The nation’s largest multiple listing service, California Regional MLS, has added a second Realtor association to its roster this year, inching closer to its longstanding goal of a statewide MLS.
On December 1, Chino Hills-based CRMLS added a far-flung neighbor to the north, the Fort Bragg-based Coastal Mendocino Association of Realtors (CMAR), as a member association. The deal means all of CMAR’s 200 or so agents, brokers and appraisers are now CRMLS subscribers and CMAR will be able to appoint representatives to CRMLS committees and will have a right to vote for CRMLS directors.
Birdie Wilson-Holmes
“This collaboration provides our participants and subscribers with extended service hours, numerous training options, and access to additional products, tools, and services offered through CRMLS for our members, all while continuing to use our CMAR member preferred Flexmls system,” said 2022 CMAR President Birdie Wilson-Holmes in a statement.
CRMLS now has 40 member associations and more than 110,000 subscribers across the Golden State. The deal continues a multi-year trend of MLS consolidation in the industry, as associations and MLSs seek to relieve the pain point of agents and brokers having to join multiple MLSs with their differing fees, rules and listing data fragmentation. The Hesperia-based High Desert Association of Realtors (HDAOR) joined CRMLS on June 1.
Art Carter
The Mendocino association operated its own MLS before joining CRMLS, according to CRMLS CEO Art Carter.
“From an administrative perspective, yes, that MLS has shut down — it has assigned its contracts to CRMLS and is now neither the signatory nor point of contact for MLS-related matters,” he told Inman via email.
“However, from every other definition, it is still active. CMAR members still log into the same Flexmls system with the same credentials, and that system is functionally identical to the system they had last month (including things like history, mapping, etc.). If we had not notified CMAR members that we’re now serving them, most of them would not notice.”
Because this week’s change is “strictly administrative in nature,” CRMLS hasn’t made any technical changes thus far, but now CMAR members have access to CRMLS’s customer care department, education and compliance resources, according to Carter. Asked whether CRMLS now owns CMAR’s historical listing data, Carter did not respond.
Current plans are for CMAR to have access to all of CRMLS’s combined active and historical listing data sometime in the second quarter of 2022, according to Carter.
“We’re looking forward to bringing CMAR members more benefits soon!” he said.
