MLS executives weigh Open Real Estate and listing control

The announcement of the Open Real Estate initiative caused quite a stir this week, as industry professionals and analysts ponder how the national residential real estate data-sharing initiative will fit into the real estate ecosystem and what impact it will have. On the surface, the initiative, which is focused on fostering agent and broker cooperation through the sharing of residential real estate listings and includes a rule that requires members to submit a property to the Open Real Estate database within one business day of signing a listing agreement with a homeowner, may sound a lot like the MLS. But, the leaders of the initiatives’ four founding brokerage firms, AGNT, (the parent company of eXp Realty and NextHome franchises), HomeServices of America, Keller Williams Realty and Real REMAX Group, all RealTrends Verified brokerages, have said that Open Real Estate is not a national MLS and is in no way replacing local MLSs. According to initial announcements regarding Open Real Estate, listings input into its database will then be pushed out to the MLS and other portals and sites, or the listing can be directly entered into a brokerage’s local MLS, which will then supply the l...