CRMLS says ‘no thanks’ to NAR's delayed marketing option
The MLS contends that the policy offers no benefits to consumers and was created to “placate” the “powerful, national brokerages” that oppose Clear Cooperation.
A major multiple listing service has decided it will not be adopting a new listings policy unveiled by the National Association of Realtors last month.
The California Regional Multiple Listing Service — the country's largest MLS with more than 100,000 subscribers — posted a statement on April 18 informing members of its decision to forgo adding the "delayed marketing" option introduced by NAR in response to criticism of its Clear Cooperation Policy.
NAR's policy updates: After months of review, NAR announced in March that it was keeping the CCP but adding a complementary policy — Multiple Listing Options for Sellers — that allows home sellers to temporarily delay marketing a home through the Internet Data Exchange (IDX).
CRMLS contends in its statement that NAR added the delayed marketing option in response to increasing pressure from "powerful, national brokerages" to drop the CCP, which it said is in place to deter the creation of private listing networks. Compass — the nation's largest brokerage by sales volume — has been outspoken in its opposition to the CCP while leaning into office exclusives.
"In an effort to maintain CCP as-is and to placate those complaining brokerages, NAR created this Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy," CRMLS wrote.
Taking a pass on implementation: In explaining why it would not be making any changes, CRMLS stated, "Simply put… there is no need. This new policy does not provide any additional seller choices or options, is not clear nor easy to understand or expand, and we don't need to complicate things."
CRMLS CEO Art Carter has been a vocal supporter of Clear Cooperation, noting previously that the organization "is guided by the principles of fairness, equal access to accurate information, and the spirit of competition between brokerage firms."
Avoiding workarounds: CRMLS said it will continue to provide the options already available, which "can achieve the policy's aims and maintain transparency without introducing any new statuses." Specifically, the MLS noted that its existing "Active" status "accommodates the spirit of the new policy" but doesn't offer the temporary IDX hold.
The organization is of the opinion that implementing the IDX hold could encourage members to switch to a Virtual Office Website (VOW) feed, effectively bypassing the rule. Major portals like Zillow and Redfin have VOW feeds, while other sites like Realtor.com don't use VOW.
"Additionally — and unfortunately — consumers will be the ones most affected by this new policy, as they'll need to create accounts on each VOW site just to view all available active listings," according to the CRMLS statement, which added, "It's time to stop unnecessarily changing up the rules and to let agents and brokers get back to work."
NAR has set a deadline of September 30 to implement the changes. An NAR spokesperson said in a statement that the organization "values the feedback of MLS leaders and continues to discuss the new option with them ahead of the Sept. 30 implementation deadline."
CRMLS CEO Art Carter declined to comment further on the decision at this time.