The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) recently approved a new MLS policy regarding the “Right of brokers to obtain an MLS data feed of their listing information.”
The policy, proposed by Council of MLS, references RESO standards:
A Multiple Listing Service must, upon request, promptly provide an MLS Participant (or the Participant’s designee) a data feed containing, at minimum, all active MLS listing content input into the MLS by or on behalf of the Participant and all of the Participant’s off-market listing content available in the MLS system. The delivery charges for the Participant’s listing content shall be reasonably related to the actual costs incurred by the MLS. The data feed must be in compliance with the RESO Standards as provided for in MLS Policy Statement 7.90.
Note: MLSs will not limit the use of the Participant’s listing content by the Participant or the Participant’s designee.
The policy takes effect Jan. 1, 2021, though MLSs could implement it earlier if they choose.
RESO Standards in Relation to NAR MLS Policy
As referenced in this new policy, NAR’s MLS Policy Statement 7.90 requires REALTOR® MLSs to be in compliance with current RESO standards. RESO certifies MLSs on RESO Data Dictionary and Web API standards.
RESO compliant data must follow the RESO Data Dictionary for standard naming of resources, fields, enumerations (picklists), and data types.
The standard method of transport RESO certifies is RESO Web API. RESO certified MLSs must have this transport available in production for participants who wish to access the data in this fashion.
Broker participants and MLSs may, in practice, agree to different traditional methods of transport (such as RETS or FTP) if this suits the participants’ needs.
For further information about RESO standards, please visit reso.org or contact us at info@reso.org.
