MLS Policy Ensures Listings Get Equal Treatment

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has adopted a new policy that requires the nation’s 850 REALTOR® association-owned multiple listing services to include all of their property listings, regardless of the type of listing agreement, in feeds distributed to MLS members and national aggregators like REALTOR.com.

Members who post MLS listings on their Web sites may select which listings they show on the basis of objective criteria such as location, type of property, compensation offered for buyers’ agents, or the level of service provided by the listing company, according to the policy approved last week.

“These actions standardize distribution of MLS data to external Web sites for the first time and ensure that all listings are treated equally by MLSs,” says NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs or Grand Rapids, Mich., vice president of Coldwell Banker AJS Schmidt.

REALTORS® who display MLS listings on their Web sites are governed by the REALTOR® Code of Ethics, which obligates them to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public.

The real estate industry has made a multimillion dollar investment to create the infrastructure of the MLS systems. Many MLSs also display their members’ listings on Internet advertising sites, such as REALTOR.com, which displays 3.9 million homes for sale and has 7 million unique visitors each month.

— REALTOR® Magazine Online