The Dawning Of A Golden Age For MLS – Part Two

By Bill Fowler | January 29, 2025

Part One of this series was published in Inman News back in July of 2024. 

 

So much has happened in our industry in the last six months and I felt the need to add a part two to the original post because the world of MLS is changing, and evolving, at a pace far more rapidly than even an optimist like myself might have anticipated.

 

In my own work as President of SourceRE, I’m regularly exposed to the deep thinkers within the MLS community. We have big, strategic conversations about where this industry is headed and how MLS is going to need to mature quickly to get there. These CEOs and MLS Executives know that the current state of MLS operations isn’t sustainable. Our world is constantly moving; expanding data use cases, aging license agreements, and a rusting digital plumbing infrastructure.

Ask anyone who manages an MLS and you’ll hear a consistent refrain. Concerned with agent attrition, concerned with data security, eager to find additional revenue, hampered by legacy platforms and policies, and bogged down by the political machinations that have forever been the barrier to quick strategic decision-making.

Recently, however, something has happened that might spell a noteworthy shift; possibly even a growing trend which will provide a proven path for a generation of MLS Executives to make lasting adjustments to keep the MLS moving in the direction of growth and prosperity.

Forgive me this overt example of brotherly spotlighting, but that aforementioned event, which you might not have even noticed, was an award given at the Fall CMLS Conference back in September in Seattle. Yes, he’s my brother. He’s also, as a recipient of the Shuttleworth award, officially recognized by his peers for the remarkable work he’s done in his short tenure as CEO at Doorify MLS. Winning the award is an honor, but it’s the industry’s acknowledgement of why he won the award which needs to be highlighted.

NOTE: If you’re unfamiliar with the Shuttleworth Award, here’s a description from the CMLS website, “The Shuttleworth MLS Executive of the Year Award is an annual award that recognizes leaders who have exhibited the highest qualities of leadership within their organizations and demonstrated a dedication to excellence in building a better marketplace.”

If you’ve been paying attention to what Matt and his team have been up to at Doorify, you know just how meaningful the statement, “demonstrated a dedication to excellence in building a better marketplace” truly is. If you haven’t, let me fill you in.

Among many other needed changes, Matt instituted a “choice-driven” service delivery model, which is to say, Doorify MLS subscribers now have the choice among MLS platforms. Instead of the far more prevalent model where MLSs contract with a single MLS platform and members are locked into that software environment for the duration of said contract, Doorify members now have several to choose from. The MLS has multiple agreements with multiple platforms and members get to select the best one for their business needs.

While not a new concept, Matt, upon joining Doorify, was the first MLS Executive in recent years to undertake such a bold (and risky) move away from the traditional single platform model. I don’t know many MLS CEOs brave enough to walk into a brand new role and turn the existing model completely inside out and expect to still have a job six months later.

Not only did Matt and his team accomplish this, but despite early resistance internally and externally, Doorify has not only emerged on the other side a leader in this trending “choice-driven” MLS economy, but Matt gets a round of applause and a cool award from the industry.

Quite a journey and a story worth telling – and learning from.

I truly hope the MLS industry has reached a tipping point thanks to Matt’s example. Yes, other MLSs have a similar choice-driven service model, but here’s the thing: Doorify isn’t a huge MLS. Doorify doesn’t have a team of developers, or a big budget to build its own software. In fact, Doorify has around 15,000 members (ranked number 33 according to MLSProptech.com). If there was such a thing as a typical MLS, Doorify might be a good example.

Other MLSs with choice-driven solutions are, for the most part, large enough to command the attention (and deferential cooperation) of any MLS platform they choose to invite to participate. Doorify, to my knowledge, is the only MLS of its size to have successfully made this kind of transition.

This is important because if an MLS like Doorify (not huge, not small and fairly typical of most MLSs out there) can convert to a more progressive service model - a transition which will ensure the MLS has a lasting and nimble business for years to come - the barrier for other similar and like-minded MLSs isn’t money, or staff, or some line item in a budget that falls short.

It’s leadership.

In my own work as a MLS consultant, I can tell you the most common phrase I use when completing a strategic plan is, “the technology is the easy part.” The lack of skillful and experienced leadership to bring a group of disparate agendas represented in a board room is the true challenge.

Observers will naturally look at Matt’s story and recall that he was a CEO of an MLS vendor, so naturally he’s going to be able to pull this off. That’s simply not the case. Sure, Matt is an experienced technologist, but again, the tech is the easy part.

The real victory here, and I’d argue, key element to this success at Doorify, is bold, well-timed, and decisive leadership. Our industry is full of solid, veteran leadership. What we lack is the decisive part. Matt was able to convince (most of) his board of directors that his vision was sound, and his plan was a winner.

Now it’s the rest of the industry’s turn to put Matt’s example on the agenda in their own MLS. This is how it’s done. This is the future of MLS. It’s not only possible, but here’s someone that’s done it. Technology is easy, leadership is hard.

Hard, but not impossible.