“Is Open Real Estate a national MLS?”

That question, proffered by Open Real Estate itself on its website as soon as the initiative was launched, made it clear the founders—namely, AGNT (eXp and NextHome), HomeServices of America, Real REMAX Group and Keller Williams—knew that at least some in the industry would see that project in this way.

With many details still forthcoming, the new collaborative project certainly shares some MLS functions. Members directly input listings into a technology platform that syndicates them to other places—at Open Real Estate’s discretion—with standardized fields and submission rules.

Open Real Estate, however, says it is not a national MLS. It is promising to work with and support the larger MLS ecosystem, not “set or change” local rules.

The MLS community, while cautiously supportive, appears to be in a wait-and-see mode, as the initiative’s ambitious push for what it calls a “transparent and open” marketplace gets off the ground.

“I have deep, deep hope for this initiative,” says Jessie Edgerton, CEO of the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS). “In large part because of the people that are leading it.”

“I am also eager to understand more how this will work,” she adds.

One MLS executive, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly, said they supported the initiative and were eager to help in whatever way possible, while taking a different perspective on Open Real Estate’s place in the real estate ecosystem.

“I don’t think that these companies would be doing what they’re doing if they were happy MLS customers,” the MLS executive says. “They want a better way than what they are presented with right now.”

Open Real Estate has positioned itself implicitly opposite Compass, the mega-brokerage that has made criticism of MLS rules and restrictions a cornerstone of its campaign to reshape real estate. The initiative explicitly promises to address “friction” from “cloistered” housing inventory on private networks, broadly focused on sharing listings in the traditional cooperative model.

Compass notably celebrated the initiative, with CEO Robert Reffkin calling it a “national listing service that will return the power back to the creator of the listings.”

Richard Haggerty, CEO of OneKeyMLS in New York (which is currently facing off against Compass in federal court over listing policy), says he “feels good about (Open Real Estate’s) messaging,” while also waiting for more details. 

Haggerty noted that OneKey’s partnership with Occusell offers a similar listing entry and management function, and that the “concept” is something OneKey appreciates and understands.

“I think what is exciting about what they announced is some of their motivation, which is transparency, pro-consumer, trying to prevent a fractured marketplace,” he says. “Those things I wish everybody could get behind.”

Questions first

Open Real Estate explicitly allows agents to keep their listings on the initiative’s platform, and not syndicate it anywhere else, prompting many in the industry to argue Open Real Estate is functionally a private listing network.

Asked about this rule and those arguments, Edgerton says she needs more information. 

“They have said already, ’We will conform to local MLS rules.’ But what I would love to hear is a robust assurance that at a minimum, every listing in Open Real Estate will be provided to the Multiple Listing Service even as a registration,” she says.

The MLS executive who requested anonymity shared broadly the same sentiments, saying that taking Open Real Estate at its word, it would become “another marketing channel.”

“I’m not at all threatened,” they add.

In a letter to members, MARIS MLS, which covers 130 counties in Missouri and Illinois, offered similar restrained optimism, but said there are “large questions” regarding who will run the platform, as well as what collaboration with MLSs looks like.

“That being said, the MARIS Board of Directors believes it is important that we both take a position in support of the concept of ORE and make our stance known to our membership and the MLS community,” the letter reads.

There are also technical and practical questions around the initiative. Haggerty also notes that just getting his MLS set up with a platform like Occusell was a significant effort. Doing that at a national scale is “a pretty heavy lift.”
“Do I think it’s something they can accomplish? Yeah, I do. They just have to be laser focused,” he says.

Open Real Estate says it will be launching its platform in Q1 of next year, though at what scale or functionality is not clear.

The other MLS executive says they believe Open Real Estate has a “feasible” timeline, adding that the industry is much more standardized in its data and technology compared to the last time brokers tried something like this.  

Another seemingly inevitable comparison for Open Real Estate is Upstream, the broker-owned data platform that had largely similar goals and functionality in the mid-2010s. Edgerton says Open Real Estate needs to quickly address this.

“I don’t think at all that is what we are looking at, but I think that the perception that this is sort of an ‘Upstream 2.0’ is deeply, deeply perilous to the success of this initiative. And I would implore my friends who are working to make this happen to please make sure that they are communicating robustly and early how this will be different,” she says.

The MLS executive noted that Upstream tried to start with an add/edit, and also launched at a time when data was much less consistent and standard than it is today.

“It’s not going to be that hard to standardize a handful of fields to submit to MLSs,” they said.

Standing on principle

At its core, Open Real Estate is positioning itself as a decisionmaker, not just a data aggregator. The initiative retains “full discretion” over where listings are syndicated, and has already affirmed that members must submit properties in one day, aligning with the Clear Cooperation policy.

A spokesperson for Keller Williams said Open Real Estate had not yet decided whether stats like days on market or price drops must be displayed as Compass (and some MLSs) have “suppressed” that information under some circumstances. 

Asked whether she is concerned about the concentration of power or rules, Edgerton says she is not.

“I know that there are ways to structure this that are pro-competitive, that will provide the space for local and regional MLSs to continue to thrive, that will work as an interconnecting layer rather than a suffocating blanket,” she says.

What does that look like? Again, Edgerton says she is happy to wait to hear more, and engage with the Open Real Estate founding brokerages on the details.

“The more quickly they can provide those answers, the more they will have the industry, I think, rallying behind them,” she says.

Haggerty and Edgerton both emphasize that it is the promise to maintain the “open” MLS marketplace that is most appealing to them. Edgerton adds that she believes the people behind Open Real Estate are “deeply good humans and powerful leaders.”

“I believe (they) really have the health of the real estate industry in the long term at the forefront of what they do,” she says.

Haggerty says OneKey is “willing to work with anybody” to achieve what he says are “pretty simple” goals.

He adds that OneKey believes that principles of “informed seller choice and consumer choice” can, in fact, coexist with “a pro-competitive marketplace and a transparent marketplace.”

The MLS executive who requested anonymity said they viewed the positive impacts of Open Real Estate more pragmatically, as something that would push MLSs to stay focused on their original mandate of standardizing, aggregating and making data easy to work with.

“I feel like it’s going back to basics. And sometimes MLSs can get too far afield of what their core mission is and it shows up for the brokers, who at the end of the day have to really focus on what matters,” they said.

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