‘Internal MLS’ makes individuals the boss of online property listings

Forget about IDX, VOW, ILD and even MLS for a moment. An online system created by a Canadian real estate technology company allows individual agents and brokers to decide how to share property listings information with other real estate professionals online. This "Agent Handshake" system, created by Point2 Realty Solutions of Saskatoon, Canada, can function as a sort of "internal MLS" by putting property information online even before the information is available to the entire community of agents and brokers served by a multiple listing service, company officials say. Agent Handshake does not use listing information imported from an MLS database, but rather allows members to add their own listing data and gives them control over the online advertising of this information. In some jurisdictions, it can take several days for listings to appear in an MLS system, said company spokesman Roger Noujeim. In Canada, it "can take up to a week" for a listing to appear at MLS.ca, Nojeim said. In...