Caitlin McCrory and Robert Refkin write that fragmented power structures and binary “all-in or all-out” rules are no longer compatible with today’s demands. Here’s how they think MLS needs to evolve.
The new narrative for our industry should be a rallying cry. On behalf of the broader securities community, we are advocating for the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to return to what it was: a B2B engine for professional collaboration.
Real estate is a business built on the stability of professional relationships, and that stability is currently being undermined by a system that has traded its core mission for a culture of overregulation.
Historically, the MLS was not intended to control how homes were sold. It was designed for mutual sharing of information among associates to facilitate real estate sales. In this model, real estate professionals were the customers and the MLS was the service. Its main value was to make it easier for one agent to work with another.
Jeff Lewis, former chief legal officer of RE/MAX, said at the 2006 Department of Justice/FTC Workshop on Competition Policy and the Real Estate Industry: “The concept is simple: Once you have customers, you can use the MLS with them. The concept is not: You have free access to the MLS, and you use it to advertise your competitors’ properties to attract customers.”
Over time, MLS has drifted. It has moved beyond its role as a collaborative platform to a system of rules and enforcement that regulates how agents sell homes, governs the distribution of data, and dictates how professionals are “allowed” to serve their clients.
The industry is now recognizing a fundamental disconnect. Fragmented power structures and binary “all in or all out” rules no longer fit the demands of today’s professionals.
If our advocacy feels more pointed these days, it’s because we have to put ourselves in the shoes of key stakeholders in an environment that is increasingly disconnected from what real estate professionals and their clients actually want.
Our goal is to cooperate with all brokers
The strength of MLS comes entirely from its members. It continues to exist only if it serves the needs of those who facilitate its existence. We are deeply interested in cooperating with other brokers. I would like to share the list. However, MLS should be in the cooperation business, not the marketing business.
MLS’s strength stems solely from the participation of its members. They can only survive if they can meet the needs of their members and the clients they serve.
Compass International Holdings advocates for recovery, not destruction. A return to what MLS was and should be again: a collaborative platform that helps real estate professionals serve their clients.
Seller’s Choice Over MLS Obligations
Sellers have the right to choose when, where, and how to sell their home. This includes choosing a coming-to-public strategy that gives sellers flexibility such as final preparations, added privacy, and extensive pre-launch price testing. MLS should support that choice, not limit it.
If MLS rules force disclosure, the seller’s intent is defeated. They are asking real estate professionals to choose between following their clients’ legitimate seller-directed marketing plans or losing access to the MLS.
This is an all-or-nothing mandate that will eventually force sellers and brokers to look outside the MLS to protect their strategy and privacy. Rigid systems do not maintain cooperation. It drives it away.
To remain a relevant and effective tool for modern real estate professionals, MLSs must evolve their rules.
Our specific requests center on privacy expectations and strategy for our clients.
Eliminate arbitrary timelines: The length of time a property remains in Coming Soon status should be determined by the seller and their real estate professional, not by a deadline set by the MLS. There is no market-based reason to force automatic activation triggers. Stop punishing listings before they are released. The Coming Soon stage should not accumulate a history of days on market or price changes. These metrics are routinely used by third-party platforms to frame listings as obsolete or defective before they are fully introduced to the market. That’s not transparency and hurts the seller. Seller-centric distribution control: The right to decide where to broadcast real estate data belongs to the seller. The MLS should be a hub for real estate professionals to easily share property information with each other, but it shouldn’t be an automated pipeline that pushes seller photos and data into competing lead generation systems without explicit, informed consent.
Some argue that restrictive rules “protect the system.” In fact, they break it. When the MLS refuses to adapt to how sellers actually want to market their homes, a vacuum is created. Ignoring pre-marketing strategies and seller-driven privacy will not keep the MLS as a source of truth. It erodes it.
All rules must pass a simple test. Does this respect the seller’s intentions and help real estate professionals serve their customers?
Real estate professionals fail when policy prioritizes data distribution over homeowner strategy and privacy.
MLS can only remain strong if it evolves with the professionals behind it. Now is the time to listen to their voices.
Caitlin McCrory is Vice President and Director of Industrial Relations for Compass International Holdings. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Robert Refkin is Chairman and CEO of Compass International Holdings.
