Realtor.com® announced on Jan. 21 the public debut of Realtor.com®+, a home search platform built in collaboration with MLSs, intended to help real estate professionals and consumers “connect, collaborate and close with confidence.” Designed to elevate the search experience and strengthen MLS and professional value, Realtor.com+ hopes to set a new standard for transparency, insights and agent-client collaboration, according to the company.
“Realtor.com was born from the partnership between the National Association of Realtors® and MLSs, and for three decades we’ve championed an open marketplace that delivers transparency and meaningful value to consumers and professionals,” said Damian Eales, CEO of Realtor.com, in a release.
Realtor.com+ incorporates advanced agent-client collaborative capabilities leveraging Zenlist technology, an industry search solution recently acquired by Realtor.com and already in use by leading MLSs, top brokerages and another 35,000 agents nationwide. Some of what the platform intends to deliver to participating MLSs and their subscribers and clients includes:
- Seamless integration into MLS ecosystems, providing tools and data insights directly through workflows professionals already use.
- Intuitive search and collaboration in a mobile-first tool, enabling professionals to search with MLS filters, share listings and chat with clients, and auto-plan tour routes in a mobile- and desktop-friendly platform.
- Brand continuity through a protected search experience that maintains agent, brokerage and MLS branding across every page, with no competing lead forms.
- Client insights, giving agents real-time visibility into clients’ search activity and preferences, along with local market intelligence reports.
- A collaborative, transparent consumer experience designed to give buyers and sellers a guided, low-friction path from first click to close, with real-time chat and a direct connection to collaborate with their agent at every stage.
The platform is now live for all 20,000-plus subscribers of Canopy MLS in Charlotte, North Carolina, with agreements signed to expand into 15 additional MLS markets in the coming weeks and months. Live and signed agreements represent over 122,000 real estate professionals, Realtor.com noted.
Anna Marie Castiglioni, head of Realtor.com Next, which leads the design and delivery of innovative solutions across the Realtor.com ecosystem that deepen relationships with industry professionals, consumers and customers, told RISMedia that Realtor.com+ is a game-changer for the company, and hopefully for the industry as well.
“This is our big bet,” she said. “This is redefining the next chapter of what the company is, and it’s the largest collaboration that we have embarked on probably since our inception 30 years ago. When you think about the partnership with the industry, the MLSs in particular are doubling down, if you will, a kind of recommitment to the openness and transparency that makes the U.S. real estate system so great.
“This is a big shift in departure from the way that we’ve traditionally done business as well,” she continued. “We will continue to support and serve the clients that we have today, the agents and professionals that rely on our leads business, but this opens up a whole new horizon for how we can partner with the industry to bring more cutting-edge tools to professionals to elevate their role. So for us, this is an incredible moment and milestone that we’re really excited about.”
When Castiglioni was asked what makes Realtor.com+ fundamentally different from anything else out there, she explained that the platform has already proven its value through an extensive beta period.
“We have been live with early-access users in seven markets for the last several months,” she said. “Plus Zenlist has been operating independently for many years before we acquired them. So this is agent-tested, a well-adopted tool that we are incredibly confident in its ability to supercharge and deliver results on day one. We’ve got 16 of the top 100 MLSs already on board. That’s pretty incredible for a product that hasn’t even launched.”
“What makes this different is the scale of the collaboration,” added Castiglioni. “This isn’t a pilot—it’s the largest multi-MLS, co-branded portal partnership ever, designed to really empower professionals, elevate the search experience for them and their clients, and strengthen the value of the pro and MLS.”
According to Castiglioni, Realtor.com is “uniquely positioned as the only nationwide portal that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the industry because that’s back to our genesis in terms of why we were created in the first place.”
“We’ve had several of the MLSs tell us that they understand the scale and the investment,” she said. “We take that kind of responsibility really seriously. We don’t want to break that trust, which is why we’re so excited to be bringing them along and having them help shape where we go with this partnership.”
With 16 MLSs on board, Realtor.com+ is launching with Canopy.
“They have been a fantastic thought partner in helping us shape this, along with many other MLSs across the U.S.,” said Castiglioni. “We’ve got probably another couple dozen with agreements that we’re going through the various phases of negotiating with now. We’ve spoken to probably 90 of the top 100 MLSs. When you think about that kind of scope, our ability to do that is pretty incredible over the last handful of months. We expect after the launch to be several other announcements of others joining.”
Anne Marie DeCatsye, CEO of Canopy Realtor® Association and Canopy MLS, noted that Realtor.com+ is arriving at exactly the right moment for the industry.
“As other players move toward closed ecosystems that don’t always serve the best interests of agents, brokerages or MLSs, Realtor.com® has taken a different path, one that champions openness, collaboration and professional empowerment,” she said. “They’re the only portal that isn’t also a brokerage, and that matters. By integrating directly into the MLS and delivering tools designed for our subscribers—not in competition with them—Realtor.com+ strengthens our members, supports their clients and reinforces the value of the MLS. We’re proud to join forces with a company that truly shares our commitment to an open, transparent marketplace.”
Realtor.com+ launches at a pivotal moment, according to the company, when open marketplace and agent-first solutions are more critical than ever. It’s the largest multi‑MLS, co‑branded portal collaboration of its kind since the inception of online MLS data‑sharing agreements, the organization asserts, and sets out to prove portals can innovate at scale while keeping MLSs and professionals at the heart of the real estate ecosystem.
“Realtor.com+ modernizes that legacy by putting more powerful tools into more agents’ hands than any product in our history, keeping professionals at the center of the transaction, and giving MLSs the valuable AI-driven capabilities and member tools they need to lead the industry forward,” said Eales in the release. “But this isn’t just another tool. It’s a step forward in strengthening the marketplace, empowering MLSs and agents, and enhancing the search experience for consumers.”
Additional signed MLSs include: Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS), Central Texas MLS, Hive MLS, MLS United, Bonita Springs–Estero REALTORS®, All Jersey MLS, MLSListings Inc, bridgeMLS, MLS of Southern Arizona, Memphis Area Association of REALTORS®, Hawaii Information Service, Spokane REALTORS®, Bay East Association of REALTORS®, Contra Costa Association of REALTORS® and Southern Missouri Regional MLS.
According to the release, Realtor.com+ has also secured future integrations with real estate technology and solution providers Realtors Property Resource®, DocuSign and Hover aimed at enabling greater functionality, smoother workflows, stronger connectivity and easier access to the products real estate professionals use regularly.
