Three large multiple listing services in Northern California have agreed to share real-time property listing information in a move that aims to ease data access for the 40,000 agents using the MLSs.
The three MLSs are Bay Area Real Estate Information Services in the North San Francisco Bay, MetroList Services serving the Northern California Central Valley, and San Francisco Association of Realtors, serving San Francisco and the northern peninsula.
Agents from these organizations will be able to access property listings in 14 counties with a population of 5.6 million people.
“This MLS data-share venture is noteworthy to the brokerage community because it will provide access to substantially more data in an efficient and easy-to-use manner,” said Matthew Borland, president of the SFAR and managing partner of Zephyr Real Estate.
Quattro, the name of the new service, will merge listing information from the three MLSs into a common data set and enhance the ability of real estate brokerages to download listing information from the three MLSs into their proprietary software programs, according to an announcement from the organizations.
Individual real estate agents will no longer having to subscribe to three MLSs to access listing information for the geographical area served by Quattro. Through a mutual data access agreement, agents will be allowed full, real-time reciprocal access to the three MLSs, as well as access to Quattro, the merged data set, with only a single log-on required.
“Quattro is proof that individual MLSs in a short period of time can cooperate to enhance user services through reciprocal data access and sharing arrangements without spending endless hours attempting to solve issues related to ownership structures and governance,” said Tom Beede, president and CEO of MetroList Services.
Rapattoni, the data service provider for the three MLS organizations, has been selected to develop the special software needed to facilitate the new service. “This is an entirely new approach to accessing, controlling and distributing the MLS data from multiple MLS sources,” said Beede.
The new service offerings will be online and available to BAREIS, MetroList and SFAR subscribers by early 2007.
