The Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) is set to become an industry cost-saver as property data become standardized by the nation’s 850-plus MLS firms. Driving the change is the National Association of Realtors mandated deadline for Realtor-affiliated MLSs of the RESO Data Dictionary by Jan. 1, 2016 to ensure industry adoption.

“RESO empowers the real estate industry to more rapidly innovate and iterate by creating an environment through standardization that eliminates redundancy,” said Jeremy Crawford, the executive director of RESO. “What we all are trying to achieve is better experience for consumers when they buy or sell a home.”

Four of the nation’s largest and most respected MLS firms are now Data Dictionary compliant: MRIS, serving the Mid-Atlantic region; MRED, or Midwest Real Estate Data serving Chicagoland; MetroList Services serving Sacramento; and MLSListings, serving the Silicon Valley. Combined they serve more than 100,000 agent members and drive tens of billions of dollars in real estate transactions each year.

Crawford notes the deadline for Realtor-affiliated MLSs to comply with the RESO Data Dictionary requires MLS firms to begin working with their technology providers now.

“Don’t just assume your technology provider is taking care of this automatically,” Crawford cautions. “Every MLS needs to sit down with their data providers, initiate the process and go through what these changes will mean.”