Since the Biden Administration announced their priority to “un-tie” real estate 4 years ago, I have been urging my MLS clients to get serious about opening up their subscription services to all licensees.
Today brokerages representing over 600,000 agents cannot or will not require NAR membership because of their proposed lawsuit settlements. Whether from litigation, DOJ rulings or the belief from brokerages (especially the $2 billion crowd) that NAR let them down, it is anything but business as usual right now. All Association leaders need to be open to new ways to doing business to be able to ride out this storm. Forward-looking, strategic AE’s recognize these vulnerabilities. They are effectively partnering with their volunteer leaders to push the envelope, eliminating outdated or poorly attended programs and focusing their attention on preparing for future scenarios that may be foisted on the industry from lawyers, the DOJ or some other unknown threat.
As the current chair of the National Small Business Association, the oldest non-partisan small business advocacy organization in the U.S., I was thrilled to see RFK Jr. express so much passion to provide support for small businesses to make it easier for all of us to survive and thrive. So, what did I learn from this fascinating session? It’s truly hard to summarize it, but I’ll highlight some of the points that stuck out the most for me.
The latest Association addition to North Carolina Regional MLS moves the organization beyond the walls of their state and opens them up as one of the MLSs gaining traction in the formation of Southeast MLS collaborations. They are arguable one of, if not the fastest growing MLS in the country when measured by the addition of new Associations and moving beyond contiguous markets. When examining their meteoric expansion, I observed a few lessons that can be leveraged by other markets to deliver brokers the broader data access they are demanding. In my opinion there are five key reasons NCRMLS is successfully expanding to support its brokers and the agents and clients they serve:
With the removal of compensation from the mls. Data quality is becoming an even more important benefit of MLSs. It’s not enough to just let your MLS customers self report on issues. MLSs need to consistently curate more comprehensive, accurate and timely real estate data insights to reinforce their core value proposition
MLSs mistakenly refer to their customers as members. They are NOT members. MLSs are not trade associations. They are technology companies. Have you ever heard Verizon, Apple or AT&T call their subscribers – “members”? Have you ever Starlink or Spectrum call their paid subscribers – “members”? These subscription-based technology companies think of every one of their paid subscribers as customers. They understand that every one of their customers has a choice to pay for their services or not so they continually focus on how to retain their customers
A second privately owned MLS has opted out of the NAR Anti-Trust Settlement stating that their rules were always more transparent than the standard NAR rules. A truly broker-centric, independent MLS, Resides.io MLS in Hilton Head, South Carolina is launching an inclusive concessions field and options for brokers to upload listing and buyers broker agreements. The organization is also building forms to make it easier for brokers to adapt to the new changes removing compensation as one of the center points of an MLS.
There is very little clarity today about the fast spreading news that Realtor Association shareholders of RE Colorado have given notice that they intend to sell their shares of the MLS to a private equity firm. The Realtor Associations want out of their investment, and it doesn't really matter why. To date no MLS has ever been sold to private equity investors. Some MLSs have been sold outright to fellow Associations and MLS, but to our knowledge, we never seen private equity enter this space until now. This could set off a wave of transactions if private equity starts to pay attention to the profitable business models of Multiple Listing Services.
The visionary leaders at Arab MLS, led by founder Ahmed Elbatrawy, are delivering sophisticated business solutions to real estate professionals and transforming home buying and selling in Arab nations. A cornerstone of Arab MLS’s business solutions is CoreLogic’s Matrix, the No. 1 listing management platform in North America. Now expanding into the Middle East, including Egypt and the UAE, Matrix offers Arab MLS real estate professionals—for the first time—a single source of truth property record database and more effective land record management. Core MLS listing input and search functionality, data syndication, client portal, statistics, and market analysis are all provided, [...]
Ben Caballero is an improbable and incomparable real estate legend. How can an individual real estate agent based in Texas sell an average of more than 19 homes daily, every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays? Again, 19 homes a day, times 365 days last year, would be 6,935 home sales. Ben sold 7,012 homes in 2023. He is the sole listing agent on every sale, verified by every Multiple Listing Service he works with in Texas. He does not work with any other agent or team at HomesUSA.com, the brokerage where he also is CEO and founder. [...]
It’s not at all unusual for MLS organizations to be disappointed by the limited adoption of MLS tools among top-producing members. Despite the undeniable benefits these tools offer, many power users seem reluctant to fully embrace them. Since top producers are the ones driving the success of a real estate market, it is imperative to find ways to engage them with training designed for the unique needs of those that complete several transactions per month.
In the ever-evolving landscape of the real estate industry, Multiple Listing Service (MLS) executives face a myriad of risks that have the potential to disrupt operations, tarnish reputation, and compromise data integrity. In such a dynamic environment, proactive risk management is not just advisable — it's imperative. In this article, we'll explore the importance of “scenario planning,” or anticipating and mitigating the worst-case scenario within MLS organizations, and we’ll outline strategies for fostering a culture of preparedness and adaptability.
