I am so excited to share some exciting merger news with you! MLSLI, the largest MLS in New York State has merged with Hudson Gateway MLS becoming one of the largest MLSs in the country with approximately 40,000 members.

Jim Speer, long-time MLS executive and innovator has been promoted to the well-deserved position of Chief Executive Officer of the new entity.  Congratulations Jim!

Joseph Mottola will remain CEO of the Long Island Board of REALTORS® and Richard Haggerty will maintain his position as CEO of the Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS® and will take on a new role as the President and Chief Strategic Growth Officer of the new MLS.

I spoke with Jim Speer and he also shared some exciting news about the governance structure of the new entity.  The company has created a compact, broker-driven Board of Managers structure which will include 6 brokers from the Long Island region and 4 brokers from the Hudson Gateway region.  The board will also include 3 outside managers who will bring outside perspectives, business objectivity and incremental skillsets.   The Board of Managers has been designed to help the group be nimble, decisive and highly responsive to changing market dynamics.   This new model has been designed to help the company continue to evolve and innovate to meet the ever-changing needs of the broker community and their clients.

The company is expected to be fully operational in 2019.

The full press release is shown here: 

West Babylon, New York – The Multiple Listing Service of Long Island, Inc. (MLSLI) and the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service (HGMLS) have merged to form the New York MLS, LLC. The new MLS will consist of approximately 40,000 real estate professionals, serving Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Bronx, and Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Orange Counties.

Discussions began in June 2017 between leaders of the Long Island Board of Realtors®, Inc. (LIBOR) and the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors® (HGAR) on the possibility of consolidating the aforementioned and respectively owned MLSs to form one regional MLS. Joseph Mottola, CEO of LIBOR/MLSLI says, “The expansion of geographic boundaries will create greater opportunities for members by providing access to a larger audience of real estate professionals for consumers alike.”

A benefit of the new MLS will be the seamless flow of data for Brokers and Agents within the New York Metro area. Richard Haggerty, CEO of HGAR and President and Chief Strategic Growth Officer of the new MLS says, “The launch of the new MLS is an exciting move in the right direction to uniting area real estate professionals, by creating the only MLS members will need.”

Jim Speer, the Sr. Vice President of Operations for MLSLI for over 30 years, will serve as Chief Executive Officer for the new MLS. Speer says, “With the alliance of two successful MLSs, members gain entry to a vast selection of integrated technology tools and resources which will better serve their buyers and sellers.”

The combined strengths of MLSLI and HGMLS will enhance the local real estate market by providing the best service for the Real Estate professionals and the customers they serve.

The yet-to-be-named new regional MLS is expected to be fully operational sometime in 2019.