As a member of member of the RMLS, (Regional Multiple Listing Service) I have to abide by the rules, as stated in the graphic above. When someone does a google search “Minnesota MLS” or “St. Paul MLS” they get links to homeavenue.com, mlsonline.com, homegain.com and the list goes on. Most of these companies are not members of the RMLS, so they can use the letters MLS any way they want to.
The rule change just gave all non-members an unfair competitive advantage. When home buyers use “MLS” in their search terms they get mostly lead aggregation web sites. These internet companies, display our listings and then sell us leads off of the data. How fair is that? Who really owns the letters MLS? Apparently just about everyone except of course members.
That’s just it… no one OWNS the MLS acronym and it could easily stand for Major League Soccer or any number of other possibilities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS
Leanne – that would be my point but as a member if i violate the rule I will be fined. Hugh is already ticked at me for photo shopping my listings, I don’t need more trouble. 🙂
Hugh called himself the “MLS Nazi” at our “by invitation” staff meeting. He actually is quite nice, but a stickler for the rules! It’s the same difference with REALTOR, except that is a registered trademark, but none of us can use it because it means “Member of the NAR” instead of a person who practices real estate. Go figure! Did you know, T, that we also are not supposed to have MLS in our key words!