The Capital Area REALTORS has announced its plans to join with three other Illinois and Iowa REALTOR associations to consolidate real estate technology services including its multiple listing service.
The consolidation comes in the form of RMLS Alliance, LLC, a brand new regional multiple listing service (MLS) and commercial information exchange (CIE). Capital Area REALTORS has taken a lead role in the creation of this new entity along with the Peoria Area Association of REALTOR, the Egyptian Board of REALTORS and the Quad City Area REALTOR Association.
The new entity will cover territory in Illinois and Iowa running from Cairo, Carbondale and Mt. Vernon in southern Illinois up through Springfield, Peoria, Galesburg and into the Quad City area on both the Illinois and Iowa side of the river. The service area of RMLS Alliance, LLC will cover 61 counties constituting approximately 30,000 square miles, covering nearly half of the land mass of Illinois and a portion of Iowa and will serve a population base of over 2.1 million consumers.
“An MLS is a private offer of cooperation and compensation by real estate listing brokers to other real estate brokers and is one of the most pro-competitive tools around. The MLS is based on a fundamental principal that’s unique to organized real estate where competing brokerages will cooperate in the sale of each other’s listings, said Todd Musso, a real estate broker with the Real Estate Group and Chairman of the CAR MLS Committee. After extensive discussions and due diligence, we’re excited about the wealth of possibilities this new alliance offers," said 2018 Capital Area REALTORS’ President Ed Mahoney and a broker with RE/MAX Professionals. "We believe that providing our members with greater access to technology tools and resources in a constantly evolving industry is needed to compete in today’s real estate market and better serve the consumer.”
“Just a few short years ago, there were more than 900 MLSs across the country; today there are fewer than 650, and the number will keep dropping,” said Dan Sale, CAR CEO. “Ultimately this type of partnership will allow our brokers to access superior technology services while holding the line on cost and enabling further standardization of data across the industry”.
According to RMLS Alliance, LLC, MLS and CIE subscribers from all four shareholder associations will receive more robust and streamlined real estate technology services, access to improved products, standardized data feeds, more exposure for sellers, and more options for buyers — all from a single source. This new entity will be a shareholder-owned corporation and the merger is expected to be completed with the consolidation of its respective databases, this fall.
RMLS Alliance, LLC, will service approximately 3,000 subscribers and is the private cooperative Realtors® use for access to thousands of residential and commercial listings. After the consolidation is complete it will create a footprint that will share borders with four different states. This new entity will be a shareholder-owned corporation and the merger is expected to be completed with the consolidation of its respective databases, this fall.
The Capital Area REALTORS® is the Voice for Real Estate in the Capital Area representing more than 900 members involved in all aspects of the real estate industry. The Capital Area’s Resource for Real Estate Information can be found at www.SeeHouses.com.
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