A year after re-launching as a public-facing site, former pocket listing site The Property Listing Service is now The National Listing Service.

California-based The NLS, which started as a private listing network for real estate agents called The Pocket Listing Service, is most recently known for its federal antitrust lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors and three of the largest multiple listing services in the country over a policy designed to curb pocket listings. That suit is ongoing and has received attention from the U.S. Department of Justice.

On Jan. 19, 2021, The Pocket Listing Service relaunched as The Property Listing Service, a public-facing site with new agent services that complies with the NAR pocket listing policy.

But The PLS had done such a good job of promoting itself as a pocket listing service that continuing to be known as ThePLS.com hurt adoption of the company’s new offerings, co-founder Chris Dyson told Inman in an exclusive interview.

Christopher Dyson of The Agency

Christopher Dyson of The Agency. Credit: The Agency

“Agents would say, ‘No, you’re the pocket listing guys. We’re not allowed to do that anymore. We’re not joining,'” Dyson said. “And we were like, ‘No, we’re not that anymore. We had to change. And we did change.’ So we felt that the NLS or the National Listing Service was a much more accurate description of what the platform is trying to provide now.”

The NLS’s founders are Mauricio Umansky, CEO and founder of luxury brokerage The Agency, and Dyson, James Harris and David Parnes, top-producing agents at The Agency. TheNLS.com has several owners: FASP Realty, Midnight Capital, Harris Family Trust, David Parnes Living Trust, Green Collective and Sidehill Ventures.

The NLS’s services are the same as those launched a year ago and its goal is to provide agents with a place where they can compete with “big portals” such as Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin for control of their lead generation, according to Dyson. The platform operates on a “Your listing, Your lead” philosophy, so buyers who find listings on the platform can only reach out to the listing agent.

Advertisement

The NLS also has a feature, NLS Wants, that allows buyer agents to post information about their buyers and what they’re looking for. The site invites sellers who have not yet chosen a listing agent or decided whether to sell their home to be matched which agents who have a potential buyer for their home and to contact that agent directly if they choose.

“That’s first-to-market functionality and candidly has the potential to be a complete game-changer,” Dyson said. “Especially in today’s markets, where inventory is so tight. The ability to be able to let sellers search for agents who have the buyers and can contact them directly, and those agents being able to show sellers all their buyers — if there’s one reason to join the platform right now, that’s it.”

Asked why a seller would want to do that instead of going to the MLS, Dyson said, “Well, you might want to see which agents have the buyers and then interview them. That might be something that sellers can decide.”

He compared it to sellers choosing to sell their home to an iBuyer. “It’s simply offering sellers another option when deciding how they sell,” he said.

While the company had planned to launch an advertising campaign after its rebrand a year ago, Dyson said that the campaign, which will focus mainly on social media advertising, has been postponed until the second quarter of this year in order to give the company time to grow its agent count with its The NLS brand. The company has had more than 20,000 agents sign up since its inception, but Dyson did not respond when asked for its current membership count.

The NLS charges agents $199 annually or $40 monthly. The site is currently trying to gin up interest with a discount code, NLS99, that allows agents to sign up for a one-year subscription for $99. The site’s offerings are free for buyers and sellers.

Show Comments Hide Comments
Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines
What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman.
Success!
Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines.
Back to top
Only 3 days left to register for Inman Connect Las Vegas before prices go up! Don't miss the premier event for real estate pros.Register Now ×
Limited Time Offer: Get 1 year of Inman Select for $199SUBSCRIBE×
Log in
If you created your account with Google or Facebook
Don't have an account?
Forgot your password?
No Problem

Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". You will receive additional instructions via email.

Forgot your username? If so please contact customer support at (510) 658-9252

Password Reset Confirmation

Password Reset Instructions have been sent to

Subscribe to The Weekender
Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox.
Top headlines from around the real estate industry. Breaking news as it happens.
15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
It looks like you’re already a Select Member!
To subscribe to exclusive newsletters, visit your email preferences in the account settings.
Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more
1-Step CheckoutPay with a credit card
By continuing, you agree to Inman’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You will be charged . Your subscription will automatically renew for on . For more details on our payment terms and how to cancel, click here.

Interested in a group subscription?
Finish setting up your subscription
×