Two Southern California Realtor associations have voted to begin using the services of the California Regional MLS (CRMLS), a move that means the latter organization will now be serving more than 100,000 real estate professionals in the region.
Art Carter
Members of the Pasadena-Foothills Association of Realtors and the Palm Springs Regional Association of Realtors will now have access to CRMLS’s listing data, technology products, training services and customer support, among other things. In a statement, CRMLS CEO Art Carter said the news represents an “unprecedented day” for his organization.
“It’s a huge honor to serve the nation’s largest MLS constituent of real estate professionals,” Carter added.
News that CRMLS will begin working with organizations in Pasadena — which is located about 10 miles east of downtown Los Angeles — and Palm Springs comes about two months after the organization revealed that it will also begin working with the Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors. That organization is headquartered about 60 miles northwest of downtown L.A.
Reports of the deal with Ventura County initially indicated that it would merely be getting technology and support services from CRMLS. However, a spokesperson for CRMLS told Inman Tuesday that negotiations have since wrapped up and it will actually become a “fully participating” association within CRMLS. That means that while it will remain an independent Realtor organization, it will also fully rely on CRMLs for its technology, support, training and other services.
The trade organizations in Pasadena and Palm Springs will also be fully participating associations in CRMLS, the spokesperson added.
Collectively, all three organizations will add about 6,300 new users to CRMLS’s ranks, the spokesperson said.
CRMLS’s statement further reveals that thanks to the new users it will now “become the first [multiple listing service] to serve over 100,000 real estate professionals come January 2020.”
However, at least one other multiple listing service (MLS) is close on CRMLS’s heels: Bright MLS in the Mid-Atlantic region says that it has more than 95,000 members.
The Palm Springs Regional Association of Realtors (PSRAR) was first organized in 1929 and today has more than 1,200 members. The Pasadena-Foothills Association of Realtors (PFAR) was founded in 1907, though its current membership was not immediately available.
Prior to January, PFAR operated its own MLS, while PSRAR operates a shared MLS with a nearby association. Both systems were powered by technology known as Flexmls from real estate software firm FBS. CRMLS will provide Flexmls to PSRAR and PFAR.
Now, both organizations will continue to use the Flexmls software, meaning that the login experience should remain the same for members. However, the actual MLS those users have access to will be the one created and operated by CRMLS. In other words, PSRAR, PFAR — as well as the Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors — will use CRMLS’s MLS going forward and not their own.
The associations now participating in CRMLS will also still own their own data, according to CRMLS’s spokesperson, and will continue to have access to CRMLS’s historical data — something they already had access to thanks to previously existing data-sharing agreements.
In a statement, PSRAR CEO Tricia Moore said that “our members deserve the best MLS solution on the market, and we’re confident that joining CRMLS is the right move.”
PFAR President Lisa Diaz expressed a similar sentiment, saying in a statement that “the MLS is the most important resource for our members, and we have an obligation to provide them with the best support, tools, and data.”
“We strongly believe that collaborating with CRMLS to support our members is a win-win,” Diaz added.
Update: This post was updated after publication with additional details about the the systems new CRMLS members will use.
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