“Is the Mulitple Listing Service on the Endangered Species List?” :: SoundBiteBlog.com

Last month, Reuters announced that online listing aggregators Yahoo! Real Estate, Zillow, and Trulia had all agreed to adopt a standardized format for the distribution of real estate listings data. This allows the flow of critical information from real estate franchisors, brokers, and MLS agencies to move more quickly and efficiently to consumers.

In his 1993 prophetical “Lions over the Hill” speech, then NAR (National Association of Realtors) President, Bill Chee, predicted that one day the predatory ‘lions’ of technology would come along and prey upon the longstanding and rather complacent gatekeepers of residential market information, the Multiple Listing Services.

According to Wikipedia, “A Multiple Listing Service (MLS) (also Multiple Listing System or Multiple Listings Service) is a group of private databases which allows real estate brokers representing sellers under a listing contract to widely share information about properties with real estate brokers who may represent potential buyers or wish to cooperate with a seller’s broker in finding a buyer for the property. There is no single authoritative “MLS”, and no universal data format. The many local and private databases–some of which are controlled by single associations of realtors or groupings of associations (which represent all brokers within a given community or geographical area) or by real estate brokers–are collectively referred to as the MLS because of their reciprocal access agreements.”

Here in the US, there are over 800+ MLS systems that are owned, operated, and governed by varying private entities (real estate companies, county or regional Board of Realtors, or trade associations). In the past, each of these MLS systems set their own rules for membership, access, and sharing of information. All, however, are subject to nationwide rules laid down by NAR.

Dating back to the 1960′s, the original purpose of the MLS was to simplify the sharing of information from Sellers to Buyers. It was a system that worked back then, and everyone seemed to benefit. Licensed agents were naturally required to contribute a subscription fee to gain access to this listing information.

But times have changed, dramatically. With nearly 85% of consumers accessing the Internet to begin their home buying process, the drive and need for the free flowing access of listing information is forcing the MLS to relinquish their traditional strongholds and concede to growing consumer demands.

The ‘Lions’ are no longer ‘over the hill,’ but they’re in the camp and halfway through their meal!

New competitors such as Google Base, Craigslist, Oodle, and those listed above, are examples of newer alternatives to the MLS service. Recent traffic statistics clearly show that these sites have gained considerable traction and popularity among consumers and real estate professionals.

So with more and more listing data becoming available to the general public, is the MLS headed for the Endangered Species List? What will their proposition of value be to the hundreds of thousands of real estate professionals across the country who are required to contribute to their coffers?

In his speech back in 1993, Mr. Chee predicted that their organization would lose the MLS in just a few, short years. In fact, he gave them less than a 50% chance of stopping that inevitability from happening. He challenged his listeners to change with the times, to embrace emerging technology, and instead ’become’ the Lion!

And now, the vultures are circling the remains….

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