After much debate in the industry, the National Association of REALTORS Board of Directors overwhelmingly supported this new policy that will govern what it means to be part of an MLS.
From a very high level, this new policy creates rules that will require agents to cooperate and get their clients the very highest price in the market. It will discourage "double-ending" transactions without market exposure. There were lots of reasons not to create this policy, but none of the individual issues made a strong enough argument in the eyes of the Realtors on the NAR Board of Directors to overcome the good that this policy will do for cooperation.
NAR's mandatory policy reads like this:
Within one (1) business day of marketing a property to the public, the listing broker must submit the listing to the MLS for cooperation with other MLS participants. Public marketing includes, but is not limited to, flyers displayed in windows, yard signs, digital marketing on public facing websites, brokerage website displays (including IDX and VOW), digital communications marketing (email blasts), multi-brokerage listing sharing networks, and applications available to the general public.
This policy has an implementation deadline of May 1st, 2020
CRMLS has been collecting input from members since November will finalize the rules for this policy by April 1, 2020. PSAR has had representatives from CRMLS here three times to present and get feedback from our members and Brokers. We are doing our best to roll this policy out in a way that will be least disruptive, but it will be incumbent on our members to adhere to these rules when they are rolled out.
Download this flyer to post and share in your office meetings:
Here is a brief video from CRMLS CEO Art Carter:
For deeper knowledge into the background and development of this policy, check the National Association of REALTORS page dedicated to this issue: https://www.nar.realtor/about-nar/policies/mls-clear-cooperation-policy