RISMEDIA, April 23, 2008-MLSListings Inc and Quattro (a 2007 MLS data sharing initiative comprised of the San Francisco Association of Realtors® , Bay Area Real Estate Information Services, Inc. and MetroList Services, Inc. ) announced they are forming an alliance to create the most complete MLS data share and reciprocal agreement in Northern California.
The four participating MLSs include 54,700 brokers and agents from 19 Northern California counties covering a market area of more than 29,000 square miles with a population 8.7 million.
Full reciprocal access data sharing allows users of a participating MLS to access the other participating MLSs and to use all of the features of those MLSs without having to pay additional subscriber or reciprocal fees. This cooperative agreement takes advantage of the unique character and rich data found in each participating MLS by enabling users to access all of the MLSs operating in their market area so they can better serve clients.
“It’s a natural progression,” said Jim Harrison, president and CEO of MLSListings Inc. “MLS data aggregation represents significant progress in providing Northern California subscribers with a single location to search for all MLS data in the marketplace, and to have a single source for data feeds, as well. Brokers and agents throughout the state have been asking for this for a long time. This partnership is an example of how MLS data aggregation can be accomplished through negotiation and the expertise of current MLS service providers.”
In addition to full reciprocal access data sharing, the agreement allows each participating MLS to maintain separate aggregated databases containing the data from all four MLSs. Users that prefer to see all of the data in a single location can use either one of the aggregated databases and avoid having to access each participating MLS separately. Another added benefit is that brokers who maintain proprietary software systems for use by their agents are able to download data from the four aggregated databases in a single data stream instead downloading data from each MLS individually.
“It’s clear that the door is wide open for more collaboration in our industry,” said Jim Fabris, CEO of the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®. “Our MLSs share the same philosophy and have the necessary experience. We also know what our broker and agent communities want, so we expect an expanding alliance.”
Brokers and agents will continue to obtain locally delivered services as they do now from their “home” MLS or MLS of their choice. The data aggregation and reciprocal access project is expected to be complete sometime in the third quarter of 2008.
