There are things that keep me up at night. Zillow publishes monthly housing market reports that are cited in the press and shared by agents across the country. Redfin calls its data hub “the earliest and most authoritative data on the state of the housing market.”
Both of these companies built their audiences and brand equity on data that started within MLS.
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Please wait a moment for that. MLS sees price changes, new listings, pending contracts, and closed deals before anyone else. It contains the cleanest, most accurate, and most local picture of what’s really going on in the market. Still, when journalists want to know if it’s a buyer’s market, they call Zillow. Not MLS. That’s a problem worth solving.
What media companies actually do
Media companies do three things. Create content consistently, build your audience over time, and earn the trust that makes people a place to return to when they need real answers.
MLS has already acquired two of those three players. Just by existing, information is generated every day, with a precision that no portal can fully reproduce. What’s missing is a decision to package that information for an audience other than its members.
This gap is where major portals have entered. They’re not smarter than MLS. They previously understood that housing data is a media product, not just a utility.
assets that no one uses
MLS is based on data that most publishers would trade significant resources to access. Number of days on market by neighborhood. Ratio between list price and sales price. Inventory trends indicate what buyers and sellers will experience in the weeks before mainstream coverage covers it.
And here’s the important part. This means that much of this content can be shared publicly. Individual listing data cannot be shared in a way that identifies a particular broker. But will they publish monthly median sales prices by city? What is the inventory trend over 18 months? Is there a consumer explanation of absorption rates? All fair game. Portals have been doing that for years with your data.
The same consumers reading your market report are also looking for homes and agents. As the MLS becomes the go-to source for local market information, it becomes the natural starting point for consumers who are ready to find product information and connect with experts. Currently, Zillow captures the moment a consumer finishes reading a report. MLS could own that journey. Your audience is already looking for what you have. The question is, do you give them a reason to find you in the first place?
This will cost members
One of the things we often hear from agents is that they struggle to create consistent and insightful content. They know they should talk about the market. They don’t have the bandwidth to convert the raw numbers into something sellers actually want to read in their listing presentations.
Once an MLS becomes a recognized municipality regarding market conditions, it offers something truly useful to its members. Any agent who can point out an MLS market report in a listing presentation is borrowing the credibility of the institution. When an MLS is cited in a local paper, the agency that brings the brand into the conversation directly benefits.
This type of support is important in a market where agents are under pressure to prove they are worth the commission. It’s not a perk. That’s a reason to stay.
what this looks like in practice
You don’t have to hire a newsroom to become a media-oriented MLS. It requires a strategy, a pace of publication, and a commitment to continuous publication.
Monthly Consumer Market Report
One public document that answers the questions real people are actually asking. Is the market changing? How fast are homes selling? What does that mean for people who are buying and selling right now? Let’s put it in plain language. Include some simple graphs. Please keep it short enough that local journalists can quote and link to it.
Social content kit for members
Each month, we package 5-10 templated posts with graphics and short captions that members can use directly. There is one status. One quick takeaway. Members who are struggling to create content get a head start, and when members share their content, your MLS brand moves further.
Press-ready data packet
Every quarter, we send out a media kit to local news organizations that includes headline statistics, a glossary of common terms, and pre-written quote blocks that reporters can insert into their stories. By publishing on a predictable schedule, journalists begin to monitor releases the same way they monitor job numbers.
Member-only overview
Twice a month, we provide members with deeper data cuts and practical talking points. What does this change in inventory mean for the listing conversation? What do buyers need to understand about rate sensitivity at this point? This is membership value that is really hard to replicate elsewhere.
Zillow Research and Redfin’s data centers are built on exactly this type of regular, consistent format of content. The difference is that they’re using your data to do it. You can also make your own.
identity issues
Most MLS leaders I talk to think of their organizations as technology and compliance shops. That’s understandable. MLS was built to foster collaboration and maintain accuracy. But its identity has quietly hit a ceiling.
When a governance culture becomes too focused on risk management and no one takes responsibility for telling the MLS story to the outside world, the narrative void is filled by someone else. Right now, that other person is a publicly traded company monetizing its list of members to build its own audience.
The choice is not between being a content organization or being a compliance organization. It’s between telling your own story and letting others tell it.
A realistic first step
If you’re an MLS owner wondering where to start, here’s how I would approach it.
Choose 3-5 core stories that you will own for the next 12 months. Affordable price. stock. Time until sale. Neighborhood shift. Create a content calendar around what’s most important in your market.
We commit to a minimum viable publication schedule. Monthly public market reports, key points summaries for members, and quarterly media kits. These three things give us an edge over most MLSs in the country.
Then measure it the way media companies do. It’s not just page views. Track how often MLS is featured in local news. Check to see if your members are actually using your content kit. Tie these numbers to retention rates so leaders understand this is not a vanity project.
MLS is already powering the housing market story. Every market report published by Zillow, every trending article written by Redfin, and every local news story about rising prices or inventory crises starts with data flowing through our systems.
The question isn’t whether MLS has something to say. Apparently so. The question is whether MLS will say that.
The audience is there. The data is there. If you claim it, its authenticity is yours. All that’s missing is the decision to start.
Marci James is the founder of Be Inspired Digital. Connect with Marci on Linkedin and Instagram.
