Barriers Falling as Local Realtors join new MLS aggregation

The Southern California real estate community has a new tool in its arsenal to better serve its clients. Marking its debut in the 2nd quarter of 2008, California Real Estate Technology Services — known as CARETS — is a first-of-its-kind, region-wide Multiple Listing Service database available to real estate practitioners serving a wide geographic area — from Santa Clarita Valley to the north, to most Southern California coastal cities to the west, and from Palm Springs/Palm Desert region to the east, to San Clemente to the south. The alliance represents nearly 120,000 real estate professionals.

For current details about CARETS, go on-line to www.ca-rets.com.

Over the years, brokers and agents have had to deal with artificial barriers that have hindered their ability to assist consumers in their search for the American Dream.

The barriers included obstacles such as too many individual MLS's requiring multiple memberships, fees for transferring listings to other MLS systems, differing formats and data definitions from one MLS to another, and confusion caused by incompatible rules and regulations.

Through the vision and cooperation of regional MLSs in Southern California these barriers are now coming down.

According to Donna O’Donnell, Chairperson of the CARETS board of directors, agents and brokers in most parts of Southern California will no longer have to join several MLS to retrieve listings from outside of their area. If their MLS is affiliated with CARETS, members will have access to all of the listings throughout the new expanded coverage area. Property information will be the most comprehensive ever assembled and will be presented in a standardized, uniform fashion.

By being part of the CARETS network, users will only need to adhere to one set of MLS rules, and will be able to display all the active listings on their web sites via a common Internet Data Exchange data feed.

“We are delighted and proud to announce the formation of CARETS and have no doubt that this service will be of tremendous value to the Southern California real estate community,” said O’Donnell.

“Research indicates that 41 percent of real estate professionals maintain multiple MLS memberships,” she said. ”Thanks to CARETS, they need only join one MLS to have access to listings throughout the entire region. In addition to saving money in membership dues, they will avoid wasting valuable time sifting through property information since it will be presented in a standardized format.

“CARETS is strengthening the impact of agents and brokers throughout Southern California so that they can better serve their clients in their quest to buy or sell a home," O'Donnell said.

Established as a nonprofit mutual-benefit corporation, CARETS offers:

• One aggregated database of listings

• One set of standardized data definitions

• Only one MLS membership required, enabling access to listings covering most of Southern California

• Continued use by agents and brokers of their current MLS systems (operating under a single set of rules and regulations)

• One system in which to add listings with no “recip” fees

• One common Internet data Exchange (IDX) feed with standardized usage rules CARETS plans to expand its coverage area by enlisting other MLS operations and to work with organizations like MLS Listings, Inc., Quattro and the California Association of Realtors to create new statewide data standards.

CARETS is a nonprofit mutual-benefit corporation. Its members are the Combined LA Westside MLS, CRISnet Regional MLS (San Fernando/Burbank/Santa Clarita Valleys), iTECH MLS (Glendale/Pasadena), MRMLS (San Gabriel Valley to Temecula), Southern California MLS (Orange and Southeast LA Counties); representing approximately 115,000 real estate professionals and 26 REALTOR® Associations throughout the Southland, which accounts for approximately one third of the MLS users in the state. For more information, visit www.ca-rets.com.

The Southland Regional Association of Realtors is a local trade serving the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. SRAR is one of the largest local associations in the nation.