North Carolina Regional MLS (NCRMLS) announced an expansion that broadens its market footprint to cover 51% of North Carolina—and reaches into southern Virginia. NCRMLS now serves 449 cities and towns in 49 counties by adding the MLS of Roanoke Valley Lake Gaston Board of REALTORS® (MLS-RVLG) as its 16th Cooperative Member, they announced.
The Roanoke Valley Lake Gaston Board of REALTORS® notes that it promotes the success of its REALTORS® and Appraisers by enhancing the ‘Quality of Life’ in the Roanoke Valley/Lake Gaston Area, which includes North Carolina’s Vance, Warren, Halifax, Northampton, Hertford, Nash & Edgecombe counties and Virginia’s Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Greensville, and Southampton counties, plus the city of Emporia.
“The combination of reach, support, and the delivery of high-value products and services will help our REALTORS® conduct business, remain relevant, and be successful,” said Chris Triepke, association executive, MLS-RVLG.
According to the National Association of REALTORS® research, REALTORS® want one MLS platform without borders, one set of tools, and one governing structure with one set of rules. “When Associations and REALTORS® aligned their focus on precisely what REALTORS® want—a wholesale cooperative MLS was born,” said Daniel Jones, CEO of NCRMLS. “The REALTORS® wholesale cooperative regional MLS model attracts many new members like MLS-RVLG because NCRMLS gives REALTORS® what they want.”
NCRMLS is a unique wholesale cooperative regional MLS in which member associations and MLSs pay a wholesale price per member to the regional MLS; each member then charges its subscribers a retail price for MLS access. This model empowers the member associations to retain their identity and MLS profits to provide local services and support. In addition, this arrangement helps many of the member associations afford and deliver the same best-in-class products and services, thanks to the bulk purchasing power of the larger regional organization. The wholesale cooperative regional MLS model delivers greater economies of scale and efficiency compared to the alternatives, such as data-share models, according to NCRMLS.
“While data share works for some MLSs because it gives REALTORS® more data to view outside of their market area, it can have many hidden pitfalls when Realtors operate business across multiple MLSs, including different rules, documents, lockboxes, tools, field definitions, and more. Although sufficient for some MLSs, our member Realtors and appraisers desire more from us,” said Jody Wainio, NCRMLS president 2022.
“REALTORS® often reap greater benefits from the NCRMLS wholesale cooperative regional model because it simplifies access to data that spans multiple MLS boundaries while eliminating duplicative MLS memberships and fees,” adds Wainio.
Operating under one common and cooperative set of rules is in everyone’s best interest. It makes it easier for Realtors to conduct business, ensuring data integrity and fostering broker cooperation. However, in a data share model, Realtors must navigate different rulesets that can conflict when multiple MLSs operate in the same area. “What’s standard practice for one MLS may not be allowed by another, leading to confusion and frustration for Realtors and appraisers. NCRMLS’s one set of rules solves this problem,” said Jones.
“NCRMLS continues to grow because Realtors choose us, and Associations choose to work together for the Realtors. Data share among MLSs may be what Associations want, but does it deliver what Realtors want? We believe that the wholesale cooperative MLS is a win for everyone,” said Jones.
More information is online at ncrmls.com.
