Look, I want to walk you through what's happening in the broader real estate industry right now, because it affects how we all do business here in the Bay Area. According to HousingWire, there's a pretty heated debate going on about whether the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, actually helps or hurts competition in real estate. Some folks are pushing private listing networks and calling the MLS anti-competitive, but a lot of brokers and industry leaders are pushing back hard on that idea.
Here's what the MLS supporters are saying, and frankly it makes sense to me. Brokers like Boomer Foster, who runs his own firm, point out that the whole reason the MLS existed in the first place was to create an open marketplace where all brokers could share their listing data. That openness is actually what levels the playing field for smaller companies like his. When big brokers try to keep listings off the MLS and only show them through their own private networks, agents and buyers working with other brokerages basically get left out in the cold.
Steven Koleno runs an MLS-focused brokerage that operates at huge volume, and he credits the MLS system entirely for his ability to compete and grow. He says the reason he can move that kind of transaction volume is precisely because the MLS works as an open, competitive marketplace. He's even offering sellers a low-cost option to list on the MLS, which he argues is true seller choice compared to what the big firms are doing.
The research backing up the MLS value is pretty substantial. Jessica Edgerton, who leads the Council of MLSs, points to white papers from fall 2023 that describe the MLS as the bedrock of the real estate industry. The economic analysis shows that when you have more listings and more participants in a centralized system, it creates what economists call a network effect, where the whole thing becomes more valuable to everyone. According to data that came out, roughly 94 percent of MLS listings end up being sold by agents from different brokerages, which really shows how that network effect works in practice.
What I am seeing locally here in the Bay Area and the East Bay is that our regional MLS systems have been fundamental to how independent brokers and smaller firms like mine have stayed competitive against the national mega-brokerages. When our sellers get their homes listed in our MLS, they're reaching the broadest possible pool of qualified buyers and agents, and that exposure matters when it comes to final sale prices and time on market.
