Giving Thanks for Data Integrity: A Look at Q3 2024 Compliance

As we approach Thanksgiving, NorthstarMLS would like to thank subscribers for helping ensure data integrity in 2024.

Although there are still some areas for improvement, you have been great about reaching out with questions and requests for virtual tour and remarks reviews this year. To date we’ve responded to more than 5,500 calls and emails from you! Please continue to contact us at rules@northstarmls.com with your questions and concerns. We are here to help and educate where we can!

Q3 2024 Violations

As we look at Q3 2024 violations, something unchanged is that nearly half of NorthstarMLS Compliance Notices and Fines come from one of these four rules:

1. Enter a listing within two (2) business days of the listing contract’s effective date
2. Enter a photo within two (2) business days of entering the listing
3. Ensure all public fields and supplements are free from agent and third-party promotion
4. Update pending listings within two (2) business days after the closing or when the closing is postponed

By ensuring Rules & Regulations compliance, you can avoid unnecessary interruptions to your work and livelihood and avoid being part of the pie chart below, which shows the most common violations we dealt with in 2024:

Q3 2024 Violations

Four areas we’d like to highlight as areas for improvement include:

Outdated Pending Status Listings

We are still seeing quite a few outdated Pending Status listings, meaning the projected close date has passed and the listing was not updated to closed or the projected close date pushed out to the new closing date.

Branding and Third-Party Links in Virtual Tours

Agents have been great about sending in virtual tours for compliance checks, however, we are still seeing branding and third-party links in tours. Click here for helpful Virtual Tour Guidelines. If you are unsure if your virtual tour is compliant, please send it to rules@northstarmls.com for compliance check.

Compensation Notice

The Compensation Notice was new for Q3 2024. NorthstarMLS has created an automatic check for any mention of compensation or commission in the MLS. This was put into place to make sure we are staying compliant with the NAR Settlement Agreement to not allow any mention of compensation in the MLS.

We are currently seeing very minimal fines go out for this, so thank you again for your efforts to keep the MLS and all its data clean, accurate and compliant.

Brokers Transferring New Agents

For new agents to your office whose listings were under another MLS, it’s best for buyers and sellers when brokers add the listings to NorthstarMLS as soon as possible, but we allow up to 30 days to make the transfer before sending a late listing notice. Learn more here.

More Notices than Immediate Fines

While providing subscribers quality data is our goal, the vast majority of violations sent out—98%—are notices only. There are very few immediate fines that are given. Of the few fines that are given, if it is a first offense and the listing is updated, NorthstarMLS typically will waive the fine. On the rare occasion that it is a serious violation, the fine is not usually waived but possibly reduced.

It’s always best to contact the Rules & Regulations Department to discuss the violation to see what can be done with the fine once it is updated. It is good practice to contact the rules department even when you have been sent a notice to let us know it is updated. That way we know to close the notice before it escalates to a fine.

NorthstarMLS is here to help you, so please send anything you may have questions to us so we can compliance check it or answer questions before you go live with the listing. Don’t forget to visit our rule and regs resources page on our website at Rule and Regs Resources.