At the now-concluded REALTORS® Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington DC, National Association of Realtors (NAR) CEO, Dale Stinton announced an initiative to partner with the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) to better marry the two and better serve Realtor members. Whew, that was a mouthful. (tl;dr: NAR + CMLS = new partnership)
Stinton tells us that no money is changing hands between the groups for the duration of this collaboration, rather “this is a partnership built on common interest to serve Realtors®.”
The partnership has been approved by the CMLS board and the NAR leadership team and will cross-pollinate discussions with NAR and CMLS committees.
Stinton asserts, “The agreement will stay in effect as long as both parties find the relationship to be useful and beneficial.”
The mechanics behind moving forward
Going forward, both organizations will provide reports to each others’ leadership annually to continue exploring potential MLS collaborations and consolidations and ultimately create an annual meeting for both leadership teams to meet with members of the brokerage community.
NAR will appoint three CMLS-specific seats to the NAR MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board, two CMLS members will join the AE Institution Curriculum Advisory Board, and one CMLS member will hold a seat on the NAR Association Executive Committee.
Additionally, the two organizations plan to collaborate on a “game changers” program to create the next big MLS ideas to improve the industry.
NAR had no way to interact formally
“NAR has always wanted to have an open exchange of ideas and information with its MLS partners,” opined Stinton. “The vast majority of our local associations conducts or partners with those that conduct MLS activities.”
He continues, “NAR had no organization to interact with that spoke collectively for those in the MLS community; we believe CMLS has grown and matured to the point where the exchange of issues and information can now be very productive and have credibility.”
Stinton concludes, “We are very excited about this new commitment to work more closely together.”
#NARCMLS
