While Northwest Multiple Listing Service, the largest MLS in the state of Washington, earlier this year stopped sending broker-supplied property information to the Realtor.com search site, most brokers continue to supply listings information to that site on their own, according to Realtor.com operator Move Inc.

Julie Reynolds, a Move spokeswoman, said Monday, “We have not seen a dramatic decrease coming from Realtors in that area,” though she did not provide details on how many brokers in that market area have ceased sending the bulk of their property listings information to Realtor.com following the NWMLS decision.

Board members for broker-owned NWMLS, which has an estimated 2,100 member real estate companies representing about 26,000 sales associates, last year voted to end the submission of property information to Realtor.com at the conclusion of its contract with Realtor.com this year.

Even before the NWMLS decision, brokers for Windermere Real Estate did not permit a bulk feed of property listings by NWMLS to Realtor.com. Since the decision, “There has been a greater interest (by company brokers) to send individual listings to Realtor.com on a case-by-case basis — and that choice I think is important,” said Pat Grim, president of Windermere Western Washington Services Co.

Grim said that its franchise brokers in the Washington area believed that Realtor.com was serving “more as a destination than a portal” for real estate consumers, “and if it was more of a portal then it would get more support.” Under the new system, brokers can be more selective about which property listings to include at Realtor.com, he said. “It’s the appropriate way for Realtor.com to get its listings, and in my opinion it’s more appropriate for the MLS,” he said.

Realtor.com on May 29 sent a notice to broker members of NWMLS to describe how individual brokerage companies could submit property listings information to Realtor.com. The notice stated, “Unfortunately, the NWMLS has decided to no longer license the display of your listings on Realtor.com or to continue to send those listings to us on your behalf, effective July 1. While we will not receive data directly from your MLS, we do have the ability to accept your office’s listings directly from you, as the Realtor broker of record, and we can continue to display your listings and primary photos on Realtor.com at no charge.”

Ben Kakimoto, a Realtor for John L. Scott Real Estate in Seattle, said that he rarely asks his clients if they use Realtor.com, and his out-of-area clients “find me through Web searches, predominately Google.” He stated in a blog posting last year that the NWMLS move is “probably not a big deal. In speaking with the general public and my own clients, no one ever mentions using Realtor.com to view listings. In the Seattle area, company Web sites such as Windermere.com, JohnLScott.com and Remax.com probably get the lion’s share of user home searches.”

Meanwhile, Chris Nye, broker for flat-fee real estate company MLS4Owners.com said he believes Realtor.com is an important marketing tool. The transition from NWMLS-submitted Realtor.com listings information to broker-submitted information was smooth, he said. “NWMLS gave us time to transfer over to a new vendor,” and extended its original deadline for the transition by several months.

When his clients are choosing how to market properties, “Realtor.com continually comes up in the conversation,” he said.

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