The real estate industry is watching with bated breath to see what happens to multiple listing services in the wake of the National Association of Realtors‘ (NAR) antitrust settlement. Realtor associations in Florida may be providing an answer.
Four associations with MLSs that serve clients along the northeast coast of Florida have reached a data sharing agreement that will give consumers access to listings from all four MLSs through their native systems. The partnership, known as Coast 2 Coast MLS Data Share, will serve more than 20,000 agents.
The associations in the agreement are realMLS, St. Augustine and St. Johns County Board of Realtors, Space Coast Association of Realtors and the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors. Additionally, the Hernando County Association of Realtors plans to join by the end of 2024.
“One of the most powerful and significant benefits of an MLS is the resulting network effect,” realMLS CEO Nicole Jensen said. “Greater exposure to listing content is good for consumers and adds value to each participating MLS. Making listing data available natively within each participating MLS marketplace amplifies this benefit.”
The topic of MLSs has been top of mind among agents all over the country. Many have had to make tough decisions about whether to opt into the NAR settlement to avoid future litigation. The 40 MLSs not owned by Realtor associations had until June 18 to opt in.
According to Inman, 18 of these groups chose to opt in, including Alaska MLS, Central New York Information Service, Central Virginia Regional MLS, MetroList, Real Estate Board of New York RLS, Southeast Georgia MLS and West Penn Multilist.
The MLSs that opted in will pay a combined $5.4 million to the settlement fund, and each will be banned from displayed cooperative compensation on the MLS.
REsides, a South Carolina-based MLS, opted out. It said it would implement its own changes because it had not previously participated in the cooperative compensation field requirements.
Leaders of the Florida associations in the data sharing agreementswill keep their positions, but other MLS executives might not be so lucky.
The controversial sale of REcolorado, an MLS serving the Denver area, to an outside investor prompted the two associations that own REcolorado to fire the board for allegedly leaking news of the deal to the media. REcolorado claimed that it reached a deal in February to buy the MLS from the associations, only to find they’d been pushed out.
While it’s unlikely that all MLS deals and partnerships will have the same drama, it’s possible that any mergers could result in lost jobs.
