Realtor Cooperation Policy CREA as of April 21, 2023. See Details.
APPLIES TO RESIDENTIAL. NOT COMMERCIAL.

We have always been a great supporter and user of MLS and will continue to be. 

However, although we disagree with this new rule, we will follow the guidelines. 

Over the next few months, we hope to clear up the implementation. We understand their are some exceptions. And it is possible for an owner to sign something to allow it to be exclusive. This is under further understanding of the rule. We need clarification.

It seems to apply to a residential signed listing not submitted to MLS within three days. DOES NOT APPLY TO COMMERCIAL AT ALL. But can we continue to network what we call networking, an unsigned residential opportunity on ICIWorld where an owner says he does not want to give a signed listing but bring me in x dollars for my home? I will sign a listing for you to show it. 

We have successfully done that on ICIWorld for commercial and residential real estate since 1994 and continue to do and share these opportunities. 

It is networking information, not signed listings, although you can do both on ICIWorld. 

It creates tremendous business for Realtors that would not have been done. See testimonials.

There is more choice for consumers. There is protection for the public on exclusive opportunities because Realtors are trained in consumer protection. All the extra real estate sales contribute to the GDP of a nation. What percentage of GDP is the real estate market? Share: Housing’s combined contribution to GDP generally averages 15-18%, and occurs in two basic ways: Residential investment (averaging roughly 3-5% of GDP), which includes construction of new single-family and multifamily structures, residential remodeling, production of manufactured homes, and brokers’ fees. 

Not allowing residential exclusives to be advertised on ICIWorld will remove the chance for brokers to share their exclusive opportunities with other brokerage companies and the public, that we have been doing since 1994.

Brokers will still be able to place their Wants. And there are exclusions, I believe, for new construction projects. Need to investigate further. The lack of information circulation on this whole matter leaves something to be desired. It seems only at a board level is it being done without consideration of the complete rank-and-file membership. Our poll shows 4 to 1 against the motion. They believe that owners’ property rights trump the rights of buyers who are forcing this removal of the right to choose for homeowners and the advice and services of Realtor professionals.

AS A NOTE: ICIWorld is still valuable to all residential real estate brokers and salespeople because of the IDX links for all broker’s websites that trigger leads, business and referral opportunities, the ability to place Wants for residential, Haves for residential MLS listings, the ability to place commercial and business Haves and Wants, a database of commercial opportunities of buyers and sellers showing how well connected you are, access to Database 2 FSBO Area where owners of residential real estate can place their listings,  assistance web sites, assistance how to work exclusive type information competently and professionally. We could also have a private for brokers only residential networking area for members only as a possibility after consultation with a good portion of our membership. And we are considering limiting our membership in Ontario to 1,000 subject to review each year.

As one of the main services in Canada, ICIWorld has been helping brokers and salespeople network exclusive information since 1994. Not one person from leadership has contacted us for any input whatsoever. The institutional approach of NAR and CREA has ignored the rank-and-file membership input. I talk to salespeople daily. I know. Yet there is a wonderful solution the ICIWorld service can be for the real estate industry worldwide. We know that MLS is struggling to grow in other parts of the world. I believe that an ICIWorld-type information listing service can help develop the inroads to make MLS more acceptable in the rest of the world by starting with at least cooperating with exclusive opportunities that lead to listings and sales. See one of our 150 websites ILS.realestate www.informationlistingsservice.realestate, which makes our member’s information available to people daily in 150+ countries.

Real estate people have been networking opportunities since the beginning of time. ICIWorld has applied this concept on the Internet since 1994 successfully to this day. We network information without an address or identifying the property. (Learn how to work exclusive real estate information.) We teach this. 

The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) has a provision that states:

‘A registrant shall not include anything in an advertisement that could reasonably be used to identify specific real estate unless the real estate owner has consented in writing. 

On ICIWorld, we do not give addresses unless the owner of that real estate has consented in writing. Members put a listing agreement in place before showing the property or divulging the address. So you will see the networking of real estate Have and Want opportunities and information that is not a signed listing, without the address, that generates interest.

However, over time we ask CREA to reconsider the motion when the rank and file membership of 100,000+ Realtors can fully explore the other option we propose of sharing exclusive opportunities as we have done with IDX Links For Commercial And Residential since 1994. This is something both NAR and CREA have not even considered. I was at the NAR convention in Washington when they passed it there.

The New CREA RULE is Effective as of January 3, 2024.

Commercial real estate is exempted. 

Your feedback to me personally is appreciated on what this all means. The following are my initial thoughts.

The new rule applies to residential.

CREA chooses to provide cooperation on MLS listings only. 

They choose not to provide cooperation on exclusive listings for residential as we do on The ICIWorld Association of Real Estate Brokers and Salespeople since 1994. 

One of the things all brokers and salespeople like on ICIWorld is the ability to share their exclusive real estate opportunities with other brokers and salespeople and vice versa and with the public.

As a broker for 49 years, I believe what we do, sharing exclusive opportunities, is in the same fundamental principles of how MLS was founded. We are doing it with exclusive information. If you share your listings with me, I will share my opportunities.

