Dear MLS Update:

I have heard bits and pieces on Broker Reciprocity. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend your class at the Board office. What exactly is it and how do I get it?

Looking for Reciprocity in Goshen

Dear Looking:

In short, think of it as an MLS book(minus confidential fields) available on your website for consumers to view. The longer version, Broker Reciprocity is a system where brokers give each other permission to display their listings on each other's web site. Brokers who participate in the program (called "Broker Reciprocity Subscribers" or BRSs") can display all of each other's active listings. If you choose not to participate, no other broker will be permitted to display your listings. You can include your listings in the Broker Reciprocity database without even having your own web site. A packet of information was mailed to Brokers in May detailing the Rules & Regulations for Broker Reciprocity. If you need another, please call the Board office and we will get you another packet. If you have a web consultant, you and your consultant will need to sign forms to have access to the ftp site to download the listings. At the present time, this is available for Broker websites only.

The purpose is to empower REALTORS® to deal with the real estate consumer of the future. Among the objectives to which MLS of Elkhart County is committed are:

1) permitting brokers to fully market their services on the Internet

2) permitting the brokerage community to take advantage of the data brokers have contributed to the system

3) permitting brokers to obtain and maintain first contact with the consumer in the real estate transaction.

Increasingly, consumers are looking to the Internet for information about real estate for sale. Until Broker Reciprocity, they were not finding that information at broker-owned web sites. The sites with the best data, and from the consumer's perspective, that means the most data, were not controlled by REALTORS®. On the national front, the site with the most listings is REALTOR®.com, a production of Real Select, a subsidiary of publicly traded HomeStore.com

When consumers visit the web sites of reciprocal brokers, they will stay longer because the brokers have more listing data to offer. The broker sites may also offer easier interfaces for consumers, since many other sites are "cluttered" with non-listing content. As brokers become more innovative in offering on-line services, this will be a critical factor in their success.

A live demonstration on Broker Reciprocity will be held at the Board office on Thursday, July 11 at 10:00 AM. All Managing Brokers are invited to attend. Please call in your reservation to the Board office at 875-3283.

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