Reso And Cmls End Talks To Form New Combined Group

After nearly a year of exploration and discussions, the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) and the Council of MLSs (CMLS) have made the shared decision to not move forward in plans to form a new combined organization.

The organizations announced the decision in a joint statement on Monday.

“This decision reflects a disciplined evaluation of how best to serve our respective missions and the broader real estate marketplace,” the organizations wrote in their statement. 

According to the organizations, over the past year, leaders from both RESO and CMLS “engaged in meaningful dialogue about how advocacy, standards and industry leadership might be brought together in new ways.” Despite finding areas where the organizations strongly aligned, leaders also recognized the structural and governance hurdles they would be required to overcome to move forward, ultimately deciding that these changes did not currently support the creation of a single new entity. 

In spite of this conclusion, the organizations said the conversations and work leaders undertook during this process were valuable, as they highlighted the individual strengths of the organizations and they “reinforced the importance of intentional governance, clear mission alignment and thoughtful stewardship of industry institutions.”

“Both RESO and CMLS remain deeply committed to advancing a strong and collaborative real estate ecosystem,” the organizations wrote in their joint statement. “We will continue our long-standing partnership, working together where our missions align to strengthen data standards, support MLS organizations and promote innovation across the marketplace.”

Looking ahead, the organizations said they hope to continue to collaborate in ways that “best serve MLSs, brokers, technology partners and the real estate marketplace as a whole.”

Originally created as a National Association of Realtors (NAR) working group in 2002, RESO became an independent non-profit focused on developing data standards and processes that create efficiencies for all real estate transaction participants. CMLS was formed in 1957 as a regional MLS council consisting of three MLSs in Washington state. The organization has expanded to represent over 200 MLS organization across North America.