Pooled MLS Listings in California Create New Opportunities for Realtors and Buyers

A new agreement between California Regional MLS — the country’s largest MLS – and MLSListings Inc. will soon allow over 88,000 brokers and agents in two of California’s largest MLS services to access each others’ information and offer listings from across the state on their websites.

MLSListings has over 16,000 members and is the third largest MLS in California, while California Regional MLS is the country’s largest with 72,000 members. MLSListings has nearly 4,000 listings in Northern California, while California Regional MLS has 47,000 active listings across the state. The two companies account for a great share of the listings in California.

The two MLSs call this arrangement “a new era in cooperation” to serve the needs of “everyone who uses MLSs as their first source for real estate listings data,” said Art Carter, CEO of California Regional MLS.

In an interview with Inman News, MLSListings President and CEO Jim Harrison said this cooperation is important as Realtors want listing information in a single place.

Currently, agents must go through several multiple listing services systems to find data in nearby markets. After the integration is complete, both MLSs will provide combined listing data on their respective websites: HomeSeekers.com for California Regional MLS and MLSListings.com for MLSListings.

This data sharing plan will help agents assist buyers moving from one area of California to another and provide statewide exposure for listings. Agents will also have more information to advise sellers and clients across the state and provide a single location for buyers and sellers to find property information.

The data sharing integration will be finished by early September, at which point members will be able to access all listing data from both MLSs in their respective MLS platform.

This is not the first alliance California Regional MLS has made, as it has created partnerships with several MLSs and associations over the years with an ultimate goal of creating a statewide MLS.

California Regional MLS is also set to pull away from a joint venture of California MLSs that aggregate listings into a single database — California Real Estate Technology Services (CARETS) — in June. Before it withdraws, it hopes to sign new data-sharing agreements with other MLSs that participate in CARETS. So far, California Regional MLS has not had luck in signing up other MLSs that belong to CARETS.