Nashville MLS previously threatened to reduce Zillow’s listing feed in the region today. He said the parties are negotiating how to compensate brokers for the listing data that powers Zillow.
The MLS, which powers the real estate industry in Nashville and elsewhere, stopped short of cutting off Zillow’s access to the extensive list of homes for sale that powers its portal.
Realtrax announced last week that it plans to follow in the footsteps of Chicago’s MRED MLS and cut off direct access to the market’s listed stocks starting June 1, citing Zillow’s violation of the market’s listing rules.
Once MRED disconnected Zillow’s feed, the portal immediately lost more than half of its Chicagoland listings, and Zillow said this would cause irreparable damage.
Realtracs announced on Sunday that it was in talks with Zillow and followed suit, setting a new deadline of June 8th.
“As the current license agreement approaches expiration on June 8, Realtrax continues to actively negotiate with Zillow and is committed to minimizing disruption to brokers and their customers through this process,” Realtrax said in a statement over the weekend.
The MLS said it is focused on ensuring brokers receive compensation for the use of listing content.
This runs into a core problem some in the industry have with Zillow and other search portals that receive listings via the MLS and monetize by leveraging the vast audiences they’ve amassed from consumers viewing the listings.
“RealTrax maintains that brokers own their property data, and the organization is negotiating on behalf of its members to ensure that platforms such as Zillow, which rely on property information created by brokers and agents to operate their businesses, recognize the value of that work,” the company said.
The judge overseeing Zillow’s lawsuit against MRED and Compass has issued a temporary restraining order restoring the data feed in Chicagoland while the parties continue to fight in court.
RealTrax CEO Stuart White said in a statement that MLS is focused on serving its members.
“That means providing a platform that protects seller choice, recognizes the value of broker-generated listing content, and fosters collaboration while retaining flexibility and opportunity for everyone involved in the transaction,” White said in a statement.
In late April, Realtracks announced it would expand beyond its traditional regional reach and accept subscribers anywhere in the country. In the same announcement, Realtrax announced it had secured a full listing from Compass International Holdings and United Real Estate.
MRED announced a similar expansion just a week ago, also securing a listing for Compass.
As with the MRED expansion, Compass offered membership fee subsidies to Compass agents who join Realtracks as full members.
If Zillow loses its direct feed in Nashville, brokers wishing to list on the platform could enter into their own agreements with Zillow, as they did in Chicago.
Email Taylor Anderson
