REcolorado’s Board of Directors approved changes to the MLS Policy to align with terms of the NAR Settlement. Here’s what you need to know.

Compensation Prohibited

Section 6.0 – Compensation

REcolorado will not accept listings containing an offer of compensation to other Participants or Subscribers in the MLS. Further, REcolorado will not create, facilitate, or support any non-MLS mechanism (including providing listing information to an internet aggregator’s website for such purpose) for subscribers or sellers to make offers of compensation to buyer brokers or other buyer representatives.  

Use of MLS data or data feeds to directly or indirectly establish or maintain a platform of offers of compensation from multiple brokers to buyer brokers or other buyer representatives is prohibited and may result in the termination of the Participant’s access to the MLS and/or data feeds. 

REcolorado will not have a rule requiring a listing broker to disclose the amount of total negotiated commission in the listing contract and shall not publish the total negotiated commission on a listing which has been submitted to the MLS by a Participant. REcolorado will prohibit disclosing in any way the total commission negotiated between the seller and the listing broker, or total broker compensation (i.e. combined compensation to both listing brokers and buyer brokers).   

Note 1: REcolorado will give Participants the ability to disclose the potential for a short sale. Short sales are defined as a transaction where the sales price is insufficient to pay the total of all liens and costs of the sale, and where the seller does not bring sufficient liquid assets to the closing to cure all deficiencies. Participants are required to disclose short sales when the transaction is or has the potential to be a short sale.

Required Field on Input 

To bring more visibility to this policy, a mandatory field is in Matrix on the Confirmation tab on Listing Input. You must check the box to confirm that you will not enter any compensation information in the REcolorado MLS System. If you do not, the system will prevent you from advancing with the listing entry process. 

Removing Compensation from the MLS  

In adherence with this policy, REcolorado removed all compensation fields effective August 15. (This date was changed to align with the release of revised Colorado forms.) No prior listings or data will be grandfathered in. Because compensation data may not be displayed anywhere in the MLS, we will also remove any references to compensation in remarks, showing instructions, free-text fields, etc.  

Validation rules will run behind the scenes to check for references to compensation. If a prohibited keyword is found, you will receive an error message and will need to remove the reference before you can submit your listing. Validation rules will begin running at the end of July in alignment with MLS Policy and help you adjust to new business practices.  

Violations 

Our primary goal is education to help you adapt to the new business practices. After a 90-day grace period, which ends on November 15, 2024, REcolorado will introduce immediate fines assessed to both the listing agent and their Participant for violations related to the entry of compensation by subscribers into the MLS.

• 1st Violation: $250
• 2nd Violation: $500
• 3rd Violation: $1,500
• 4th Violation: Attend MLS Policy Committee Meeting

Written Touring Agreements

REcolorado updated MLS Policy Section 1.4 to include language pursuant to the settlement and opt in agreement.

Section 1.4 – Written Agreements Before a Buyer Tours Any Home

Pursuant to the settlement agreement between the National Association of REALTORS® and plaintiffs Burnett and Moehrl and Appendix B – Realtor® MLS Opt In Agreement submitted by REcolorado on June 7, 2024, REcolorado is required to implement the practice change per section 5 (vi.) “…unless inconsistent with state or federal law or regulation before or during the operation of this Paragraph 5(vi) of Appendix B, require that all MLS Participants working with a buyer enter into a written agreement before the buyer tours any home…”

Learn more about written touring agreements >>