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The federal government has been pressuring the different MLS organizations across the country to stop deliberately denying access to their data by some real estate companies. These actions have lead to multiple lawsuits by the Federal Trade Commission recently.

Now the National Association of Realtors at their national meeting have come out and created a blanket policy for MLS’s across the country that will open access in a consistent and open format. This will be welcome by those that have been denied access to the data, typically low cost brokers in the communities.

The existing IDX policy permits members posting MLS listings on their own Web sites to select the listings they show on the basis of objective criteria such as location, type of property, compensation offered for buyers’ agents or the level of service provided by the listing company. It was approved by NAR’s board of directors at its meeting here Monday.
“These actions standardize distribution of MLS data to external Web sites for the first time and ensure that all listings are treated equally by MLSs,” said NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs of Grand Rapids, Mich., vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt. Vredevoogd Combs said Realtors® displaying MLS listings on their sites are governed by the Realtor® Code of Ethics, which obligates members to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public. via  Yahoo! Finance.

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