Four large multiple listing services are the first to adopt the National Association of Realtors-mandated MLS tech standards widely expected to set the stage for tech developers to build more, better and cheaper agent and broker tools powered by real estate data.
Northern California-based MLS MetroList Services Inc. was the first MLS to take the step in January, and Silicon Valley-based MLSListings Inc., Chicago-based Midwest Real Estate Data and Rockville, Maryland-based Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. have jumped on board since then.
Together, they serve more than 100,000 agent members.
Hundreds of other MLSs are expected to implement the set of real estate data standards developed by the nonprofit Real Estate Standards Organization, called the RESO Data Dictionary, by the end of the year.
Dubbed the “Rosetta Stone for real estate data,” the Data Dictionary is a standardized set of data terms for the most common descriptions of property characteristics used in the industry.
At its annual meeting in November, the board of the National Association of Realtors approved a policy requiring Realtor-affiliated MLSs to comply with the Data Dictionary by Jan. 1, 2016. The vast majority of the nation’s 850-plus MLSs are Realtor-affiliated.
The nation’s largest MLS, California Regional MLS, will be ready to test for certification by the end of this month, the firm’s CEO, Art Carter, told Inman.
Jeremy Crawford
“Many of the MLSs are waiting on their technology vendors to complete implementation, so we expect to see a flood of certifications in the third and fourth quarter of this year in order to meet the end-of-the-year NAR policy mandates for Realtor-owned, -affiliated multiple listing services,” RESO’s executive director, Jeremy Crawford, told Inman.