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Several months after teasing an upcoming rebrand, North Carolina Regional MLS has revealed its new name: Hive MLS.
Daniel Jones | Credit: Hive MLS
“Bees are nature’s ultimate team players, and their hive represents an unwavering model of efficiency and cooperation with humility,” Hive MLS CEO Daniel Jones said in a written statement on Thursday. “Our new name embodies our mission to create a supportive environment where Associations, MLSs, real estate agents, brokers, and clients collaborate to succeed.”
Hive MLS is a wholesale cooperative MLS, meaning member associations and MLSs pay the regional MLS a wholesale price per member and then charge their members a retail price of their choice to access the MLS.
The joining MLSs continue to exist in name only, while Hive MLS provides the MLS services that the individual MLSs themselves used to provide directly to the associations and MLSs, who then re-sell the services to their subscriber base, according to a previous Inman article.
Hive MLS has 18 MLSs and Realtor Associations under its umbrella. The majority of its members are in North Carolina, with Hive MLS also adding three Georgia members in July. Savannah MLS, Athens Area Association of Realtors and its Classic MLS, and the Realtors of Greater August will officially switch over to the Hive MLS system during the first quarter of 2025.
The rebrand also extends to Hive MLS’ product suite, Hive Solutions, which includes 16 listing and transaction management tools, access to real-time market insights and analytics, community engagement tools, and comprehensive training modules that keep members on the cutting edge of tech and regulatory changes.
“Our new Hive brand name showcases our commitment to Associations and MLSs to maintain their independence with their subscribers while simultaneously turbo-boosting their efficiency,” Jones said in a statement. “With Hive MLS, we’re taking this ethos to the next level, empowering our Associations, MLSs, and brokers with best-in-class solutions and support they need.”
In a phone call with Inman, Jones said the rebranding process began last fall and represents Hive MLSs growth since he took the helm in 2019. Over the past five years, Jones said Hive MLS has updated its governance model, improved compliance, and added a training department — all of which has stoked organic member growth throughout North Carolina and more recently, Georgia.
“We started talking about it around this time last year and formed a rebranding committee,” he told Inman. “But we really started kicking it into gear when in when our Georgian members started joining us in May.”
Jones said the new name and logo is only the first step of Hive MLS’ evolution. Hive Solutions will undergo an expansion over the coming months with new website syndication and listing aggregation tools.
“We’re working with Modern.tech as our engineering business partner,” he said. “We now have a business partner that’s really just focused on the technical engineering portion of what we’d like to do. So now if we have a vision or whatever, we actually have a group that can help us make it happen.”
Hive MLS will officially launch at the North Carolina Realtors Convention and Expo from Oct. 19-22, where attendees can meet the Hive team and get a sneak peek at some of the group’s new solutions.
“All of our growth has happened organically,” he said. “It hasn’t been in our strategic plan. People have taken notice of what we’re doing and they’ve come knocking on our doors to see what we’ve got.”
“So, we’re excited to share the ‘buzz’ of Hive MLS at the NC Realtors Expo,” he added. “It’s the perfect venue to showcase our new vision and share the ‘busy’ ways we plan to help real estate professionals across the region succeed.”
