Listing Policies Update

Listing policies have been the subject of much discussion and debate within our industry
recently. Here’s a reminder on IRES listing policies:

Active Listings

The listing is on the MLS, the property can be shown to potential buyers and the seller has not yet accepted an offer. Active/Backup and Active/First Right have a contingency contract or first right of refusal in place but are still showing and taking backup offers.

Coming Soon Listings

Coming Soon listings allow an online preview of homes before they are available for showing. At IRES, these listings will automatically move to Active status after seven days unless the listing broker changes the status before day seven.

Office Exclusives

These are listings that are not publicly marketed or on the MLS. Office exclusives are permitted under IRES rules, but we require a signed waiver from the seller, acknowledging that listing as an office exclusive may limit the number of potential buyers for a property. Once a waiver is signed, the listing will be withheld from the MLS and may not be publicly marketed. After closing, listing brokers can enter the sold property into the MLS to provide accurate market data to other agents and their clients.

While some listings will remain in an office exclusive status for the entirety of the
contract, many listing agents prefer to use the office exclusive waiver to prepare
the home for market. We recognize that it can be difficult to get the listings into
the MLS system within 3 days of all necessary signatures being obtained. In these
cases, listing agents can submit the office exclusive waiver, prepare the listing
accordingly and, once ready, add the listing to the system as a Coming Soon or
Active listing.

Please note, we’ve updated our Office Exclusive waiver to ensure it meets the new
requirements outlined by NAR. If your seller wants to move forward with
an office exclusive, have them fill out and sign the waiver – which can be found in
Contracts or on IRESMLS.com – and submit it to us at admin@iresmls.com. 
To be clear, the IRES process for office exclusives is NOT changing. We’ve simply
updated our waiver to ensure compliance with the NAR rule updates. That means
all you need to do to align with NAR and IRES policies is have the seller sign the
waiver and submit it to us. You are also allowed to use a different form, as long as
it meets NAR requirements.

If there is a seller privacy concern, you can limit the online exposure of any listing when entering it into IRES. Your selections can prevent the distribution of a listing beyond the IRES platform but still market the property via the MLS to the potential cooperating brokers in the system. Please note that NAR and IRES policy prohibits ANY online advertising when choosing the option “Publish to Internet = NO”. Brokerage websites and portals, including your own, will not receive the listing in a feed from IRES to display publicly. Due to overwhelming market feedback, IRES has chosen not to implement a delayed marking option at this time. IRES is committed to listening to subscriber feedback. We’ll continue to adapt and adjust as needed but hope this is a helpful reminder of where policies currently stand.