California MLS database gets boost

Editor's note: this story has been edited to clarify that there is overlap in the membership of CALMLS and CARETS.

California Realtors are moving closer to creating a single database of property listings, with backers of an initiative to create a statewide multiple listing service announcing today that they will join a database comprised of six MLSs in Southern California.

CALMLS, a statewide MLS initiative backed by the California Association of Realtors, will become a member of California Real Estate Technology Services (CARETS), a data aggregation service currently serving 30 Realtor associations and 100,000-plus members in Southern California, the groups said.

CALMLS -- a nonprofit subsidiary of CAR, the statewide Realtor trade group -- has signed letters of intent with 69 local Realtor associations and three regional MLSs, representing more than 120,000 real estate professionals across the state, many of whom are also CARETS members.

CALMLS has branded the MLS products and services it will offer statewide as calREDD, for California Real Estate Dynamic Data. The calREDD MLS services aren't scheduled to launch until August, CALMLS chairman Mike Silvas said. But calREDD and CARETS decided to announce their agreement for calREDD to participate in the Southern California-based database now in order to squelch rumors, Silvas and CARETS chairwoman Donna O'Donnell said.

"We've been talking to CARETS off and on since last fall," Silvas said. "We put out the release because a bunch of people out there were putting out inaccurate information about CARETS and calREDD."

Some had speculated that CARETS would never allow calREDD to join, and that calREDD would acquire CARETS, Silvas and O'Donnell said. But the plan is for calREDD to become a member of CARETS, just like any other MLS.

"That's basically what CARETS is -- an association of MLSs that have agreed to put all their data into one database, so members don't have to join multiple MLSs to get the data," Silvas said.

While the ultimate goal for calREDD remains "getting everybody into one MLS," Silvas said, joining CARETS "means we can accelerate the process of getting as many agents in the state under one database." ...CONTINUED

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