MLSListings Inc., the multiple listing service provider of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, has joined six leading MLSs in Northern California to form the NorCal MLS Alliance, a data share collaborative. According to MLS officials, this move will ensure real estate professionals in Northern California will have the greatest access to MLS data in and near the areas they do business. Initial implementation is slated for Q3 2020.
"For years, we've heard from brokers that they wanted all their data in their familiar home MLS system. The NorCal MLS Alliance is a major step towards eliminating multiple places to go for data and providing brokers and agents with a single set of listing data that will cover most of Northern California in one place," said Dave Wetzel, MLSListings COO and interim CEO.
The multiple listing service or MLS is one of the most effective marketing tools to sell a house. Buyers' agents use the local MLS to find homes for their clients. Many real estate sites pull their listings from MLSs.
Three different MLS systems serve the seven MLSs in the NorCal MLS Alliance: Matrix (CoreLogic), Paragon (Black Knight), and Rapattoni. Each MLS has thousands of agents using their system. With the creation of NorCal MLS Alliance, each of the three systems will have all the data in their respective data base, said Wetzel.
MLSListings' home counties include San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey. Wetzel said MLSListings will be adding San Francisco, North Bay, and Central Valley counties to the data shared with the East Bay, enabling agents to enter listings and access to data via Matrix for 22 Northern California counties and reaching over 60,000 real estate professionals. The NorCal MLS Alliance will cover the counties of Alameda, Amador, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Marin, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus and Yolo.
"Within the NorCal MLS Alliance, a real estate agent does not need to belong to multiple MLSs to list and sell properties outside their MLS geographic areas. The advancement in technology allows for real estate agents to sign into their local MLS system to enter listings and to search data covering 22 Northern California counties," said Wetzel.
MLSListings subscribers will be able to seamlessly access this new, larger set of data via Matrix, their home system, without having to change to a different and unfamiliar system. This means no more switching systems from Matrix to Paragon to Rapattoni.
"Silicon Valley Realtors and brokers will continue to use the same system they are accustomed to, but with substantially more listing data from a much wider geography. This development opens a wider area for Silicon Valley Realtors and will allow them to better serve their clients," said Paul Cardus, CEO of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors.
Wetzel said plans are to implement Phase 1 with shared system data to include the six Bay Area MLSs (SFAR, BAREIS, bridgeMLS, CCAR, BayEast and MLSListings) by the third quarter of 2020, with continued access to Metrolist data through the current reciprocal system that is already in place. Phase 2 of the project, which will further integrate and interconnect data from the nine-county service area of MetroList with the Bay Area systems, is set for 2021.
Upon completion of Phase 2 of the NorCal MLS Alliance, MLSListings will be providing subscribers with property listing data for all 22 counties in Northern California and all the Metrolist counties. Actual dates for each phase will be announced once they have been formalized.
The Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS® (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing over 4,000 REALTORS® and Affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Variations of this article have appeared in local area newspapers.
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