Phoenix association offers MLS access without Realtor membership 

Ahead of the new year — and payment of annual member dues — Phoenix Realtors has rolled out a new initiative for area brokers that allows them to gain access to the MLS and legal forms without joining a Realtor association. 

Dubbed MLS Choice and aimed specifically at brokers, the program — offered at $249 annually — is less than half the cost of the traditional three-tier option, which includes membership in Phoenix Realtors, the Arizona Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. Those who opt for MLS Choice will retain many of the benefits offered by Phoenix Realtors but cannot call themselves "Realtors" and will lose access to state and national association benefits, the organization notes.

Pushback against association membership

It's a big move, signaling the local association's desire to exert more control over its offerings to brokers and agents, and is billed as an effort to "evolve" with the changing real estate landscape. It also comes on the heels of comments made by NAR President Kevin Sears at the recent NAR NXT conference, where he sought to rally the troops around Realtor associations and emphasized the importance of the local, state and national partnership. 

That partnership — particularly NAR's "three-way agreement," which requires agents who join their local Realtor association to also join their state association and NAR — has come under fire in recent months. In August, Michigan agents sued NAR over its mandatory membership rule, and in September, Alabama Realtors sent a letter to NAR asking the national association to make membership optional. 

Giving brokers a choice

Andy Fegley, CEO of Phoenix Realtors, told Real Estate News that the formal rollout of the program was essentially a "modernization" effort to "create a choice for brokers on how they wish to run their business." He noted that other states have seen associations offer similar levels of choice to agents and that this is an option "that's been available since the '90s."

"It is incumbent upon us to give real estate professionals the tools they need to conduct business in a fair and competitive way, and adding the forms to round out the offerings of MLS choice is important because up until we've done this, it hasn't been a choice," he explained. "We want to make sure that we're serving the entire real estate population because that should be the aim of all of us."

Fegley's emphasis on "choice" echoes the sentiment of Alabama Realtors, which wrote in its letter to NAR of "a growing and vocal desire for greater choice and flexibility in deciding where members spend their hard-earned membership and dues dollars."

While Fegley said Phoenix Realtors "will always support NAR," he noted that the response to the new MLS Choice program has been well received by local brokers who tell Fegley it's a "welcome option" to offer their agents. 

'Every dollar matters' 

Phoenix's new program also represents a significant cost savings. But is the reduction in fees enough to move the needle for agents? Yes, said Clint Skutchan, Senior VP of Organized Real Estate with T3 Sixty, especially in a tough housing market. (Note: T3 Sixty and Real Estate News share a founder, Stefan Swanepoel.)

"Every dollar matters more in a downturn," he said. "There are definitely folks out there who are making really tough decisions right now based on tight margins and uncertainty of what the future marketplace looks like."

The Phoenix area market has noticeably softened since the pandemic-fueled housing boom that led to record home prices. In recent months, inventory has been on the rise while home prices have dropped, but transactions remain sluggish.

Testing new models

Skutchan said it's the local association that is "compelled to serve the marketplace they represent," and Phoenix Realtors has a unique opportunity to lead given the area's dynamic housing market. 

"Phoenix is the guinea pig for brokerages. It's obviously one of the largest and fastest-growing Southwestern communities, and they have very suburban scale development, so everything's very similar," he explained. "It makes for the perfect place to test out different brokerage models, different technology provisions or new programs."

Skutchan said Phoenix Realtors is simply "giving people greater choice" in what had previously been "an antitrust environment."