The ace reporter of Real Estate News, Andrea Brambila, is reporting on a closed door meeting at NAR with the headline, "NAR: We are not abandoning MLSs":
In the wake of the Sitzer-Burnett commissions settlement, the National Association of Realtors has made a point of "de-risking" — reducing its legal liability — by shifting MLS policy decision-making to individual MLSs.
But that doesn't mean NAR is leaving MLSs to fend for themselves, according to multiple NAR staffers who spoke at a closed meeting of the NAR Multiple Listing Service Issues and Policies Committee at last month's Realtors Legislative Meetings.
"There are people out here telling a narrative or story about us vacating MLS or not supporting MLS," NAR Senior Director of Engagement Rodney Gansho told the committee. "There's a lot we're doing in the MLS community — and I want you to help us tell people you heard it at NAR that that's not the case, OK?"
Seeing as how yours truly is likely at the top of the list of people out here telling a narrative about NAR vacating MLS, I feel both amused and duty-bound to take a look at this story.
While the Sitzer Saga was mostly a disaster for the industry, one of the only silver linings in that cloud was the separation of the MLS and the REALTOR Association. As someone who has advocated for the divorce of the MLS and the Association for over a decade, I thought the separation finally provided the space for both the MLS and the Association to reform and grow, free from the toxic codependent relationship they were caught in.
Sure, the separation is not fully completed yet, but the trend is clear and unmistakable.
Sadly, here comes NAR, acting like a delusional ex-boyfriend claiming that they're not abandoning the MLS... as if they have a choice in the matter. Bro, she left you... not the other way around. Now you're just somebody that she used to know.
Let's get into it.
