The sourceMLS™ initiative is set to launch next week at the Council of MLS meetings in Huntington Beach, CA and I am excited! If you are displaying a listing from the MLS, you can display the sourceMLS Logo. It’s that simple. Think of it as the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
This is a no-frills way for every listing agent, every listing broker, and every MLS to finally identify the value of a listing to the consumer. There is not a day that goes by when a consumer is not bilked by dozens of inaccurate, incomplete, expired, or just flat out phony listings on so many websites. By simple extension though affiliation, the consumer does not know that a broker or agent website is not equally riddled with the same listing errors found on non-IDX sites. Our industry must change this, or the consumer-facing side of real estate listings will be no better than craigslist.
Guidelines
The soureMLS guidelines are pretty straightforward, and they can be viewed here in their entirety http://sourcemls.org/guidelines/. To make it simple to understand, if your site is compliant with IDX, you almost assuredly will be compliant with the sourceMLS program. But don’t take my word for it. Read the guidelines.
I sat on this committee at CMLS in its beginning. The result is not very far from our recommendation. It was an honor to serve with so many of the passionate volunteers who are fighting to help brokers and agents remain the #1 resource for real estate information and services. I am sure that there will be critics, as there always are in real estate. But I beg to think about it in this light.
Why not?
I really cannot see a possible reason why MLSs would not want to support their brokers with this benefit. The branding is neutral and the promise is clear. If this solution is well adopted, it will only be a matter of months before consumers realize that if the badge is not on the site displaying the listing, they can’t trust it. That is a buoy for agents and brokers at a time when so many websites have inaccurate content.
Visit sourceMLS.org today.
How will consumers know that it is the “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval?
Great question Frank – I think that will be the most serious challenge to the effectiveness of the program. The answer is that it will take Marketing – and the MLSs that opt into the program will be supplied with communications that will support them in the effort to promote the seal with consumers.