Just before midnight tonight, a star will officially be born: specifically, Stellar MLS.
The third largest multiple listing service in the nation and the largest in Florida has been My Florida Regional MLS since 1993. But after 26 years, the company decided it was time for a rebrand that reflected its focus on its 58,000 agent and broker customers and its plans for expansion.
Stellar comes with new customer profiles and a revamped educational platform, both of which are focused on providing agents and brokers with a “curated customer journey” that provides them with the right information at the right time given where they are in their career, instead of inundating them with announcements and updates that may be irrelevant to them.
According to a countdown clock at StellarMLS.com, the MLS’s website will go live at 11:30 p.m. Eastern.
Screen shot of home page of StellarMLS.com
With its debut, the MLS will begin “aggressively extending the invitation for others to join Stellar,” a company spokesperson told Inman via email.
“Today, Stellar MLS officially debuts a new age of MLS, with an unmatched customer experience that gives brokers and their agents the power to prosper with data,” said Merri Jo Cowen, CEO of Stellar MLS, in a statement.
Merri Jo Cowen
“We are excited to share this extraordinary opportunity with other like-minded Associations looking to thrive by providing exceptional customer service.”
Stellar MLS currently has 14 Realtor association shareholders throughout Central and Southwest Florida and provides MLS services to three other Realtor associations, including the Puerto Rico Association of Realtors.
As part of its push for further expansion, Stellar MLS is printing up a new recruiting brochure aimed at encouraging MLS consolidation.
The brochure notes that Florida has 34 MLSs total and spells out the headaches that agents and brokers have to deal with when they have to join multiple MLSs to do business, including entering listings more than once, higher costs and disparate rules.
“It’s illogical to have more than one MLS serve a market area. With dozens of MLSs in Florida, the waste of time, money and energy is palpable,” the brochure says.
“Today, it surfaces as broker frustration. Tomorrow, it could become the reason that brokers and agents come to rely on third parties other than the MLS, because they’re simply easier to do business with.”
The brochure touts how Stellar MLS enhances Realtor associations and ends with a question that may be on the minds of association or MLS executives nearing retirement: “Everyone wants to leave a legacy. What will yours be?”
Screen shot of StellarMLS.com, courtesy of Stellar MLS
The brochure will be available upon request from StellarMLS.com, at industry conferences and trade shows and “as other MLSs reach out to us and ask us about StellarMLS we will send them a copy as well,” Cowen told Inman via email.
When asked whether Stellar will actively send the brochure out to Realtor associations, Stellar declined to comment on specific marketing strategies for competitive reasons.
Joining Stellar is a way for associations and MLSs to control their own consolidation destiny and enhance their future, Stellar MLS President Brad Monroe said in a statement.
“For Associations and MLSs who believe in transparency, trust, and respect, Stellar is designed for you and your members. We’re providing an opportunity that will help members become extraordinarily happy with their MLS,” he said.
Inman recognized My Florida Regional MLS (now Stellar) for its innovation in 2017. The MLS has been a proponent of data standards from the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO), was the first MLS in the country to deploy a Spanish language version of its platform, is a member of the MLS Grid, and was the first MLS to launch Remine’s new Enterprise Pro offering.
Stellar intends to take on a new role as a national voice for MLS change, according to Cowen.
“As Stellar MLS, we will be bold and we will be fearless. Stellar MLS will show the brilliance of an MLS that is truly customer-centric in everything we do,” she said.
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