MRED, Chicagoland’s MLS, recently announced a number of additions to its services, namely a direct listing feed to Zillow/Trulia and a new syndication dashboard for brokerages.
MRED’s direct feed comes on the heels of similar Zillow Group agreements, which include direct feeds with California Regional MLS (the largest MLS in the country), Realogy and Keller Williams (two of the largest real estate franchisors in the country) and dozens of other MLSs, including the combined Los Angeles/Westside MLS.
Errol Samuelson, Zillow Group’s chief industry development officer, said the new additions to Zillow Group’s syndication business only help agents, buyers and sellers.
“For every new partnership we build with an MLS, the experience on Zillow and Trulia gets better for everyone – from brokers and agents to home sellers and buyers,” Samuelson said. “It’s a very exciting time for Zillow Group, as we are helping more brokers and agents than ever. We appreciate the support of the MLSs who are joining us to work for the benefit of their members.”
Rebecca Jensen, MRED’s president and chief executive officer, said the MLS’ agreement with Zillow Group was based on broker feedback.
“We received great feedback from our brokers and were able to negotiate an agreement with the Zillow Group that kept the flow of listings to Zillow and Trulia uninterrupted,” Jensen said. “Thanks to their input, the new contract will deliver traffic back to the brokerage websites and display the brokerage logo on every listing. These were critical components necessary to successfully reaching an agreement.”
Listing Syndication Dashboard
Additionally, MRED announced a new functionality that allows brokerages to manage and control the distribution of their listing content.
“Listing Syndication Dashboard,” as MRED calls the feature, operates as a one-stop spot for managing brokers to view and modify their syndication settings, insuring that MRED is making their listing content available only to those sites the brokerage has authorized – including MRED’s new direct feed to Zillow and Trulia. Analytics are also available to display listing view statistics on offices’ listings.
The back-end technology, which will send the information collected from the Listing Syndication Dashboard to the appropriate distribution channels, was delivered by dynaConnections, MRED’s MLS vendor.
“We strive to provide our customers with truly comprehensive MLS software and solutions,” explained Tim Ford, dynaConnections’ CEO. “Recent changes within the industry exposed a need. We were happy to help MRED meet that need and provide service above and beyond our MLS solution, connectMLS™.”
Jensen said the syndication dashboard represented an opportunity for the MLS.
“This was not a problem, but an opportunity, for MRED to address an immediate need of our customers at the highest business level,” Jensen said. “I am thrilled we are able to provide a new tool that will improve our customers’ ability to manage their listing syndication choices.”