According to HousingWire, Daniel Jones, the CEO of Hive MLS, has proposed a Declaration of MLS Stewardship Principles that frames the multiple listing service as a steward of the marketplace rather than an owner. Jones argues this distinction matters because it fundamentally changes how the MLS relates to brokers and the data within the system. He's positioning this declaration as a kind of constitution for the MLS industry at a moment when real estate professionals are grappling with big questions about private listings, cooperation between brokers, data ownership, artificial intelligence, and what the role of the MLS should be as the market evolves.
Jones makes clear that while brokers can do essentially whatever they want, including staying outside the MLS entirely, those who choose to participate agree to cooperate with other participants. He sees the MLS as functioning like a shared ledger that maintains data quality through what he calls an "iron-sharpens-iron" environment where brokers help keep each other honest. When brokers use exclusive office listings outside the MLS, that cooperative quality check disappears, so the MLS can't guarantee the same level of data integrity.
The question of how MLS data gets used by artificial intelligence companies is another place Jones believes stewardship matters. According to his thinking reported by HousingWire, once a listing closes and becomes part of the broader compilation of historical data within the MLS, the service needs to carefully license and authorize how that information flows to AI companies and other users. He compares this to maintaining a chain of custody over the data to ensure it's being used appropriately and with proper authorization.
Jones also wants to separate the cooperative marketplace function of the MLS from public marketing decisions, which he believes should remain in brokers' hands. He's concerned that confusion around listing statuses like "coming soon" has blurred these two distinct purposes. According to HousingWire, Jones feels the MLS should clearly communicate status information to fellow participants in the cooperative system, while letting brokers control how they use that information in their own public marketing efforts.
Looking forward, Jones has warned that the MLS industry needs to rebuild and maintain strong relationships with brokerages or risk dissolving within five years. He suggests that while some core functions of the MLS must stay intact, the industry needs to rethink what the MLS actually is beyond just the technology platform agents use to input and edit listings.
What I am seeing locally in the Bay Area and East Bay is that brokers are becoming increasingly strategic about data control and privacy, and this conversation about stewardship feels very relevant to us. As someone working with both buyers and sellers in Fremont and throughout the region, I can tell you that sellers want different things from their listings, and good MLSs need to accommodate that flexibility while still maintaining the cooperative spirit that makes the whole system work for everyone. The debate Jones is raising here will shape what tools we all have available and what transparency we can expect moving forward.
