As
Klein
sees
it,
no
matter
if
you
view
a
national
MLS
as
a
piece
of
software
everyone
puts
information
in,
a
singular
database
everyone
can
tap
into
or
a
single
organization
to
govern
real
estate
listings,
each
version
comes
with
its
own
hurdles
and
concerns,
which
he
says
may
not
be
adequately
appreciated
by
those
who
think
this
would
be
a
simple
undertaking. 

All
real
estate
is
local

One
of
the
most
well
known
real
estate
axioms
is
“all
real
estate
is
local”
and
on
the
MLS
level
this
is
often
reflected
in
different
information
fields
or
labels
for
listing
data. 

“Technology
has
come
a
long
way
since

Bright
MLS
consolidated
nine
MLSs,
but
it
is
still
a
lot
of
data
that
is
similar
but
not
the
same
—
some
have
a
period
at
the
end
of
the
abbreviation
for
street
and
others
don’t
—
and
AI
can
take
care
of
that,
but
someone
still
has
to
go
through
and
verify
that
all
of
these
different
fields
and
aspects
of
the
data
are
correct
and
fit
with
everything
else,”

Brian
Donnellan,
the
president
and
CEO
of
Bright
MLS,
said.
“So,
clearly
it
isn’t
easy
and
that
is
just
the
data
side
of
things.
You
also
have
politics,
money
and
governance.”

Klein
agrees
that
you
can
work
through
some
of
these
technological
challenges
with
the
right
tools
and
enough
capital
and
manpower,
but
like
Donnellan
he
also
sees
a
whole
host
of
other
roadblocks. 

How
do
you
govern
a
national
MLS?

“How
do
you
govern
it?”
Klein
asked.
“The

National
Association
of
Realtors
(NAR)
is

moving
away
from
MLS
governance
and
enforcement,
so
who
then
enforces
the
rules?
And
if
it
is
all
under
one
roof,
you
are
putting
yourself
in
a
position
to
become
a
target
for
antitrust
litigation.” 

While
Chad
Jacobson,
the
CEO
of

Prime
MLS,
which
primarily
serves
real
estate
professionals
in
New
Hampshire
and
Vermont,
understands
the
challenges
some
industry
professionals
face
in
having
to
join
multiple
MLSs
in
order
to
work
in
the
communities
they
serve,
he
is
doubtful
that
a
national
organization
would
be
able
to
adequately
respond
and
react
to
local
needs
the
way
a
local
or
even
regional
MLS
currently
can. 

“The
compliance
side
of
what
the
MLS
does
now,
that
is
a
sticky
wicket
from
both
a
licensing
and
a
listing
data
perspective,
and
I
find
it
hard
to
fathom
a
national
organization
being
able
to
perform
at
the
same
level
that
a
regional
or
local
MLS
can,”
Jacobson
said.
“I
can’t
imagine
a
national
organization
being
experts
at
all
of
the
licensing
and
other
rules
associated
with
real
estate
on
a
local
level.
We
operate
in
two
main
states
and
that
is
challenging
enough.
I
can’t
imagine
what
it
would
take
from
a
resources
perspective
to
do
that
for
50
states
and
I
don’t
know
if
the
quality
of
that
work
would
be
that
high.” 

MLS
consolidation
will
continue

Despite
all
of
these
challenges,
Donnellan
says
that
there
does
need
to
be
at
an
increase
in
MLS
consolidation
if
the
MLSs
want
to
be
successful
in
the
future.
This
comes
in
part
from
his
belief
that
while
all
real
estate
may
be
local,
the
infrastructure
that
supports
these
local
professionals
doesn’t
have
to
be
quite
as
local. 

“You
need
local
expertise,
but
the
data
is
the
data,
and
if
you
are
running
good
data
it
shouldn’t
matter
if
you
have
a
lot
of
insight
into
that
marketplace,”
Donnellan
said.
“What
matters
is
that
you
are
giving
that
insight
and
intelligence
to
the
brokers
and
agents
who
are
in
that
place
working.
You
are
seeing
that
now
with
a
lot
of
the
brokerage
consolidation.
Real
estate
is
still
local
and
you
need
that
local
knowledge
but
the
technology
and
support
infrastructure
doesn’t
matter
like
it
used
to.”

A
federation
of
MLSs
is
the
answer

This
is
why
Klein
believes

a
federation
of
MLSs
providing
all
subscribed
real
estate
professionals
with
national
access
to
listing
data
is
the
best
option.

“If
you
want
to
accomplish
national
access
then
there
are
better
ways
of
doing
it
than
creating
a
national
MLS,”
Klein
said.
“With
this
concept
of
a
federation,
you
leave
choices
to
the
local
marketplaces
because
they
are
all
different
and
real
estate
is
local,
but
then
everyone
still
has
access.” 

Donnellan
agrees
that
100%
national
MLS
is
most
likely
not
the
best
option
for
the
industry. 

“A
national
MLS
never
makes
sense
to
me
because
when
you
only
have
one,
the
lack
of
competition
[may]
end
up
leading
to
poor
service,”
he
said.
“So,
I
think
several
high
performing
MLSs
is
the
place
we
should
be
aiming
for.”

Despite
this,
Donnellan
acknowledged
that
the
current
conversation
around
the
desire
for
a
national
MLS
is
different
from
prior
iterations
of
the
same
conversation. 

“What
I
see
differently
today
than
in
the
past
is
the
level
of

brokerage
consolidation
and
technology
available.
I
think
the
appetite
from
the
broker
for
us
to
do
something
about
it
is
probably
higher
than
it
has
ever
been
before.
Given
the
technology,
I
think
what
we
are
seeing
is
there
probably
has
never
been
a
better
time
to
try
to
do
this,”
Donnellan
said.
“So,
even
though
people
are
still
saying
the
same
things,
I
think
it
is
different
this
time.”