Written by Dionna Hall, 2024 CMLS Chair and CEO of Beaches MLS
Becoming Chair of CMLS in a year of unprecedented real estate industry change was a challenge and an opportunity. I am proud to state that the CMLS Board solidified our organization as a true partner advocating for the value of the MLS. We capitalized on the opportunity for the MLS industry to showcase its value and demonstrate the power of coming together as a unified entity, speaking with one voice. I am honored and privileged to be a part of all that we have accomplished… together.
Many of you have been around long enough to see the growth and goals that CMLS has achieved. There have been undeniable leaps and bounds.
Over the years, CMLS has been an organization focused on raising the standards for its MLS members, meaning we are helping MLSs become better through best practices, education, and networking.
Our mission is: To set the standard for MLS excellence and support all who seek it.
As we take a step back and look at this changing industry, we see that our MLSs have evolved and have a much bigger need in front of them. MLSs need a trade association that focuses on being an outward-facing industry advocate for MLSs, so they can continue to do what they do best.
That vision empowered the CMLS Board this year to think about how we can best serve our members now and in the future.
CMLS has already taken steps into the advocacy arena through Value of MLS campaigns:
- Making the Market Work, which advocates the value of the MLS for brokers and agents.
- In the Know, which further touts our value to the consumer.
- Champions of MLS, which focuses on educating federal regulators.
In this most recent campaign, I really started seeing CMLS become a recognized advocacy organization. I want to thank our donating Champions of MLS supporters for contributing to this campaign. Without your support, we would not have been able to achieve our most noteworthy accomplishments of 2024:
- Secured a meeting with the Department of Justice to advocate why a strong MLS system is vital to the real estate market’s health, efficiency, and stability.
- Hired Edgeworth Economics to analyze MLS data and produce a report showing the MLS’s pro-consumer and pro-competitive nature.
- Submitted our amicus brief in the Nosalek suit, using data to support our points.
- Published a widely distributed keystone white paper, “The Value of the MLS: How Multiple Listing Services Benefit Consumers and Advance Real Estate Competition.”
- Issued a statement in support of Clear Cooperation Policy.
- Hired a PR firm to create a public-affairs focused communications campaign to effectuate our education and advocacy goals in Washington and beyond.
Advocacy is not achieved overnight, nor is it for the faint of heart. Once you stick your neck out, it is easy to find you. It takes creating political capital, which is costly and not earned quickly. But it is worth it, and in 2024, CMLS has continued to make strides to be a powerful advocate.
Though doubling down on being the voice for MLS has been the primary thrust of 2024, there are still several milestones to be highlighted.
- Inaugurated the Best Practices Council in November 2023, creating meaningful ways for members to engage, develop leadership, and be the voice of the membership.
- Launched a new education campus. CMLX1 and CMLXv are already available, and additional resources will be rolled out early in 2025 including CMLX2 and updated Best Practices.
- Created the CMLS Best Practices Navigator, an AI-powered tool to be your ultimate guide, delivering expert insights, step-by-step guidance, and innovative solutions to help you navigate the evolving world of MLS with ease. While this is still in the development stage, we hope to roll this out to members in 2025.
- Revamped CMLXv course, designed for MLS volunteer leaders.
- Record attendance at virtual sessions and conference.
And so I write to you today as you’re outgoing chair of CMLS, a much wiser and humbled leader and executive. We have accomplished a lot, and still have a lot of work to do as an industry.
We must not only drive through this period of change, but guide and shape the industry. CMLS is well on its way to doing just that.