A Call to Consolidate New York MLS Systems NOW

My company is 30 minutes or less from the Bronx, Dutchess County, and Rockland County. I belong to the Westchester-Putnam MLS. I sell in other counties, though, and guess what? I belong to half a dozen other MLS systems to make that happen. Not only is this expensive, it is crazy.

We all get the same TV and radio stations, read the same newspapers, and shop in each other’s towns. Yet, if I want to do business 10 miles away across the Tappan Zee Bridge, I almost need a passport.

The Greater Hudson Valley MLS, Mid-Hudson MLS, Westchester-Putnam MLS MLS of Long Island and Bronx MLS should all be one system, or at least share data. In Connecticut, the whole state just consolidated down to just three, and that number looks to be shrinking. It makes sense. Not only is it more broker-friendly, it is more consumer friendly. People don’t spend their lives in one town anymore. Americans are more mobile now, and the trend has always been a sort of evolution from areas in and closer to NYC to the suburbs. How many more houses in Rockland would sell if the Bronx agents could access that data? How many more people in Westchester, one of the most expensive counties in the Union, would live in southern Dutchess if they had more access to the inventory?

Why should we have to incur the expense of more dues to belong to a different MLS systems just because they are across a county line or a Bridge? Who does that help, except the MLS accounts receivable? Do we need a statewide system like Connecticut? I doubt it- I have no designs on doing business in Buffalo or Schenectady. But the New York City Metropolitan area is a different matter. We should no longer have to pay so many extra exorbitant fees just to do business in our own back yards.