NAR listing guides aim to promote ‘clear understanding’ of intent
Amid public disagreements between brokerages, portals and MLSs about “objective criteria” for the display of listings, NAR hopes to provide clarity.
Key points:
- New resources published by the National Association of Realtors address listing display, selection and filtering criteria.
- Objectivity is key, NAR said — but only provided guidance, not a definition, for determining “objective criteria.”
- The association also clarified rules for 1-to-1 communications between brokers or agents at different firms.
- The guidelines were released at a time when some brokerage and MLS leaders have raised the issue of “objectivity” in relation to Zillow’s listing rules.
As real estate industry professionals continue to debate how and when listing data should be accessed and displayed — and who gets to make the rules — the National Association of Realtors has released three new resources intended to provide some clarity for multiple listing services and brokers.
Two of the resources address the filtering of listings and are meant to help MLSs remain compliant with NAR policies. Specifically, they address how listings can be selected and filtered in IDX and virtual office website (VOW) displays, and they work in tandem with NAR's MLS policy 8.5, which prohibits MLSs from allowing users to filter listings based on offers of compensation or the name of a brokerage or agent representing the listing.
'Objective criteria' in listing display
NAR's "Objective criteria in IDX and VOW policies" resource clarifies that MLS participants can choose what listings to display from MLS data feeds based on "objective criteria" — though NAR does not expressly define the term. Instead, NAR gives examples of what objective criteria might entail (geography, list price range, property type, etc.), and notes that objective criteria should "be applied equally" to all participants, based on measurable facts, and "not explicitly and/or directly target any particular brokerage and/or agent by name."
In the second resource on the topic, a chart helps NAR members determine if their selection or filtering criteria for listings is objective. If not all criteria meet objectivity standards, the chart warns that filtering criteria "may not be consistent with your MLS rules and require enforcement procedures as adopted by the MLS."
The chart also notes that ranking or sorting of listings is not prohibited by MLS policy — but ranking "must not involve the removal or the blocking of listings which prevent the communication of those listings, based on the existence or level of compensation offered to a cooperating broker or the name of a brokerage or agent, to a client or customer."
Broker-to-broker communications
A third new resource provides guidelines for 1-to-1 broker communication — defined as "person-to-person communications" between a listing agent or broker and another broker or agent at a different firm — within the parameters of the Clear Cooperation Policy.
Such communication, NAR said, allows brokers to gather information about a listing "without triggering the requirements of CCP," but it "must be pursuant to the seller's informed consent and interests," NAR clarified.
The association added that any brokerage activities resulting from such communication would require the listing to be submitted to the MLS, and brokers should explain this to sellers clearly.
Consistency and clarity
NAR Senior Director of Engagement Rodney Gansho said that the new guidance works "to support consistent policy implementation across the industry and promote a clear understanding of how NAR's policies and guidelines are intended to operate."
Gansho also stressed in a statement that NAR supports "the MLS ecosystem."
"It empowers Realtors with a centralized market system that provides sellers with broad market exposures and buyers with all the available properties for sale," Gansho said.
The NAR leader spoke about the new resources in a recent episode of "NAR This Week," the association's weekly video series.
Weaponizing 'objectivity'?
The new resources are timely, as Compass and some of its MLS allies have recently leaned into the notion of "objective criteria" in relation to Zillow's listing access standards.
In a presentation to industry leaders last month, Compass International Holdings CEO Robert Reffkin argued that the portal's standards are "subjective," citing NAR's MLS Policy 8.5 as evidence.
When asked to respond to Reffkin's claim, NAR said at the time that "MLS enforcement decisions are made at the local MLS level," and that the association doesn't comment on brokerage business models.
TheMLS/CLAW — which recently partnered with Compass — updated its IDX rules earlier this month in an apparent response to Zillow's standards. The policy now includes an "MLS Exclusive" status that allows agents pre-market listings to MLS members without having those listings syndicated to third-party sites.
Additionally, The MLS/CLAW updated its policy language to specify that if members exclude listings from display based on "objective criteria," they must also clearly disclose "some listings have been excluded from this website."