The race to license historical listing data from multiple listings services continues to heat up, with Realtor.com operator Move Inc. saying it has new licensing agreements in place or in the works with 17 MLSs representing 238,000 subscribers.
Seven MLSs with 68,000 members have given Move the green light to display sold, off-market and pending sales data on Realtor.com in exchange for allowing their members to access Move’s "Find" search engine tool.
Move said similar agreements are pending with 10 additional MLSs representing 170,000 subscribers whose boards have voted to become Find subscribers.
The announcement comes as the National Association of Realtors prepares to launch a parcel-based property database, Realtors Property Resource (RPR), with 100 MLSs representing 265,000 Realtors agreeing to contribute sold listings data under one-year licensing agreements.
Data aggregator CoreLogic in August announced agreements to license sold listings data from eight MLSs with a combined total of 82,000 members.
RPR and CoreLogic want to use sold listings data to generate better automated property valuations that lenders, government agencies, and others can use to track home values and market conditions.
Move sees sold listings data as another way to drive traffic to its flagship site, Realtor.com, which it operates under an agreement with NAR.
To get those listings, Move has been pitching its Find search tool to MLSs. Scheduled for launch Sept. 30, the Find tool is touted as a more sophisticated method for MLSs to provide members access not only to their own data, but Move’s database of real estate content.
Find provides participating MLSs’ members with access to local school reports and reviews, demographics, mapping, enhanced public records, detailed neighborhood information, and "psychographic" community data. Members of MLSs signing up for Find will also have access to sold, off-market and pending sales from other MLSs using the search tool.
The seven MLSs that have signed Find licensing agreements with Move have a total of more than 168,000 active listings. They are: Metrolist Services Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.); Intermountain MLS (IMLS — Boise, Idaho); the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR); the Northern Ohio Regional MLS (NORMLS), the Cambridge Board of Realtors, and Centralized Regional Information Services (CRIS), all based in Ohio; and Information and Real Estate Services LLC (IRES –Boulder, Colo.).
Move did not identify by name the 10 MLSs whose licensing agreements are pending, but said they currently handle about 320,000 active listings.
Move and RPR aren’t paying MLSs for their sold listings data — both offer free access to deep databases instead — and neither requires MLSs to enter into exclusive licensing agreements.
CoreLogic is sharing revenue with MLSs that license their sold listings data, with more generous offers to MLSs that provide that data on an exclusive basis. Six of the eight MLSs that have entered into licensing agreements with CoreLogic are providing sold listings data on an exclusive basis.
Access to Move’s Find search engine will be restricted to broker-members and agents of subscribing MLSs, and Move has agreed to not resell MLS data sourced for Find or use it to create derivative products for resale to third parties.
But Move does make the historical listing data it obtains from MLSs available to consumers on Realtor.com. Move had previously disclosed that it was providing consumers with access to sold listings and off-market property data it receives from MLSs in more than 50 markets.
In beta testing a new version of Realtor.com, Move has allowed consumers to see the selling price of properties and view who represented both the buyer and seller.
Move recently negotiated an amendment to its 1996 agreement with NAR governing the operation of Realtor.com. The amendment included language that could eventually allow Move to display Realtor productivity statistics such as active listing counts and sold transactions on Realtor.com.
Listing brokers and NAR would both have to sign off before Move can add that capability to Realtor.com’s "Find a Realtor" tool.