I believe they are unaware that this has been done successfully since 1994 on ICIWorld.com.

They have chosen to ignore the fact that there is a third option: to share exclusive opportunities.

The very thing that we as Realtors appreciate is the sharing of listings; we are sharing information. Yes, it is a new service, and for this reason, we recommend that when 140,000 Realtors learn, they can also share exclusive type information that they will all want. 

Clarification needed. There is a provision in the new rule; I believe that when you get a residential property owner to sign a document to waive the right to put it on MLS, the broker can advertise the residential property publicly. Is this correct? There are a few exceptions. 

The difference is the definition of an exclusive listing. But the word exclusive can be used for a signed listing, but many in real estate know that exclusive can cover unsigned opportunities to do business. There is only one way to find out: to contact the broker. 

At ICIWorld, we have many opportunities we call networking of information. You will not see addresses advertised. You will not see pictures or anything that can identify the property. We call it networking the opportunity. Information in the information age is opening up, providing a way for brokers and salespeople who cannot get a signed listing to network that opportunity to get a buyer and then put a listing agreement in place. The broker is now advised that when they sign a listing to show the property, they should either get the waiver, so to speak, signed or put it on MLS.   

Our service that provides the ability for every broker in the world to share exclusive opportunities is, in my opinion, being ignored by NAR and CREA, and I believe they do not know you can network information and share it.

But you can join the ICIWorld service and belong to NAR and CREA. 

The new CREA Policy just passed with an exclusion for commercial property listings; new construction listings in development with multiple properties or units and rentals are exempt from the policy.

For residential real estate opportunities with this new ruling,

if you have a signed listing, you must either

• get it signed to be exclusive and then you can place it on ICIWorld or
• put it on MLS. ICIWorld is designed for real estate brokers and salespeople worldwide to network real estate Have or Want opportunities information. When the homeowner chooses not to put it on MLS, the Realtor can put it on ICIWorld.
• If you are networking the opportunity, you can do so without a signed listing if you do not give an address or identify the property. This is a real estate licensing provision all Realtors should abide by, and we agree with it.
• According to the new rule, if you put a 24-hour or 48 hr listing agreement in place to show the residential property, you must also put it on MLS or get a signature that says not to put it on MLS.

If you have a signed listing, it must go on MLS or after explaining the benefits of MLS, get the owner’s acknowledgement not to put it on MLS.

If you do not have a signed listing, you can network the information on ICIWorld and choose to share it with other brokers using our IDX links, as long as you do not identify the property. Then to show the property, we recommend getting a signed listing to cover your showing and sign it exclusively or MLS at that time.

Since this is all new, your comments are most appreciated now.

Gary Nusca, CCIM, CIPS, Realtor, Broker 49 Years.

See CREA proposed rule forcing Residential Exclusive Listings to be on MLS. Discussion For and Against. Poll.

CREA says that the new rule DOES NOT APPLY TO COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE . . . HOWEVER . . . READ ON.

CREA proposed a rule requiring all Exclusive Residential Listings must be placed on MLS. Vote April 2023.

November 16, 2022,

TAKE PART IN THE DISCUSSION FOR AND AGAINST FULL DETAILS HERE, AND YOU CAN WRITE YOUR COMMENTS.

Poll. Your opinion is appreciated.

One note to start. One of the biggest knocks against exclusives is that information is not shared. But on ICIWorld, we do share! And we have been confidentially sharing exclusive type information since 1994 very, very successfully.

CREA proposed a rule requiring all Exclusive Residential Listings must be on MLS. Vote April 2023.

November 16, 2022,

This new proposal may affect only eight residential listings on ICIWorld out of 40,000 exclusive opportunities. Or is it more?

The reason? Does the rule only apply to residential, not commercial, or does it?

However, does it apply to the opportunities that we provide at ICIWorld? Such as a residential home with commercial zoning, an infill site with five homes, a home with a business office, a triplex which to us is an investment, and more. 

A networking service differs from MLS-type service brokers provide to the public. Networking information is something that brokers do regularly to explore possibilities for doing business. Take that away, and you limit and restrict opportunities to do business. 

But networking has to be done appropriately following all guidelines, rules, codes of ethics and appropriate real estate licensing.  

I should know. I, too, have been a Realtor since 1974 and work with brokers and salespeople daily. See testimonials and the potential to benefit the world through networking information on shared platform brokers have provided since 1994 on ICIWorld. 

Take that networking away from brokers, and it is like the real estate industry shooting itself in the foot. All these testimonials and sales disappear because owners of properties lose their right to network exclusively. After all, buyers force them to put it on MLS. 

The industry may be caught up in the institutional nature of thinking of something you get used to and then have an unreasonable fear of something upsetting the apple cart. 

The property rights of owners should be respected when choosing the way to sell, while the real estate brokers follow the law and code of ethics in the marketing of real estate, whether MLS or Exclusive.

The owners have the right to choose their chosen real estate professionals. We know MLS is good. But other options work successfully, depending on the circumstances.

