Op-Ed: MLSs can build what brokers want or brokers will do it

On Monday, four of the largest brokerage companies in the country — Keller Williams, HomeServices of America, eXp’s parent AGNT and Real REMAX Group, roughly 300,000 agents between them — announced Open Real Estate, a shared listing database that would sit alongside the MLS. The first questions have been about execution, and they are fair. But the more useful question for anyone who runs an MLS is why these brokers felt they needed to build it. Here is what ORE proposes. An agent enters a listing once, within one business day of signing the listing agreement. The seller chooses who sees it: a participant view for agents at member brokerages, or a market view that goes to MLSs, portals, appraisers and everyone else. We believe those marketing options are too limited, but we support the central idea that brokers keep ownership of their listings and share in whatever value the data generates. ORE faces challenges. No MLS has committed to take its listings, though MARIS in St. Louis told its members this week that it supports the idea and “recognizes there is room for improvement.” The vendor won’t be chosen until early 2027, and broker-led single points of entry have stalled before. B...