MLS offering listings-based broker profit sharing
St. Louis-based MARIS says its new program could bring “multiple tens of thousands of dollars” to some brokers by giving them a percentage of data feed revenue.
In a move it is calling the first of its kind, a St. Louis-based MLS is offering a broker profit sharing program tied to listings data.
Mid-America Regional Information Systems, Inc. is giving each broker that "uploads an active listing and closes it successfully in the MARIS MLS" a percentage of revenue that comes from MARIS data feeds.
For some brokers, this could amount to "multiple tens of thousands of dollars" for the year, MARIS President and CEO Cameron Paine said in a news release.
The move is "recognition that timely, accurate, and comprehensive real estate data has value — and that the value should accrue to the benefit of the brokers adding their listing data to the MLS," said Chad Wilson, MARIS chairman and head of The Chad Wilson Group at Keller Williams Realty West.
'All about fairness' vs. exclusives: The program provides an incentive for brokers to enter their listings on the MLS.
"Tiered, metered feeds are all about fairness," said Dennis Norman, broker at MORE, Realtors, in comments included with the announcement. "I may not be the largest broker in town, so my profit share will be a lot less than a big brokerage, but knowing that I'll get a check for every active listing I close in MARIS? That matters."
And it matters even more as the industry tackles the divisive topic of listings access and the National Association of Realtors' Clear Cooperation Policy.
"In an environment where private or office-exclusive listings seem to be such a big deal, for an MLS to incentivize bringing data in rather than by pure enforcement seems like a smart change," Norman added.
How it works: MARIS monitors the number of times data is requested via its API, an online connection point. The MLS has a fee schedule based on who's requesting data — for example, brokers or vendors/tech providers — and how much data they're seeking.
Most brokers pay "little or nothing" for their data feed, MARIS said. Vendors could pay up to $1,000 a month.
And in December, "every MARIS broker that entered an active listing and closed the transaction in our MLS will receive a check for their percentage of the total revenue earned from these data feeds," Paine said.
The bigger picture and 'gray market data': "No MLS should be deciding whether or not a licensed real estate broker deserves a data feed" in a world where "national listing information can be bought pretty easily from various data brokers (both authorized and not)," Paine said.
"With the notable exception of programs like REdistribute and CoreLogic's Partner InfoNet, MLS data is bought and sold on the gray market on a daily basis," Paine said. "The only ones not benefitting from the sale of property data are the listing broker and the MLS."