A lesser-known policy adopted by National Association of Realtors is having a tangible effect on the Greenville housing market.
Known as “clear cooperation,” the policy has been in place for a few years and is meant to level the playing field for all homebuyers, which is particularly important in a competitive Upstate housing market.
Simply put, clear cooperation requires a listing to be submitted to the Multiple Listing Service within a day of being publicly marketed for the first time.
Jackson Herlong, chief strategy officer for Joan Herlong & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty, said the idea is to bring more transparency for all home listings.
“Before clear cooperation, a brokerage might publish a listing on (its) site, but leave it off MLS, which would limit the audience,” he said. “Brokerages would do that to limit competition and not only that, it opened the door for discriminatory sales practices.”
Clear cooperation, by contrast, requires all listings to be entirely public, or kept entirely private. There is no more middle ground, where a listing might be published on a broker’s site, or placed on an online property search site, yet left out of MLS.
“Once a listing is known, it must be available on the MLS, where a consumer can see it, see the information about it, and be able to view it,” Herlong said.
Clear Cooperation rules
The intent behind the policy was to offset pressure created by historically low home inventories and high demand in populated areas, Charlie Lee, associate counsel for the National Association of Realtors, explained in a 2020 video.
Lee explained that brokers increasingly limited access to high-demand properties in a way that restricted choices for buyers, and raised concerns about fair and equal opportunity, among other issues.
“Clear cooperation … ensures MLS’s are efficient, transparent, pro-competitive, and pro-consumer,” Lee said.
Herlong said while private listings remain a popular choice for certain clients in hot markets like Greenville, clear cooperation brings a specific set of guidelines to what is considered a private listing.
“If you have a private listing and even tell your neighbor about it, you’ve burst the privacy bubble and, under clear cooperation, must list it on MLS within a day,” he said. “(Clear cooperation) is fantastic. We’re in favor of transparency and see it as a positive development.”
Herlong said that when a buyer notices a home marketed on social media but discovers it is not on a property search engine or an agent site, then it is probably in violation of clear-cooperation rules.
“And similarly, if an agent can’t find a listing on MLS but sees it online, or another agent’s site, it too is probably in violation of the rules,” he said.
Even marketing with the words “coming soon,” triggers the MLS requirement.
“You have 24 hours where you can say ‘coming soon,’ but it must appear on MLS within that period so that viewings can be scheduled,” he said.
Although clear cooperation is not law, Herlong said Realtors face escalating fines for repeatedly violating the policy.
