Illinois Realtors Offers Direct Access to Chicago MLS

Chicago’s MLS is going nationwide, and Illinois Realtors will be peddling membership deals, a break from local real estate associations traditionally gatekeeping listing data.

The state trade group signed a deal with Lisle-based Midwest Real Estate Data to sell direct access to the Chicago-area Multiple Listing Service, circumventing the local associations.

The move comes after the MLS operator, known as MRED, announced last week it was opening access to its services, along with its Private Listing Network, to any agent in the country, with Compass International Holdings syndicating its national inventory to the MLS.

Last month, in preparation for the national push, MRED dropped the requirement that people be designated Realtors in order to access its services.

The agreement was a surprise to the 15 local associations that were, until now, the only way for agents to access MRED. Word began to spread of the offering last week before the state association informed them or made a formal announcement.

“While we respect the ability of organizations to make independent business decisions, we were surprised and find it unusual for a state association to operate in a way that raises questions about the mutually beneficial affiliation and exchange with local Realtor associations,” Chicago Association of Realtors CEO Michelle Mills Clement said in a statement.

Illinois Realtors CEO Jeff Baker sent an email to the local associations on Tuesday to provide background on the deal. In the email, obtained by The Real Deal, Baker said Illinois Realtors was testing the offering and advertising it outside Illinois.

Baker said in the email the agreement was a business decision that provides Illinois Realtors with a source of non-dues revenue and enhances its services. Although Illinois agents will be able to sign up through the state association, Baker said the program is targeted at non-Illinois agents and stressed that it wasn’t intended to supplant local associations.

“Our business decision in this case, focused on non-Illinois agents who want access to MRED, meant we were not working against local associations,” he said.

Baker also said the move was aimed at strengthening the MLS system in the shifting environment of competing listing rules and portal-exclusive offerings.

“This service is pro-Realtor as it serves our policy goal of ensuring our agents have access to the widest number of listings possible,” he said in the email.

The Illinois Realtors website had a sign-up form for MRED services on Tuesday, and likely earlier, before the association made public communications about it. By Wednesday, the main website had been updated to include a button that says “Get MRED,” which takes visitors to the sign-up webpage.

Pre-registration for MRED access through Illinois Realtors is active now and access will begin in the next few weeks, an Illinois Realtors spokesperson said. The spokesperson declined to share the service’s cost.

Baker was not available for an interview on Wednesday. MRED did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Word of the agreement reached North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors CEO Jeff Lasky through a screenshot of the sign-up website that circulated among local association members, he said.

“It just took everybody by surprise that the state association decided to get into this game,” Lasky said.

He added that he’s not concerned about losing members to the new channel and he isn’t necessarily opposed to Illinois Realtors offering services. But, like Clement, he questioned whether it’s the right avenue for the state association to be competing with its local affiliates.

“I’m not suggesting it can’t happen or that there’s something wrong with this or anything like that. We’re just all figuring it out right now,” he said.

Lasky said the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors is still intending to offer its own MLS access tier to people who aren’t Realtors or full members of the association. The Chicago Association of Realtors has not yet decided whether or not to offer MLS-only access to non-members, but Clement said the move from the state association doesn’t change her plans to evaluate it.

Simon Enwia, a Niles-based commercial real estate broker who is on the boards of the Northern Illinois Commercial Association of Realtors and the Certified Commercial Investment Member Illinois Chapter, said the change is in line with the expectation that both the number of licensed real estate agents and membership in the National Association of Realtors will shrink in the future, leaving groups competing for fewer members. Baker also referenced declining membership in his email to associations as one reason Illinois Realtors pursued the agreement.

“This change in the approach of a state organization providing direct MLS access is an indicator that every association is trying to survive in the new landscape,” Enwia said.

The switchup comes amid an ongoing reshuffling in the industry around who controls listings and how they’re marketed. In his email, Baker said Illinois Realtors did not know about Compass’ partnership with MRED to syndicate its listings when it finalized the agreement, and the state association was not involved in the Compass decision.