Unlock MLS to allow non-Realtor access 

Starting June 1, Austin-based Unlock MLS will no longer require its 20,000 subscribers to be Realtors.

It's an arrangement that has been allowed since the 1990s, but in the context of unprecedented challenges to NAR's mandatory membership requirements — from agent lawsuits to association pushback — the decision takes on a different tone.

And it's something more MLSs are considering. A recent poll by T3 Sixty found that 26% of the more than 200 executives surveyed about their plans for 2025 were either in the process of opening access to non-Realtors or actively discussing it.

"Obviously making the decision now has a different set of table stakes and a different implication to it than it did if we had done this many years ago," said Emily Chenevert, CEO of Unlock MLS, told Real Estate News.

But this is a step that has been part of a years-long journey for the MLS and its owner, the Austin Board of Realtors. While ABOR could potentially lose members over this change, Chenevert, the CEO of both organizations, is optimistic that agents will continue to see the benefit of association membership.

Embracing choice

"We think it's important that subscribers to Unlock MLS know and understand that we value the ability for them to choose what's best for their business," Chenevert said.

And association membership is enhanced by choice, she added: "I really believe that it's powerful when a member chooses to participate in the association and chooses to uphold the ethics required of them and support the advocacy work and wants to operate as an exceptional professional."

The notion of choice has also come up in Phoenix, where the local Realtor association is risking its charter by offering a non-Realtor membership option that includes MLS access.

But the circumstances are different in Austin, where the MLS itself is allowing access, not the association. For Chenevert, getting to this moment has been part of a deliberate process of "ensuring that our two business entities stand on their own two feet," which included giving the MLS its own distinct brand in 2023.

How much will Unlock MLS access cost?

Realtor and non-Realtor subscribers will pay the same amount, Chenevert said. And the price of MLS access is already being handled separately from the price of joining the association.

"Drawing a distinction between the value of the association versus the value of MLS subscription has been a tenet of the way that we've operated for a number of years," Chenevert said.