Rumors of the demise of the MLS have been utterly wrong.

Sam DeBord contributing for Inman News

“There’s currently a brokerage alliance hoping to form its own listing database platform, in an attempt to circumvent local MLSs’ control. The movement is being hailed as a blow to MLSs, but the idea itself seems less than revolutionary. There are successful MLSs in a number of locations that are already owned and run by brokerages, outside of Realtor organizations. A greater alliance of brokers creating a large association is nothing more than MLS consolidation, whether or not the ownership or administration changes. The intimation that this spells irrelevance for the MLS is frankly backward. The simplest explanation seems to be that these brokers value all of the inherent powers and structure of an MLS system; they just want to make the rules themselves.”

Nailed it.