We heard about the GSDAR suing Sandicor and the other two realtor associations, which still seems ridiculous – aren’t us agents all on the same team here?
Oscar left this comment last night:
I was at a meeting of brokers set up by Sandicor at the Sheraton in La Jolla a few weeks ago. A Sandicor Board member was leading a meeting and they had a presentation from CRMLS. CRMLS is interested in merging with Sandicor and all of the Brokers in the room from all of the association’s were very interested in hearing more about what a merge would look like. A broker asked why we weren’t moving this forward faster and the President from SDAR and his attorney stood up and said that SDAR would not support a merge with CRMLS so don’t bother looking into it. The brokers in the room were shocked. They couldn’t give a reason for not exploring the merger. I just want to know why SDAR wouldn’t explore this to see what was available. The leaders from Sandicor and PSAR and NSDCAR seemed open minded and interested in listening to the brokers in the room. A few days later read in Inman about this suit. It makes me wonder. One huge statewide MLS might be big enough to develop better tools.
Sandicor has announced a data share agreement with CRMLS, but it’s not the same as a merger. In the press release, they say that the data-share agreement “will come as a huge financial relief” and ‘makes perfect sense’ – but it doesn’t allow for agents to input listings in the other MLS, or to have listings on the consumer-facing website. The agreement allows for searching only – which we can do on Zillow, with better results!
Sandicor and CRMLS should merge – it is what makes the most sense. CRMLS has the better MLS, and a far-superior consumer website. Yet it appears that there is somebody at GSDAR getting in the way.
I’m including this info here to help inform agents what is going on behind the scenes. If you know any more, let us know!
Click here to read the press release:
California Regional MLS (CRMLS), the nation’s largest and most recognized MLS servicing nearly 80,000 real estate professionals, has signed a data share agreement with Sandicor MLS providing an additional 19,500 subscribers access to their MLS data.
This agreement will come as a huge financial relief to the current 2,200 agents that pay for joint membership in CRMLS and Sandicor.
Sandicor and CRMLS will share listing information directly with each other and will import each other’s listing data into each respective MLS system allowing access to all data in both marketplaces no matter what MLS the member resides in. Sandicor will join VCRDS, CDAR, CLAW, CRISNet, iTech MLS and Palm Springs Association of REALTORS® in the new direct data share initiative.
“CRMLS continues to be proactive in unshackling data and breaking down artificial barriers to deliver data seamlessly throughout the state of California via our own technology in a cost effective manner. The addition of Sandicor’s data will definitely strengthen this initiative and bring us closer to completing the aggregation of listings in California, allowing real estate professionals to advance their business,” said Art Carter, CEO of CRMLS.
“The decision to enter into a data share agreement with CRMLS makes perfect sense in order to best service our existing members. Greater listing exposure will provide added business success to our membership and provide a complete and accurate view of the listings across both market areas,” said Ray Ewing, President and CEO of Sandicor.
About California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS)
California Regional MLS is the nation’s largest and most recognized subscriber-based MLS, dedicated to servicing nearly 80,000 real estate professionals from 32 Associations, 3 Boards of REALTORS® and 1 MLS. CRMLS is the industry powerhouse and thrives on providing the most relevant products and services to its subscribers. For more information on CRMLS visit www.crmls.org.
About Sandicor
Sandicor is owned by three Associations of REALTORS® serving San Diego County including the Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®, the Pacific Southwest Association of REALTORS® and the North San Diego County Association of REALTORS®.
