Guest Post from The Realty Alliance on MLS Strategy
Craig Cheatham, CEO of The Realty Alliance posted some brokerage positioning on social media that WAV Group was granted permission to republish.
Clear Cooperation Is Encouraging Office Exclusives and Reducing MLS Cooperation
The debate around Clear Cooperation has focused on transparency, but an overlooked reality is emerging: restrictive MLS policies may actually encourage more office-exclusive listings. This analysis explores why giving brokers greater flexibility while still requiring MLS cooperation could reduce private listings and strengthen the cooperative marketplace.
Your MLS Brand Should Reflect Who You’ve Become
For most of our industry's history, MLSs were named for geography or function. A county, a region, a data exchange. Those names made sense when an MLS was understood as little more than a shared database. But that is not what today's agents, brokers, and appraisers expect, and it is no longer what the best MLSs actually are.
Why Recognizing and Rewarding Brokers for their Listings Strengthens the Cooperative MLS Marketplace
As MLS organizations explore broker rewards, ownership models, and revenue sharing, a larger conversation is emerging about recognizing the businesses that create the listing inventory powering the cooperative marketplace. Marilyn Wilson examines why broker recognition is becoming a strategic investment in the future of the MLS.
OneKeyMLS Search Site Powered by Cribio is a Breakthrough
Learn how OneKey MLS and Broker Public Portal are redefining MLS consumer websites through Cribio's shared technology platform—combining AI-ready infrastructure, local branding, and continuous innovation into one scalable solution.
Your MLS Can Be National too – You just haven’t promoted it that way yet
MLS of Choice acknowledged a truth that MLSs need to compete more aggressively today: brokerage operations do not always fit neatly into legacy MLS boundaries. Brokers operate across markets today, and a handful are national. Agents hold licenses in multiple states. Consumers move, invest, retire, relocate, and buy second homes across the country. Technology platforms are not dependent on a local office, a local association boundary, or a local physical presence.
Stop Giving AI Another Broker’s Listing
Artificial intelligence has opened a new distribution channel for MLS listing data—but the rules governing that data never anticipated ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity. This article examines how AI integrations are challenging the cooperative framework that has protected broker-owned listings for decades and outlines immediate actions MLSs should take to regain control.
When Everything Is Uncertain, Go Back to the Basics
The MLS industry has navigated a lot over the years. Market downturns, technology disruptions, competitive threats, and structural debates that seemed existential at the time. What the organizations that came through those periods strongest had in common was not that they reacted the fastest or made the boldest bets. They stayed closest to their customers. That lesson feels more relevant right now than it has in years.
Valley MLS and Many MLSs Are Recognizing the Power of Controlling Their Own Data Destiny
For years, MLSs have been told that their data is their greatest asset. But in too many markets, MLSs do not have the level of direct control, visibility, flexibility, or monetization power they need to fully protect and leverage that asset. That is beginning to change.
The new Zillow Workspace: Convenient tool or brokerage replacement?
Zillow’s new pitch for the new Zillow Workspace sounds so friendly, so helpful, and so wonderfully efficient: “Your business, your tools, one workspace.” Zillow has looked across the real estate industry, seen the frustrating burden of accessing technologies from multiple log-ins, and heroically stepped in to save the day. Zillow Workspace is being positioned as the agent’s “command center” for real estate efficiency. It brings together access to Zillow tools, Follow Up Boss, Dotloop, ShowingTime, Showcase, listing media, showing activity, deal activity, and the promise of lots more integrations to come.
Keeping the Wheels on the Bus: The MLS’s Role in Balancing Broker Needs and Market Stability
The MLS exists to create and maintain an organized marketplace where competing brokerages can cooperate while still competing vigorously for business. That marketplace only functions when there are clear rules, consistent enforcement, and a commitment to balancing the interests of all participants. The challenge for every MLS is determining how to remain broker-centric and customer-focused while still defining and protecting the greater good.
Introducing Project NexusRE: Helping MLSs Build the AI Future They Own
Project NexusRE is a new industry-led initiative designed to help MLSs navigate AI governance, data protection, and innovation. Learn how NorthstarMLS, REcore, and WAV Group are working together to create trusted infrastructure that empowers the real estate industry to shape its own AI future.