The National Association of Realtors (NAR) did not change its classification guidelines for MLS “basic services” at its annual conference, ensuring that, for at least the near future, multiple listing services (MLSs) may confidently charge all their members to operate public-facing websites — a practice that has riled some large brokers.

Asked of his reaction to the committee meeting, Craig Cheatham, CEO of The Realty Alliance, said that public-facing sites should be switched from “basic” to “optional” in NAR’s MLS service classification guidelines “immediately and without hesitation.”

“Giving the committee and the board of directors the benefit of the doubt, they simply must not understand the stakes of what they have done and the direction they continue to head,” Cheatham said. “Our conscience is clear. We have sounded the alarm loud and clear. We were optimistic for progress, but actions speak volumes.”

In an announcement that has kindled anxiety among MLSs, Cheatham recently announced that The Realty Alliance is planning to roll out an unspecified “big initiative” to address some brokers’ concerns with MLSs.

Some brokers have clamored for NAR to remove public-facing websites from a list of examples of services that it considers reasonable for MLSs to choose to offer as “basic services” — MLS services that all members are required to pay for in their dues — ever since NAR added them to the list in May.

The inclusion of public-facing sites in a list part of MLS Policy Statement 7.57, “Categorization of MLS Services, Information and Product,” allows MLSs to force their members to pay for a service that can compete with their own websites, those brokers say.

– See more at: http://www.inman.com/2013/11/11/nar-leaves-list-of-mls-basic-services-untouched/#sthash.utywKTka.dpuf