Does the new rule only apply to signed exclusive listings, or does it also apply to the networking of information, not signed listings, but opportunities where an owner says, bring me in a buy, and I will pay you a commission? We network that kind of information on ICIWorld but without an address. If someone wants to see it, we put a listing agreement before divulging the address, then show it and potentially sell it. Does this new rule prevent the networking of residential opportunities without the address? Our members network FSBO information (for sale by owner) to the world without addresses. They generate interest in an opportunity, then create a listing agreement to show and sell it. Can we network that information that we have been doing since 1994? Can a broker lose their CREA membership over this?

I know they say it does not apply to commercial but is a residential home in commercial zoning outlawed, against the rules, one can lose their CREA membership? Read on for further discussion, and a link presents both sides of the argument for and against. Your opinion is appreciated.

We have been networking exclusive type opportunities successfully with the public and the organized real estate industry on ICIWorld since 1994, and not one person has contacted us about this new rule. Not one person broker that I have talked to has been given a chance to vote, and I talk to several every day. And I, too, am a Realtor. I assist hundreds of real estate brokers and salespeople daily, helping them network information competently compatible with our real estate industry. 

I attended the NAR convention, and there was little discussion that I saw the rule just passed. 

All the people in the room did not even know or realize that there was a service that shares exclusive real estate opportunities, brokers to brokers, brokers to the public, such as on ICIWorld. They called them back pocket listings, far from it. 

There is a world distribution and exposure of the exclusive opportunities on a world platform operating since 1994 ICIWorld, and not one person consulted us. It is an information listing service that all brokers and salespeople worldwide can provide to the public. 

To give you an idea of one domain name out of 100+ that we have registered to benefit the real estate industry, see https://www.ILS.realestate www.informationlistingservice.realestate All of this is made possible because of new information technology and the ability to apply real estate networking concepts. To serve the public within the guidelines of the real estate and business brokers act. We have been working on this information listing service since 1994, and it is compatible with our real estate industry and all its services. Starting out of monthly breakfast meetings at a real estate board by commercial real estate brokers and salespeople networking Have and Want information. An independent information listing service in the best interests of real estate brokers to network and serve the public. Important because brokers are trained in consumer protection. Otherwise, many owners are left to fend for themselves on the Internet. 

I believe this is an excellent reason to reconsider that vote. No one even knew that you could be networking exclusive information worldwide and sharing the information. They voted to outlaw them without this knowledge and type of service. Your company could lose your membership to CREA and MLS if one salesperson had an exclusive listing. 

Owners were not consulted, only buyers. Shouldn’t the rights of property owners trump the rights of buyers? Shouldn’t the owners have the right to choose MLS or not, as the situation warrants?

Getting a fair price is essential. Realtors are skilled at providing comparative market analysis. 

Confidentiality can also be paramount. Some people do not want 32 groups going through every room and closet in their house, seeing valuable contents, or having a sign on their property; security becomes an issue. How can MLS provide confidentiality simultaneously with exposure to 100+ countries? They cannot. 

But the services that real estate boards subscribe to for their members can. ICIWorld is one example where it is possible.

In many cases, there is not a signed listing in place. But the real estate board members choose the services they want. They can choose MLS, and most do but not in all cases. In our opinion, they should also have the right to choose ILS. The ability to network information confidentially. To do it competently and professionally, we call it networking on ICIWorld. It is set up to provide this to real estate boards. It works hand in hand with MLS. Every listing on MLS is information first; then, a listing is signed to put on MLS. When a Realtor talks to an owner and says I want to sell my property next month, when that Realtor attends an office meeting, he mentions that he has a listing coming up. That is networking.  

Brokers should be allowed on ICIWorld to network information which is not a signed listing but opportunities to connect with others that have interest, put them on a list, and when the listing is signed and available to everyone, then show the property.

This is freedom of information networking now going not to be allowed? Does not the real estate owner not have the right to desire MLS or not? There are hundreds of FSBOs For Sale By Owner, yet Realtors sell 89% because Realtors have the power of networks such as ICIWorld and MLS. Most do, but many prefer their sale to be handled and treated exclusively. Does it mean a broker cannot sell a FSBO unless they put it on MLS? The vote should be by all Canadian Realtors who have heard both sides of the discussion respectfully. Then vote. Otherwise, the livelihoods of many will be affected. Realtors should not be looked down on as not working in their seller’s best interests, as the new rule would tend to cast a shadow on them. Professionals use comparative market analysis to create a fair price, not a lottery price, by pitting people against each other by secretly not sharing the bidding process. 

I’m afraid I have to disagree with blind bidding, but I go along with it because of the rule. I believe it is one of the driving forces making home prices higher than they should be. We had offers presented where everyone knew the price and some conditions, and all were able to comment in the best interests of the owner. Accept, counter one, give them all a chance to return, try to do better, and bring back your best offer tomorrow. But everyone had a range. They did not bid $600,000 above the asking price in a wild lottery market in that only the rich could be involved. Then homeowners never want to sell their house for less, providing false hopes going forward that that was the real market. Today’s market is closer to the real estate market. 

FULL DETAILS ARE HERE, AND YOU CAN WRITE YOUR COMMENTS.