New MLS Policy: Multiple Listing Options for Sellers

QUESTION: I received an email about a new MLS policy that gives more listing options to sellers. Is the Clear Cooperation Policy no longer applicable? What are these new options and when do they take effect in the MLS?

ANSWER: The Clear Cooperation Policy is unchanged, still in effect, and will continue to be in effect now that the new policy called “Multiple Listing Options for Sellers” has been adopted by the National Association of REALTORS®.

Under the Clear Cooperation Policy, any MLS participant that publicly markets a listing must submit that listing to the MLS for cooperation with other participants within one business day. “Public marketing” includes, but is not limited to, “flyers displayed in windows, yard signs, digital marketing on public facing websites, brokerage website displays (including IDX and VOW), digital communications marketing (email blasts), multi-brokerage listing sharing networks, and applications available to the general public.” The Clear Cooperation Policy offers a seller the option to keep their listing office exclusive, which means that the listing is filed with the MLS even though it is not disseminated for cooperation to other MLS participants.

So, what does the new Multiple Listing Options for Sellers Policy do if the Clear Cooperation Policy is unchanged?

First, sellers can now choose to market their property only to MLS participants and not the wider public. Think of this option as a middle ground between office exclusive and public marketing. If a seller chooses this option and signs a written disclosure exempting their listing from public marketing, then a listing agent must upload the listing to the MLS, and the listing will only be available to MLS participants for period of time set by the MLS.

Each MLS will determine how long public marketing can be delayed using this new option. The “delayed marketing period” where the listing is only available to MLS participants is not counted as public marketing. And, once the delayed marketing period has concluded, then the listing will be marketed to the public by IDX and other syndications.

Second, the new Multiple Listing Options for Sellers Policy clarifies that one-to-one communications between two individual brokers about a listing does not count as public marketing under the Clear Cooperation Policy. However, multi-brokerage communications about a listing will count as public marketing and will trigger the Clear Cooperation Policy.

The specifics of this clarification should be available once the MLS rules to implement the new policy are released. However, it is expected that the new MLS rules will permit one-to-one communications between a listing broker and a broker outside the listing firm without triggering Clear Cooperation, so long as the communication is one-to-one (i.e., person-to-person) and not one broker to many brokers outside the firm. This is more expansive than the current guidance in the Clear Cooperation Policy FAQ, which already permits one-to-one promotion between individual brokers and their clients within the listing firm:

Does Policy Statement 8.0 prohibit office exclusives?

No. “Office exclusive” listings are an important option for sellers concerned about privacy and wide exposure of their property being for sale. In an office exclusive listing, direct promotion of the listing between the brokers and licensees affiliated with the listing brokerage, and one-to-one promotion between these licensees and their clients, is not considered public advertising.

Common examples include divorce situations and celebrity clients. It allows the listing broker to market a property among the brokers and licensees affiliated with the listing brokerage. If office exclusive listings are displayed or advertised to the general public, however, those listings must also be submitted to the MLS for cooperation.

Taken together, all this means that sellers will have three options for their listings once an MLS implements the new rules:

Public Marketing – Section 6 of the Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement (Form 101) and the Internet Advertising Addendum (Form 105) will continue to give the seller the ability to authorize how their property is publicly marketed.

Delayed Marketing Exempt Listing – The standard form listing agreements, Forms 101 and 103 (for vacant land), will be updated to accommodate this new option for sellers. Once updated, sellers will be able to authorize marketing only to MLS participants for a period of time that is set by MLS rule before marketing to the public.

Office Exclusive – Sellers may choose to keep their property’s marketing within the listing firm, except that one-to-one communications that are broker-to-broker will not trigger the Clear Cooperation Policy, so long as those communications do not constitute public marketing under the new Multiple Listing Options for Sellers Policy clarification.

The new Multiple Listing Options for Sellers Policy became effective March 25, 2025, but MLSs have until September 30, 2025, to implement it. More details, including an in-depth FAQ on this topic from NAR, are available here. Stay tuned to the Rundown for forms changes and other updates.

Release Date: 03/27/2025

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