Giving Agents the Upper Hand to Home Search Requires MLS Mastery

To the observer, Zenlist might seem like “just another home search app” or “an app for private listings”. 3 years ago, I joined the team at Zenlist because I saw it was much more than that.

In addition to our nimble team that churns out new features at a record pace, we’ve built an industry-leading mobile app that, in our CEO Tom MacLeod 's words, expertly “miniaturizes those functions”. But what many don’t understand is that we’ve mastered the art of MLS data. And it really is an art more than a science.

There has been talk about a national MLS for well over a decade. The average homebuyer is shocked to learn that there are around 600 MLSs which require an agent’s membership to access its listing data, meaning that while homebuyers can search for homes in almost any part of the country using Zillow or other public search sites, their own agent’s access to home inventory (and detailed info about those homes) is limited to just the small region where that agent works. It’s truly mind-boggling when you think about how the industry has disadvantaged itself in this way.

Why no national MLS? As an agent, why can’t I just pay membership dues to a single entity and see all of the listings in the country? Even if I can’t sell in other states due to licensing, there are numerous reasons why being able to access listing data nationally would be beneficial to me as an agent.

So - the why: Well, it’s complicated. But one reason has to do with MLS data and how differently the listing data is structured across each of these ~600 MLSs. Starting fresh isn’t an option when people who have been in the business for decades rely on specific types of data to make decisions about property valuation in that market. And the other delaying factor is that MLS/Association Board approval (read: lots of meetings and votes!) is often needed for each change that gets made to the business rules for every single data field. While the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) has made great strides in implementing standards around real estate data, the job isn’t done. In our experience at Zenlist, even many MLSs that are RESO-certified don’t have 100% compliance with the standard.

The San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California has half a dozen MLSs that agents might be a member of. What we’ve enabled within Zenlist is the ability for agents to search their own MLS using the data fields familiar to them, but also providing them with what we call a “merged layer”, or ability to search across ALL of the area MLSs with reciprocity, under a standardized set of advanced data fields, or, in other words, a single search screen with filters that go way beyond just the basics. No need to toggle between the different MLSs to search each of them. One advanced search, all listings in the entire area. Yet, listings still display to the user with data coming from the originating source, and the data they expect and need to see based on those local market nuances. It’s the way agents should be able to search for listings in 2023. It was no small feat to do this, and took a high level of technical competence and understanding of MLS data and RESO standards. Our VP of Product, Andrea Badino , and our extremely talented engineering team suffered from many sleepless nights making this work. But because we’ve successfully done it (twice, actually), there’s no stopping us from doing it again, and again, and again - removing the disadvantage that agents have had to their own clients since the advent of Zillow almost 2 decades ago.

Zenlist has found their spirit animal: the impressively progressive team over at the San Francisco Association of REALTORS? consisting of Damon Knox , Hud Bixler , and Jay Pepper-Martens who deeply understand the value of what we have been able to build. And as far as SFAR goes, what I describe above is just the tip of the iceberg. Broker tours, mobile listing input, CMAs and more - will be right at the fingertips of their agents so they can work like an agent in the tech capital of the world should be able to work.

Read more about our recent partnership with SFAR:

The Real Deal: SF agent group launches its first all-in-one MLS mobile app

Inman: SFARMLS launches listing management app for 4,000+ agents

Press Release: The San Francisco Association of REALTORS? Partners with Zenlist to Bring its listings to Mobile Devices in First of Its Kind Partnership