Stellar MLS launched Stellar MLS Home Search today at StellarMLS.com, powered by the Broker Public Portal’s Cribio technology. With more than 75,000 customers across 20 associations in Florida and Puerto Rico, Stellar is one of the largest MLSs in the country, and its decision reflects a broader shift. MLSs across the country are independently reaching the same conclusion about how best to serve their customers.
The site is clean. No advertising, no paid placement, no lead generation layered on top of the search. Listings come straight from the MLS and refresh in minutes, so what consumers see is accurate and current.
But the most important design choice is not what was left out. It is who was put in front. Every listing carries prominent attribution to the broker and agent representing the seller, and every consumer inquiry goes directly to the listing agent.
That matters because nobody knows more about a property than the broker representing the seller. Not a call center agent three states away. Not whoever bought the zip code this month. The listing agent walked the home, talked with the seller, knows the age of the roof and the story behind the renovation and why the morning light hits the kitchen the way it does. A home search site should be a true representation of that relationship, connecting the consumer with the professional who holds the most knowledge about the property on the screen.
This is also great marketing for brokers and agents, at a cost of fifty cents per agent per month. Their listings, their branding, their leads, delivered through an experience they can confidently send clients to. That is half the price of the product that was brought to market initially, back when the industry was renting the software instead of owning it. In a business built on relationships, being the trusted place your clients search is worth far more than any ad campaign.
The history here runs deeper than the recent headlines suggest. At its peak, the Broker Public Portal properly managed the listings of over 1 million agents. The platform continues to grow and thrive today under the leadership of Dan Troup and his expert team of developers. The reason is straightforward: dozens of MLSs across the country have independently chosen it to power their consumer search, and dozens more are in the pipeline. Each one made its own decision, based on what delivers the most value to its own customers.
One more component of the Broker Public Portal deserves attention: who owns it. It is owned by brokerages and MLSs who have no profit motive. They own the technology. They do not rent it. And the structure makes the alignment permanent. Owners can receive no dividends, nor can they redeem their shares. Nobody is building toward an exit or extracting a return. The only possible payoff is a better search experience for consumers and more value for the agents, brokers, and sellers the industry serves.
That is what makes this the most important strategy MLSs are pursuing in the service of their customers today. Not a top-down mandate or an industry pact, but independent MLSs each deciding for themselves to deliver the product that represents the most value to real estate agents, brokers, and the sellers they represent: a search experience built on accurate data and organized around the professionals who know the homes best.
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Stellar MLS Launches Home Search to Give Customers a Trusted, Direct Connection to Consumers
New public-facing search experience delivers accurate MLS listing data without advertising or paid placement
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (Sept. 29, 2026) –Stellar MLS, one of the largest and most influential multiple listing services in the nation, has launched Stellar MLS Home Search, a public-facing home-search experience designed to provide consumers with accurate listing information directly from the MLS while supporting and strengthening the relationships between Stellar customers and their clients.
As the home-search landscape continues to evolve, Stellar MLS is providing its customers with a trusted, direct resource they can confidently recommend to clients – one built on comprehensive MLS data, free from advertising, paid placement and lead-generation models.
Designed to support rather than compete with brokers and agents, Stellar MLS Home Search provides consumers with a straightforward way to search Stellar MLS listings while preserving prominent attribution for the real estate professionals who represent them. Consumer inquiries go directly to the listing agent rather than being sold or routed to competing advertisers.
“We’re offering the public home search now because the home-search landscape keeps shifting, and Stellar customers deserve a steady, trusted place to point clients – one where they can find the full picture of homes for sale, built on data they can trust and without the interference of ads or lead-generation schemes,” said Shayne Fairley, CEO of Stellar MLS. “The industry conversation around home search will continue to evolve. Our focus remains where it has always been: on our customers and giving them the tools and resources they need to serve their clients.”
Stellar MLS is a shareholder in Broker Public Portal (BPP), an industry-led initiative founded by real estate brokerages and MLS organizations to provide a national consumer home-search experience powered by MLS data. Stellar MLS Home Search is powered by BPP’s Cribio technology, providing the underlying search capabilities for the Stellar-branded experience.
“Stellar MLS choosing BPP to help drive its pace of innovation is a significant moment for us,” said Dan Troup, CEO of Broker Public Portal. “Their scale, vision, and expectations pushed our team to think bigger and move faster. Stellar challenged us to create a search experience that delivers greater value to its agents and members, and we’re thrilled with the outcome. What made this implementation special was the passion on both sides. The Stellar and BPP teams were committed to building something genuinely different, and together they delivered. The work we’ve done with Stellar has not only created something powerful for their market, it has helped shape the future of BPP.”
For Stellar MLS customers, the Home Search helps maintain the integrity of listing information while prominently attributing listings to the broker and agent and routing consumer inquiries directly to the listing agent. Free from advertising, paid placement and lead-generation tactics, the experience is designed to support customer relationships without competing with broker and agent websites.
For consumers, Stellar MLS Home Search provides access to Stellar MLS listings approved for public display, refreshing listings in minutes, so new homes and status changes appear quickly. The service connects consumers directly with the listing agent when they inquire about a property and offers an ad-free search experience with no paid placement or preferential treatment in search results.
Stellar MLS Home Search is available at StellarMLS.com from desktop and mobile browsers. There is no cost to Stellar MLS customers or consumers to access or use the service.
About Stellar MLS
Stellar MLS is the multiple listing service for real estate professionals who value clarity, stability, and support in a real estate market and industry defined by change. As one of the largest and most influential multiple listing services in the nation, Stellar MLS serves more than 75,000 customers and supports real estate agents and brokers across 20 REALTOR® associations in Central, Southwest and North Florida and Puerto Rico. Its extensive footprint allows Stellar MLS to deliver a broader suite of cutting-edge products and services, and more opportunities for customers to do business than almost any other MLS. Stellar MLS creates conditions within which real estate professionals can succeed, the housing market can thrive, and people who seek homeownership have every opportunity to achieve it.
About Broker Public Portal
Founded in 2014, Broker Public Portal (BPP) is a nationwide alliance of MLSs and brokerages working together to deliver a consumer-first home search experience powered directly by source MLS data. Its flagship platform, Cribio, offers ad-free property search built on trust and Fair Display Guidelines. Learn more at www.brokerpublicportal.com and www.cribio.com
