MLS competition grows as listing policies diverge nationwide

Across the United States, there are over 500 MLSs serving real estate professionals. While some MLSs share nearly identical rules and policies, there are still countless ways in which they differ, posing challenges for many brokers. 

As the National Association of Realtors (NAR) turns over more rule-making and enforcement power to local associations and MLSs, this problem is being exacerbated. And while there are plenty of examples of how rules differ from MLS to MLS, one of the most challenging for many brokers today is the wide variety of coming-soon listing policies.

While some MLSs, like the Pacific Northwest’s Northwest MLS (NWMLS), do not provide a coming soon status or an office-exclusive option for listings, others, like Canopy MLS in North Carolina, do not provide a maximum number of days a listing can be in a coming soon status. 

For brokers whose operations span multiple MLSs, this patchwork of rules surrounding coming soon listings can be incredibly frustrating. In March, eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja told HousingWire that the only reason his firm signed deals to syndicate coming soon listings to Realtor.com, Homes.com and ComeHome.com was because not all MLSs include coming soon listings in the IDX data feed. 

“If all the MLSs would just include the coming soon status listings in their IDX feeds and syndicate it to all the portals, then this would be a non-issue and none of us would have to do this,” Pareja told HousingWire earlier this spring. “I believe that part of the MLS’s role is to make sure that they are listening to their customers. I believe in the MLS system, and I think I have been one of the loudest advocates for having a third party that is agnostic making rules. I think it is super important in order for us to have collaboration as an industry, but if something is going in a certain direction, I’d prefer all of it to exist at the MLS input level and then we wouldn’t have to figure out how to do it ourselves.”

But listening to their subscribers is exactly what many MLS providers say they have done in order to arrive at this ragtag set of coming soon listing policies. 

In Northern New England, Chad Jacobson, the CEO of PrimeMLS, told HousingWire that he and his team believe the MLS’s policies should balance the needs of their customers with the expectations of today’s consumers. 

“Industry research shows that sellers often achieve better outcomes when their property is exposed to the broadest possible audience and our approach to Clear Cooperation supports that by requiring residential listings to be entered into the MLS within one business day of any public marketing, ensuring timely and equitable access,” Jacobson wrote in an email. “At the same time, we recognize that every transaction is unique, so our policies are designed to provide flexibility within a framework that prioritizes transparency, fairness, and professionalism, ultimately helping sellers gain maximum visibility, providing buyers with access to a more complete view of the market and enabling our customers to operate within a trusted, cooperative system.”

Under PrimeMLS’s policy, a property can remain as a coming soon for up to 10 days before the listing must go active in the MLS. While this is on the shorter end for coming soon time limits compared to other MLSs that limit, it is ultimately what PrimeMLS felt best balanced the needs of its members and their clients. 

However, if your brokerage serves clients across the East Coast, you may be a member of both PrimeMLS and Bright MLS, which covers much of the Mid-Atlantic. Although Bright MLS also allows for coming soon listings, the MLS does not provide any time limit, allowing listings to remain as coming soon for as long as the seller wants. 

In an emailed statement, Bright MLS president and CEO Brian Donnellan told HousingWire that his firm views “cooperation and professional access to listings as foundational,” but that times have changed and “the way listings are marketed and distributed publicly is evolving.” 

“Our policy development is driven by one goal: giving brokers more choice to compete in an increasingly complex marketplace,” he wrote. “Cooperation isn’t going away; it’s getting smarter and evolving to match how the industry works today.” 

Further south on the East Coast, giving brokers and their clients more choices has been exactly what Canopy MLS has focused on as it has changed and updated its Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) over the past year. 

In September 2025, Canopy MLS announced changes to its system, which included the adoption of the interpretation that one-to-one agent contact about a listing does not trigger CCP and that price changes to a listing in a coming soon status will not appear in the listing’s history. The MLS followed this up last month, launching its Listing Visibility Options.

Agents and sellers can now choose between three listing visibility options: public, limited exposure and firm exclusive. Listings can be moved to an option with broader exposure (e.g. from limited exposure to public), but they cannot be moved back to more restricted visibility. 

“The new options were designed to give sellers more flexibility and control how listings are marketed, while ensuring alignment with MLS rules and industry policies,” a spokesperson for Canopy MLS wrote in an email. “We believe these changes are an important step in providing more transparent and flexible listing options while maintaining compliance across MLS date use.”

The MLS frames these changes to its policy as providing its subscribers with greater flexibility in how they serve their clients. 

For Donnellan at Bright MLS, this innovation and variation in MLS policies, especially as it relates to coming soon listings, while frustrating to some brokers, is not a bad thing. 

“The era of heightened competition among MLSs has arrived, and that is a positive development,” Donnellan wrote. “Across the country, industry leaders are interpreting new policies through various lenses to determine what best serves brokers, agents, and consumers.”

Some MLSs, including Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) and Tennessee’s Realtracs, have taken this competition a step further, partnering with national brokerages to feature listings from across the country and not just in their traditional service area, looking to turn themselves into a nationwide MLS option.

In late April, MRED announced that it was opening its multiple listing service, including its Private Listing Network (PLN), to any licensed real estate agent nationwide and that it had secured a nationwide listing feed from Compass International Holdings. Just a week later, Realtracs announced a similar deal with Compass and United Real Estate, stating in the announcement that it was in talks with other brokerages to obtain direct listing feeds. 

“Working with both Compass and United is part of our plan to help mend cooperation, create broker and agent choice and support brokerages nationwide,” a spokesperson for Realtracs wrote in an email to HousingWire. 

With some MLSs now opening access to brokers across the country, it remains to be seen how the diverse array of listing policies will hold up.