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Hive MLS, formerly known as the North Carolina Regional Multiple Listing Service, has agreed to invest $500,000 with real estate data company SourceRE in an effort to integrate its data feed, executives announced Tuesday.
The partnership was characterized as a “data exchange” in a release, and executives said the deal was structured to flatten the gap between data provider and user to enable rapid innovation, support and mission alignment.
“Hive’s investment reaps greater returns when SourceRE grows,” Hive MLS CEO Daniel Jones said. “SourceRE benefits from the value of our data when Hive grows. This synergy is further strengthened as SourceRE becomes Hive’s technology division. Together, our vision is to enable a seamless data interchange between all our MLS partners.”
Hive MLS is a wholesale cooperative MLS, which means member associations and MLSs pay it a wholesale price per member and charge its own members a retail price of their choice to access the MLS. The company rebranded as Hive MLS in October, with Jones saying the new identity better reflected its goal of collaborating among industry stakeholders, like a hive of bees.
The MLS represents approximately 19,000 brokers and appraisers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Hive MLS executives say they had become wary of working with data providers with too many interests beyond service to MLS partners. Executives added that the MLS wants to avoid working with “major public entities with competing interests.”
The Wilmington, North Carolina-based multiple listing services envisions its stance as a line being drawn in the sand on how data providers and MLSs collaborate.
SourceRE President Bill Fowler echoed that sentiment. The Northglenn, Colorado-based company positions itself as a streamlined data source that avoids add-ons or requirements for front-end features, ensuring MLSs are lightweight and member-focused. Its data is RESO-compliant, according to its website.
“This collaboration sets a new benchmark for what MLS organizations can achieve with a data exchange,” Fowler said. “With Hive MLS’s forward-thinking leadership, and SourceRE’s advanced technology, we are creating a future where MLSs manage their own data stewardship and innovation.”
