Several years ago I received a referral from an old real estate friend from Texas. The referral was for a buyer moving to New Hampshire. I reminded her that I work in Connecticut. She replied. "But it's still in New England and all those states are so little." I remembered that story today, as the launching of our new Connecticut Statewide MLS is about to happen. A Connecticut State Wide MLS has been talked about for many years. Rhode Island, our little next door neighbor has had a Statewide MLS for years. As with any good idea, the personal agendas and the big egos usually got in the way. But last year, the timing was right and the hurdles didn't seem so high after all. Cooperation became king. So, on January 10th, we will have one MLS, one MLS vendor, data in one format and one set of MLS rules. Well, almost. Unfortunately, there are a few boards not joining but those are at the other end of the state so really won't effect us here in Eastern CT. I do suspect that before the year's end, the membership of the boards who are not joining now will force the issue and we will be one big happy family. One casualty of the Statewide MLS, known as CTMLS, will be that buyers and sellers will no longer have access to the local MLS database through www.ECMLS.com. In response to this change, I am revamping, redoing and tweaking all my current websites and adding a new HomeFinder site which will provide access to the local MLS listings. It is currently under construction but will be ready to go live at the end of the month in conjunction with the Connecticut Statewide MLS. And so...back to my friend in Texas. If Connecticut and Rhode Island can adopt a single MLS, is a New England MLS far behind? After all, those states are so little. |
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