MIAMI and RWorld merger targets unified MLS data and tools

MLS consolidation is something numerous industry executives advocate for but few have managed to successfully pull off given all of the logistical challenges of combining two distinct platforms into one. However, MIAMI Association of Realtors (MIAMI) and Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors (RWorld) and their respective MLSs, MIAMI MLS and BeachesMLS, just proved it can certainly be accomplished and in record time.

On Monday, the two South Florida associations closed their previously announced merger, forming what they hope will be called Miami and South Florida Realtors, pending the approval of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). 

According to Miami and South Florida Realtors, this merger set a new record for the largest and fastest association merger in NAR history.

“I think the difference between our approach and what so many others do is we focused on what is most important and that is our members and the market and there were no questions that the merger was best for our members and the marketplace,” Teresa King Kinney, the CEO of MIAMI Realtors, who will now serve as co-CEO of the combined organization, said. “Once we decided to make the merger happen, we asked what we would need to do to close the merger. In the first meeting, we said it would be closed in five weeks and we closed it exactly on schedule.”

King Kinney and her co-CEO Dionna Hall attribute much of the success of the merger to the current volunteer leadership of the two associations. 

“Our organizations have been networking with each other at conferences and getting to know each other. The more we all got to know each other, the more we realized that we were all really after the same thing, which is a more seamless way to better serve our members and our subscribers,” Hall said. “So, when our two presidents spoke, it was the right people at the right time and it just came together, Teresa would say. beautifully.”

Now that the merger is closed, Hall and King Kinney said they are focused on all the tasks they need to do internally to truly complete the merger. 

“Doing it is huge, but now we are doing it from the inside as one organization as opposed to two organizations trying to put things together before the merger even happened,” King Kinney said. 

As for how this merger allows the organizations to better serve their agent and broker members and subscribers, Hall noted that an obvious benefit is that everyone will now have access to the same tools, services and listing information.

“We both had a very robust product offering and being able to share that across the South Florida marketplace is going to be huge for our brokers and our agents,” Hall said. “Teresa did the math, and we held over 2,800 educational seminars in a year, so that combined with roughly 300 complementary marketing tools and the unified data set that will be powering all those tools is quite phenomenal.”

King Kinney added that due to the existing overlap between the two associations, previously agents within the same office often belonged to different organizations, providing them with different data sets and tools.

“Now everybody will have everything,” King Kinney said. “And now with IDX feeds, brokers won’t have to join a second association to have all of the listings on their website.”

“We think it is really important that it creates a level playing field for all of our brokers and agents to have that same information so they can better serve their clients and consumers,” Hall added. 

Looking ahead, the organization announced plans to join the Global Data Exchange, an international initiative designed to allow MLSs and real estate organizations to share public listing data across multiple countries. In addition to this, King Kinney and Hall noted that their combined association had already signed partnership agreements with five Canadian MLSs. 

“It is all about our members, our world both locally and globally and being able to bring all of the tools and resources and strengths of each of our organizations together,” King Kinney said.