A week after four major brokerage groups unveiled a plan to build their own national listing-data system, the effort says it has collected 826 letters of support from brokerage leaders. Most came from independent firms, and executives at several multiple listing services (MLSs) publicly welcomed the project.
Open Real Estate announced the count on Nov. 2, 2026. Of the 826 letters, 493, or 59%, came from independent brokerages, according to the release. The independents named include Atlanta Communities, Iron Valley Real Estate, LoKation Real Estate and Realty of America.
The initiative was founded by AGNT Inc., the parent of eXp Realty and NextHome; HomeServices of America; Keller Williams Realty; and Real REMAX Group. RealtyWire covered the Oct. 26 launch. The founders say Open Real Estate will let brokerages and agents enter a listing once, using minimum standard fields. The listing would then be shared with other member firms and sent at the same time to MLSs, home-search sites, portals, appraisers and data services.
What signing a letter means
The letters do not commit anyone to join. Open Real Estate’s website describes the letter as “a statement of intent and non-binding.” It says signers will get follow-up and informational sessions and can help shape the platform’s governance and technology over the next six months.
The site also sets out the main rule participants would accept. Firms would submit all of their public listings to the platform. Once a participant’s listing is public, it must be in Open Real Estate within one business day if it was not entered there first. The site says local listing rules remain with the MLS and that taking part “will never involve any agreement among companies about commissions, fees, pricing, services, or which customers or markets they serve.”
The platform does not exist yet. According to a National Association of Realtors news report on the launch, the group was choosing a technology vendor and expected to wrap up the design and launch work in the first few months of 2027.
“We have already received significant interest from across the real estate industry since our announcement, and we look forward to continuing to engage with brokerages of all sizes, MLS organizations, and technology providers as we develop a platform that expands consumer choice and transparency for home buyers and sellers,” the founding members said in a joint statement.
MLS executives respond
The most notable part of the announcement may be who else is quoted in it. The chiefs of four MLSs spoke favorably about the project, though none of their statements says the MLS has agreed to accept listings through it.
“We welcome the initiative of Open Real Estate and look forward to actively participating and partnering with industry leaders to build on the capabilities already in place at Bright and advance a more connected, efficient, broker-driven marketplace,” said Brian Donnellan, president and CEO of Bright MLS.
Art Carter, CEO of California Regional MLS, said his organization and Open Real Estate “are in alignment with the concept of allowing brokers to bring listing data in from outside the CRMLS MLS Input Platform,” calling that a long-term CRMLS project. CRMLS is also one of the MLSs in a legal fight with Compass over listing rules. It asked a federal judge to declare those rules lawful.
Chris Carrillo, CEO of North Texas Real Estate Information Systems (NTREIS), said, “In alignment with this mission, we welcome constructive dialogue with Open Real Estate.” Tim Dain, president and CEO of NorthstarMLS, said: “Broker-led innovation shouldn’t be viewed as a threat to the MLS. It’s an opportunity to strengthen the cooperation that has served our industry for decades.”
The private-listing backdrop
The founders present Open Real Estate as a response to homes being marketed off the MLS. “Homes are increasingly marketed privately, outside public listing systems, and in ways that limit competition and reduce transparency,” their open letter says. That puts the project in the middle of the industry’s fight over private listings. In that fight, Compass has pressed MLSs to drop penalties for marketing listings outside the MLS, and six MLSs have sued Compass to defend their rules.
Our read is that the support letters measure interest, not adoption. The real tests come later, when the founders publish governance terms, name a technology vendor and say how participating brokerages will “share in the value generated by the listing information they contribute.” The website says those details “will be finalized as the initiative proceeds.”
