MLS and the Changing Real Estate Landscape
We’re in the closing weeks of a tumultuous year for real estate. All of us here at IRES hope that for our subscribers, this has been background noise for you while serving clients, selling properties and enjoying professional success.
There is good news for us to consider as we look ahead to 2025
- Final approval of the NAR settlement in the Sitzer/Burnet case brings this chapter to a close and creates more certainty. That said, this is still just one of several ongoing legal battles affecting our business. The DOJ has made a point to say that the approved settlement does not preclude them from investigating antitrust activity. They also specifically pointed out a concern with buyer broker agreements being required prior to touring a home, a key term of the MLS rules created as part of the settlement.
- Colorado remains a great place to be in the real estate business, from the real estate professional perspective and from the MLS perspective. Our market is different compared with other MLS marketplaces. The availability of statewide forms and access to sales data in public records are two valuable benefits. Unlike some state associations, the Colorado REALTOR® Association’s general counsel understands MLS. And unlike many markets, you are not blocked from MLS access as a licensed broker in Colorado if you are not a REALTOR®. Association membership has many benefits, but keeping MLS access open to all licensees reduces regulatory liability risk and makes for a more liquid market.
- Our state regulatory body is in touch with the needs and concerns of real estate practitioners – not the case in every state. While their primary role is to protect consumers, I think they earnestly seek to make the market work not only for real estate buyers and sellers but for all of you who serve them.
- The U.S. real estate market is very different compared with the way business is done in other countries. Some have little to no regulation, no concept of exclusive agency or cooperation. It’s truly the Wild West. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to connect with real estate professionals from 50 countries. All of them were trying to create or replicate the MLS system we have here today. Our U.S. MLS system is the envy of the world. The portals that substitute for MLS in some countries get paid per placement, so they don’t care if data is consistent or even accurate, and they don’t care about connecting buyers and sellers represented by different brokers. In one example shared with me, a home appeared 17 times, with different prices, number of bedrooms, square footage, etc., all in the same portal.
As the real estate industry continues to evolve, the MLS space will evolve along with it.
As we look ahead, we cannot lose sight of two fundamental pillars of MLS: cooperation and data accuracy. These are so important for real estate professionals and also for informed consumers, who want to know why their home should or should not have maximum exposure to the greatest number of buyers possible – exposure created by the curation of accurate, timely listing data in the MLS.
From the bulky MLS books that subscribers of a certain vintage still remember to the online and mobile tools we have today, the MLS story is still being written. At IRES we will continue to innovate with you, serve our customers as you serve yours, and adapt to whatever market changes are ahead.
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IRES MLS: Come Home to Colorado 