Anywhere seeks 4 major changes to MLS policies
The brokerage giant is asking NAR to allow greater flexibility around Clear Cooperation and co-mingling, and loosen restrictions for non-member agents.
Key points:
- In a letter to an influential NAR committee, Anywhere’s head of industry relations described the Clear Cooperation Policy as “unduly restrictive.”
- One change requested by Anywhere is to extend the timeline for adding a listing to the MLS from one business day after publicly marketing it to a few weeks.
- Brokerage leadership also suggested that restrictions on co-mingling MLS and non-MLS listings have made it harder for consumers to find all available homes.
Leaders at Anywhere have joined the growing debate over the National Association of Realtors' Clear Cooperation Policy, which has proved to be a divisive issue in recent weeks.
The company, which boasts nearly 183,000 agents via half a dozen brokerage brands, recently sent a letter to NAR's MLS Emerging Issues and Technology Advisory Board asking for a handful of major changes be made to the policy. In the letter, which Real Estate News has obtained, Caitlin McCrory, Anywhere's Head of Industry Relations, criticized the policy as being "unduly restrictive" but stopped short of asking that it be scrapped.
When reached for comment, an Anywhere spokesperson said the company has consistently advocated for changes to Clear Cooperation, but emphasized that "reform does not mean repeal," adding that "there are nuanced alternatives to the existing rule that would better advance consumer interests by providing for more seller flexibility while preserving broad access to listings for home buyers."
Flexibility needed, but not at the expense of fair housing
McCrory asked that NAR and its MLS Emerging Issues and Technology Advisory Board consider four major changes to current policies: eliminate restrictions on co-mingling MLS and non-MLS listings, scale back the scope of the Clear Cooperation Policy, provide a path for non-member agents to share listings on the MLS, and allow non-member agents to utilize lockboxes.
"While we agree that greater flexibility should be provided to sellers, we also recognize that MLSs have an inherent interest in consolidating the majority of listings on their platforms and that such a consolidated platform facilitates efficient information distribution, which greatly benefits consumers and advances Fair Housing objectives," McCrory said in the letter.
When it comes to limiting the scope of Clear Cooperation, Anywhere's recommendations include giving agents more time to market listings before adding them to the MLS — a few weeks rather than one business day — offering some leeway around the requirement that all listings must be entered onto the MLS, redefining what "public marketing" means, and giving homeowners and sellers the option to limit the sharing of information and photos of a property on public websites and platforms.
Current policies limit competition
McCrory argues that Anywhere "firmly believes in consumer choice and free competition" and that the company's recommendations "would offer less restrictive alternatives to achieve the benefits of competition," echoing similar sentiments about free markets shared by top Anywhere execs Ryan Schneider and Sue Yannaccone in recent weeks.
Bolstering competition and consumer choice means making for-sale-by-owner and new construction listings easier for home shoppers to find, an Anywhere rep said to Real Estate News when clarifying the company's push to allow co-mingling of MLS and non-MLS listings.
Transparency vs. 'homeowner choice'
Anywhere is just one of several major industry players to chime in with recommendations for the Clear Cooperation Policy. While home search portals Zillow and Redfin largely support the policy as is, arguing that sharing all listings on the MLS provides the most accurate and transparent snapshot of the market, brokerages Compass and The Agency have taken the opposite position, arguing that Clear Cooperation is anticompetitive and poses an ongoing existential threat to brokerages and agents with ongoing litigation.
Last month, Mauricio Umansky, founder and CEO of The Agency and co-founder of the upstart American Real Estate Association, launched a petition with colleague Jason Haber to repeal the Clear Cooperation Policy. In the petition, which has garnered over 4,700 digital signatures since September 20, Umansky and Haber argue that the policy was created to protect the National Association of Realtors and MLSs — not consumers — and asks that agents sign to "protect homeowner choice, client confidentiality, and the ethical foundation of the real estate industry."