10.5%
Jun	764	900	17.8%
Jul	454	509	12.1%
Aug	496	562	13.3%
Sep	556	609	9.5%
Oct	527	598	13.5%
Nov	511	567	11.0%
Dec	589	657	11.5%
2010	6747	7556	12.0%

What does this mean?  IMLS is NOT wrong, it just does not collect For Sale By Owners (FSBO). 

How can this information help agents or other appraisers? Don't forget to check Tax Records feature (within IMLS)when looking for comparables, little more work, but sometime well worth the extra effort.