Beginning February 1, 2018, MLS participant brokers have more control over where there listings are sent from the MLS. Up until now, the only destinations where MLS fed listings for public display were to member IDX sites and Realtor.com. Listings can now be included in a MLS feed to Zillow by using a checkbox setting to “Enable Feed” on the new Broker Distribution (Syndication) Preference page.
Note – At this time, the only listing feed that will be controlled by the new “Opt-In” feature is The Zillow Group (which includes Zillow, Trulia, Streeteasy, Hotpads, and Realestate.com.) Other destinations can be added to the dashboard if approved by the MLS Board of Directors.
How “Opt-In” Works
Once the MLS broker chooses to “Enable Feed”, with additional dashboard settings, they can also choose whether to send all listings by default or whether to defer the choice to the agent associated with a listing.
For example, if a broker enables the feed but chooses not to send listings by default (by unchecking “Send listings by default”) they can select “Agent can override” to allow their agents to determine whether each of their listings will be included in the feed.
Selecting “Agent can override” will cause a “Broker Listing Distribution Options” section to appear on the last tab, “Broker Distribution”, during listing entry. The agent can simply check the box beside the feed on the “Broker Distribution” tab when entering the listing in the MLS. If the broker has not enabled “Agent can override”, this checkbox will not appear during listing entry.
Example steps for enabling the feed for Zillow Brokers must login to the MLS as their own login ID. Alternately, broker admins (with appropriate login access level) can login and change this setting. Click MENU at the top left below the red MLS logo. Scroll down to PREFERENCES section and click BROKER DISTRIBUTION. Zillow appears in the NAME column. Check the box below ENABLE FEED. “Send listings by default” should be automatically selected when the Zillow feed is enabled. Broker can then choose to allow the agent to override the broker’s setting to send all brokerage listings to Zillow by checking “Agent can override.” If the broker is the MLS participant broker for the company, they will have an additional option at the bottom left labeled “Set for all Offices in this Company.” Otherwise that box will not appear. Click SAVE button at bottom right to save changes.
Find more detailed instructions including screenshots and video at the following links:
