The CRMLS IDX Transparency Initiative: What It Is and How It Benefits You

On September 1st, 2021, we at CRMLS will officially update our rules regarding Internet Data Exchange (IDX) websites to benefit both real estate professionals and consumers. Here, we’ll explain what the changes are, how they came about, and why we’re making them.

For a quick introduction to this initiative, check out this video from our CEO Art Carter:

From there, click on Member/Office Settings

If you’re a broker, you’ll be able to edit both Member settings and Office settings. Member settings apply to individuals in your brokerage, including yourself. Office settings will apply across your entire office If you’re a main office broker with multiple sub-offices, you can search for the office whose settings you want to control. Your main office will display by default.

For agents:

Follow the same steps as brokers do to access your Listing Toolbox. Log into your MLS dashboard as you ordinarily do, click on the new “Listing Toolbox” icon, then click on Member/Office Settings.

You will be able to access your Member Settings, but not your Office Settings. You may only edit your own contact information, and you can only do this if your broker elects to allow you to do so. If your broker has selected your contact information for you, a red “lock” icon will appear next to the settings field.

If your broker has allowed for you to choose the contact information you want to display on your listings, then choose it and hit “Save” when you’re done. It’s as simple as that!

Here is an example of what Listing Credit Attribution looks like today (the “Before”) and what it will look like as of 9/1/2021 (the “After”)

New IDX Standards of Practice as of March 2022

Attribution must be directly adjacent to either: Price, Bed/Bath, sq. ft. or Photo.

1. If Property Description is truncated to a reasonable size, AND it is directly adjacent to the Price, Bed/Bath, sq. ft. or Photo, then Attribution may be under the Property Description.
2. Attribution Font size no smaller than Property Description.
3. Attribution Font no lighter in color than Property Description.
4. Must clearly label as Listing Broker, Listing Office and Listing Agent. No use of “Courtesy of” and some other unclear language.
5. Any Call to Action button, box or link must specify which agent will be responding. Use of the word “Agent” alone is not compliant. There must be some clear indication that the contact information being provided is NOT going to the Listing Agent if applicable. This standard also applies to “Tour” home link or button.

We also have explanations of these rules in simple language:

• Location of listing credit (attribution) on displays: The part of the IDX page that shows consumers the source of a listing must appear next to the listing fields that consumers are most likely to check. These fields include the property’s price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms,square footage, or the main property photo. If the property description section next to a listing is short (as in, your IDX display automatically shortens descriptions) and next to one of those fields, you may display the listing credit information next to the property description instead.
• Legibility: The font your site uses to give the listing broker credit must be easy to read and hard to miss. In general, your IDX display should not look for ways to conceal listing credit information from consumers. Specifically, the font for listing credit must be the same size as (or bigger than) the font for property descriptions. The listing credit font must also be as dark as (or darker than) the property description font.
• Clarity: The listing attribution text must clearly label the property’s Listing Broker, Listing Office, and/or Listing Agent. One of the most common examples of “credit” that does not comply with CRMLS policy is the phrase “Courtesy of…” This is ambiguous and does not clearly inform consumers of the relationship between the listing side and the property.
• Calls to action: Any call-to-action buttons, boxes, or links, including a “Tour home” link or button, must specify which agent will respond. Using a word like “Agent” or “Broker” instead of the agent or broker’s name does not give consumers enough information. If the contact information a consumer sees does not direct them to the Listing Agent, the display must clearly indicate this.

This Post Has 4 Comments

I am confused about the difference between the listing broker or agent and the advertising broker or agent.
I thought the listing broker always advertise their listings.
This makes me wonder whether some listing brokers/agents use outside agencies to advertise their lestings.
Would appreciate a comment or an explanation.