Who gets to control listings?
That was the question that dominated a conversation last month at Inman Connect New York. The conversation included NextHome CEO James Dwiggins, Realtor.com CEO Damian Eales and Canopy MLS CEO Anne Marie DeCatsye. And during his comments, Dwiggins mounted a defense of the existing multiple listing service system.
“The whole point of the MLS is so that we don’t go back to the way it was 40 years ago where you didn’t know what the hell was for sale,” Dwiggins said.
At another point, Eales said his company “chose to lean into the MLS.”
“To diminish the ultimate value of this great cooperative that makes this American system of real estate so fantastic is absurd, as far as I’m concerned,” Eales also said. “And the fragmentation that could exist if people get what they wish for is a real problem.”
In DeCatsye’s case, she said some consolidation might be good, pitching the idea of roughly 25 MLSs in the U.S. — though she was not in favor of one national MLS. She also argued that Realtor associations should not be using an MLS as a value proposition.
“MLSs should not be a benefit of the association,” DeCatsye argued. “Unfortunately, too many Realtor associations rely on the MLS for money. And that’s it, plain and simple.”
Watch the full video above.
