The Heartland MLS and KCRAR Boards of Directors approved this month the changes to the Heartland MLS Rules and Regulations related to Coming Soon listings as well as Clear Cooperation and its impact on Exempted listings.
Changes for Coming Soon Listings
Section 1.3.3 “Coming Soon Listings (FKA Pre MLS)” was added to the Heartland MLS Rules and Regulations. Formerly unwritten policy regarding Future Live Date and Sight Unseen Offers are now present in subsections B and C. These do not reflect new changes for Heartland MLS subscribers but only establish written rules for existing policy that has already been in place.
Section 1.3.3 subjection A reflects new changes Heartland MLS subscribers saw take effect earlier this month regarding syndication of Coming Soon listings. Sellers now have the option to syndicate their Coming Soon listings. The “Display Listing” field, which controls syndication will default to “Yes,” and if a seller does not wish to syndicate their Coming Soon listing, the listing agent must select “No” upon entry of the listing. This can be modified at any time. If “No” is selected in the “Display Listing” field, it will remain as “No” until manually changed by the listing agent, even after the listing status is automatically switched to Active.
Changes for Clear Cooperation Policy & Exempted Listings
Recently the National Association of REALTORS added a new clarification to their Clear Cooperation Policy regarding one-to-one private communication. A note has been added to section 1.1.1 of the Heartland MLS Rules and Regulations that now allows for one-to-one private communications between agents and brokers regarding Exempted (Private Office Exclusive) listings. Previously, any marketing or communication related to an Exempted listing was limited to those within the office of the listing agent. While multi-brokerage marketing about an Exempted listing is still prohibited, one-to-one private communication to other agents is now allowed.
Additionally, language has been shifted in section 1.4 to allow marketing of Exempted listings to other agents who share the same brokerage firm as the listing agent. This was previously limited to those who share an office ID. This change will soon take effect in the Heartland MLS Matrix system, making Exempted listings viewable by all Heartland MLS subscribers and participants who share a brokerage.
