In early 2009, your MLS Board of Directors entered into an agreement to syndicate active listing data through the company now known as ListHub. More than 150 channels comprise the network of websites to which the local MLS data is pushed via ListHub.
Since the MLS began syndicating listing date through ListHub, each managing broker always has had the ability to opt out of their firm’s listings being syndicated to ListHub altogether or to any of the individual 150+ channels to which ListHub feeds listing data.
At midnight on April 7, 2015, ListHub will remove the Zillow Group, which includes Trulia, as a channel to which it syndicates listing data.
If you do not wish to continue providing your firm’s listings to Zillow, no further action is required. If you do wish to continue providing your firm’s listings to Zillow, keep reading.
If you have not already done so and desire for your firm’s listing to be provided to the Zillow network, you should make such arrangements directly with Zillow. While the MLS currently provides a mechanism by which brokers may opt out (or back in) of some syndication channels, the decision to syndicate (or not) has always been and continues to be the decision of the entity that owns the listing – the broker. Should you have questions about the terms and conditions contained in the Zillow data licensing agreement, you should contact your firm’s legal counsel to guide you in that regard.
Upon consideration of the current syndication landscape and the “perpetual licensing” of listing data* language contained in the agreement offered by Zillow to MLSs, the MLS Board of Directors has decided at this time not to enter into a direct syndication agreement with Zillow. Rather, the MLS will continue its syndication efforts solely through ListHub.
In addition to ListHub’s 150+ channels, in recent years the MLS Board of Directors merged previous direct syndication feeds to Realtor.com and Homes.TimesFreePress.com into the ListHub platform. This merging of Realtor.com and Homes.TimesFreePress.com into the ListHub platform enables brokers to view their firm’s listing activity in one place. Listing brokers will continue to have the same ability to opt out (or opt back in) of their firm’s listing being sent to ListHub altogether or to any of the individual 150+ channels to which ListHub feeds listing data.
For your reference, we provide the following articles related to syndication.
- Death by Thousands of Feeds
- Zulia vs. ListHub: Manufactured Crisis?
- Critical Components of a Contract Licensing Agreement with Portals NOTE: You will be required to login to www.realtor.org to access this document.
*It is the MLS Board of Directors’ understanding that Zillow proposes that the MLS agree to a perpetual licensing of listing data, meaning Zillow’s right to use listing data would continue indefinitely, even upon termination of an agreement between the MLS and Zillow.