CRMLS unveils ‘Limited Exposure Coming Soon’ option for sellers 

California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), one of the largest MLSs in the country, has created a new option for coming-soon listings to allow visibility among MLS subscribers while preventing wider distribution.

'Limited Exposure Coming Soon': Instructions for the new listing status known as "Limited Exposure Coming Soon" were made available to CRMLS users on June 18, CEO Art Carter told Real Estate News.

The status builds on CRMLS's existing Coming Soon option, Carter said, by allowing sellers to decide exactly how that listing is marketed. 

"Sellers can now choose to exclude their listing from certain websites while continuing to market it through broker-controlled websites and social media platforms," Carter said in an email.

By default, Coming Soon listings in CRMLS are set to "Internet: Yes," the MLS explained in an instruction guide for the new listing option. To limit a Coming Soon listing's exposure, agents must instead set "Internet Entire Listing Display" to "No," which allows sellers to exclude listings from being distributed to third-party sites, like Zillow or Homes.com. 

Sellers cannot pick and choose which sites to distribute Limited Exposure listings to — they must either be on-internet or off-internet — unless the broker has an "independent relationship" with a specific portal.

Maintaining the status quo: The new listing option will treat days on market and price reductions in the same way CRMLS has been treating them for its Coming Soon listings, Carter said.

Therefore, all CRMLS Coming Soon listings, whether they have limited exposure or not, will show all price reductions but will not accrue days on market.

Why now? Carter and CRMLS have long been advocates for listing data transparency, arguing that MLSs must keep sight of what is best for the consumer. While he has also argued that MLSs should not have to apologize for having and enforcing their own rules, he has acknowledged that MLSs need to listen to and work with brokers as they move into the future.

Carter suggested that the most recent Coming Soon option is a response to broker feedback.

"CRMLS has amended its Coming Soon policies over the years to address broker requests, AOR policies, and practices from neighboring MLSs to keep a fair and representative marketplace," Carter said in an email.

"In response to recent broker feedback and local AOR initiatives supporting greater seller choice, CRMLS introduced this option to give sellers more flexibility and control over how their listings are marketed," he added.

Compass responds: The move by CRMLS, an MLS that has been criticized in the past by Compass International Holdings Chairman and CEO Robert Reffkin for its stringent policies, did not go unnoticed by the private listings champion.

In a July 2 LinkedIn post, Reffkin highlighted the development and thanked the MLS "for giving sellers this new choice."