Jessica Edgerton is taking the reins of the Council of MLSs (CMLS) at a time when the industry is grappling with countless questions regarding its purpose, identity and future utility. And while this may cause some to high tail it in the opposite direction, Edgerton said this is exactly why she decided to take on this role.
“My personal rationale for doing this at such a fraught time for the MLSs is exactly that — because it is such a challenging time for the MLSs,” Edgerton said. “I have been working in the real estate space since the start of my legal career in 2004. It has become so clear to me that the United States, Canada and countries that operate with an MLS system provide their consumers with a huge advantage when it comes to transparency and efficiency. Right now, I am worried about our industry floating away from the MLS as an anchor — and I want to stop that.”
In her most recent role as chief legal officer for global real estate company Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Edgerton said she has gained a greater appreciation for the MLS system that exists in the U.S. and she is looking forward to working with MLSs to ensure that the industry fully understands benefits of the system it has before it is too late.
“I deeply love our industry and I feel that the MLSs need a very strong voice right now to protect what we have and to educate our consumers about exactly what we do,” Edgerton said. “Overall I really do believe that the industry wants the same thing, whether we are talking about portals, brokerages or MLSs and that is for our consumers to have the best and highest chance for homeownership that they can in a very difficult market right now.”
A fraught environment
Although the industry may share a common goal, Edgerton acknowledged that not all parties can agree as to what the best course of action is to achieve that goal, which has resulted in a variety of different business models, tensions and even litigation within the industry. Through all of this, Edgerton said she believes the MLSs need to be recognized as a “deeply essential” and “to a certain extent a neutral party that can, regardless of what happens, serve as the foundational infrastructure of our industry.”
Still she believes the competition that is currently evolving in the MLS space right now is very important.
“Coming from the antitrust world that we were in for the last seven years, competition is essential,” Edgerton said. “All of these battles that are happening right now, all of the innovation, ultimately needs to be of benefit for our consumers.”
Due to this, Edgerton feels that the questions surrounding the future of MLS utility are misguided.
“If these battles play out and the MLS ends up being a victim of those battles, nothing will work as well in whatever new industry environment that is created,” Edgerton said. “The MLS can serve as the foundation — the enduring structure upon which innovation is built. If we can succeed in protecting what the MLS stands for, which is neutral, complete, real-time, true data, through all of these battles, then all of these competing factions will end up having a better infrastructure to work with when the dust clears.”
Helping shape the future
Edgerton acknowledged that this will be a challenging task, especially as MLSs, brokers and other industry participants are experimenting with different strategies as they work to stay relevant and competitive in today’s quickly evolving, AI-driven world.
“As the MLSs innovate and experiment, there will almost certainly be contentious moments. That’s the nature of a healthy, competitive ecosystem.” Edgerton said. “We can’t shy away from disagreement. Disagreement is how great ideas are often born. For CMLS, our role is going to build on what we have always done — educating and training our members and the industry at large regarding how best to ensure data integrity, serving members and consumers with clean, timely and relevant data.”
However, Edgerton added that she hopes to see the role of CMLS in the MLS ecosystem expand, as the trade group looks to have a bigger voice in some of the current legislative discussions surrounding the marketing of listings.
“I want CMLS to serve as a louder, stronger advocate as legislatures and attorneys general grapple with these issues around the MLS,” Edgerton said. “I want to be in all of those rooms where there are larger industry discussions because there needs to be a stronger voice for the MLS.”
Broker relationships
It is no secret that the relationship between brokers and the MLS can be contentious at times. Edgerton is excited to use her experience working in the real estate brokerage space to help her be a better bridge between brokers and MLSs.
“The conversations that we need to be having right now cannot be siloed. Brokers, agents and their consumers downstream are all dependent on what the MLS is doing and the choices that MLSs are making. I think it is absolutely vital to ensure that brokerages are engaging with the MLSs and vice versa. MLSs need to have a crystalline understanding of what their brokers need,” Edgerton said. “MLSs won’t survive if they are not listening to their brokers, agents and consumers. This industry is an ecosystem, and we are all dependent on each other.”
With different brokers and consumers in different markets having different needs, Edgerton said CMLS is not interested in “flattening the landscape,” but instead is focused on continuing to encourage and provide the tools and resources the association’s members need to have these conversations and begin to implement some of the desired changes.
“Each of our MLSs is going to be making their own decisions, their own innovations, their own mistakes,” she said. “CMLS’s job is, to the extent that we can, to provide resources for ongoing innovation, creativity and development.”
A path of innovation
Looking ahead at the uncertainty that has gripped much of the housing industry as it works to innovate, Edgerton believes that, at least in the MLS space, the industry needs to focus on the unique value of the MLS — that it’s the one true repository of listings that exists without bias or the competitive elements of portals or brokerages.
“There is no entity that is better situated to be a complete, neutral, timely resource for real estate listing data,” Edgerton said. “All of the innovation that is happening right now depends completely on full, timely real estate data. Portals are competing with one another. Brokerages are competing with one another. The MLS, as an entity, is situated to be a partner and a resource that can serve and bolster that competition from a neutral standpoint. It can be the resource that every innovation, every other competitor in this industry can rely on.”
That being said, Edgerton said the MLSs must innovate and continue to look to the future.
“The MLS has spent so much of its lifespan as an institution, perhaps being a bit too comfortable in the guarantee of its eternal relevance,” she said. “Five years from now I would love to look back at this as the moment when we started to see the MLSs innovate as fast as everyone else. We need to be listening to our brokerages, to the industry and get cracking on everything we need to do to thrive.”
