CRMLS provides two IDX solutions at no additional cost. Each has a different process to generate. What are the options and what is the difference?

1. IDX Standard
These links are generated within Matrix.

The search functionality includes all CRMLS and data share listings. You may tailor the capabilities of your search by including a map search and contact request form. CRMLS provides support for generating the IDX links, but does not provide support for the design and process of implementing the IDX links into a website. This option is available to all CRMLS users at no additional cost.

2. IDX Plus
These frameable links, with Google Maps, offer CRMLS and data share listings, the features of the Matrix solution above, PLUS the following features: multiple languages, Office Listings links, and school data. Features are not customizable.

CRMLS provides support for generating the IDX links, but does not provide support for the design and process of implementing the IDX link into a website. This option is available to all CRMLS users at no additional cost.

Generate IDX Link

Compare Frameable Options

The Case for Cooperation:
Defending an Open Marketplace

Read how we intend to defend our stance on behalf of real estate professionals and consumers.

What’s Happening

CRMLS is taking a stand to protect the brokers, agents, and consumers who depend on a fair, open, and cooperative
real estate marketplace.

Compass is demanding changes to MLS rules that would allow listings to be marketed to select audiences without making those same listings available to all cooperating brokers and their clients through the MLS.

CRMLS believes there is an important distinction between seller choice and selective access.

Sellers already have choices about how their properties are marketed, including options for those who do not want their listings publicly marketed. But once a property is marketed publicly, CRMLS believes cooperating brokers and their clients should have equal access to that listing information.

Why does this matter?

The MLS is built on cooperation: brokers contribute their listings and, in return, gain access to the listings contributed by other participating brokers. That creates a marketplace where agents can better serve their clients, sellers can reach a broad pool of potential buyers, and buyers can more easily see what is available for sale.

Allowing publicly marketed listings to be selectively withheld from the cooperative marketplace could fundamentally
change that system.

For CRMLS, this is bigger than a disagreement with one company. It is about protecting the principles that make the MLS work: cooperation, transparency, equal access, and a open marketplace that serves brokers, agents, buyers, and sellers.

Art Carter's
Opinion

CRMLS’s Formal Response

Official
Complaint

In Its Own Words: What Compass’s Lawsuit Reveals About Itself

If you are a buyer’s agent, buyer, or seller who has been negatively impacted by the practice of withholding listings from the cooperative marketplace, we want to hear from you. Email us at: [email protected]

If you or your organization are interested in contributing to the MLS Cooperation Legal Defense Fund or would like to learn more about how you can support this effort, please contact us at: [email protected]

Protecting Seller Choice Has Always Been Part
of the Cooperative

CRMLS rules preserve flexibility for sellers and brokers by providing several
options for how a property can be marketed:

Non-Exclusive Commission Agreement

Allows a broker to be compensated if the broker procures the buyer. Because the seller remains free to work with other real estate professionals, public marketing does not trigger the same mandatory MLS submission requirements that apply to exclusive listings.

No Cooperation Listing

Allows a property to remain within a single brokerage and outside the MLS when there is no public marketing, even when the seller has signed an exclusive commission agreement.

Coming Soon

Allows a property to be publicly marketed while it is submitted to CRMLS. A listing may remain in Coming Soon status for up to 21 days. During this period, days active in the MLS do not accrue and showings are not permitted.

Coming Soon – Limited Exposure

Gives sellers additional control over how their listing is distributed by allowing them to limit distribution to third-party portals while the listing remains part of the CRMLS cooperative.

Internet = No

Allows a seller to instruct that their listing not be displayed on the internet while the property remains in the MLS and available to cooperating real estate professionals.

Active

Provides full exposure within the CRMLS database and distribution through applicable data feeds. Days active are counted, and showings are permitted.

Supporting Documents

CRMLS Seeks Declaratory Judgment, Files Complaint Against Compass, Inc. – Press Release

CRMLS Rejects Compass’s Demands, Stands Firm on Cooperation and Transparency – Press Release

Demand Letter from Compass
November 2024

CRMLS Response
December 2024

Demand Letter from Compass
September 2026

CRMLS’s Formal Response
September 2026

Emails From Compass CEO
to CRMLS

In Its Own Words: What Compass’s Lawsuit Reveals About Itself by Art Carter & Ed Zorn

OneKey joins CRMLS as plaintiff in lawsuit against Compass

CRMLS provides two IDX solutions at no additional cost. Each has a different process to generate. What are the options and what is the difference?

1. IDX Standard
These links are generated within Matrix.

Learn More

Generate IDX Link

Compare Frameable Options

Supportive Articles

10/1 RISmedia: James Dwiggins: ‘It’s Time to Stand Up to Bullies’
https://www.rismedia.com/2026/10/01/james-dwiggins-its-time-to-stand-up-to-bullies/
10/13 Inman [OPINION – Darryl Davis]: The MLS pushback is mounting. Where do things go from here?
https://www.inman.com/2026/10/13/compass-mls-lawsuit-pushback-mounting/
10/26 Inman: ‘Robert Reffkin is going too far’: indie founder Anthony Lamacchia
https://www.inman.com/2026/10/26/robert-reffkin-is-going-too-far-indie-founder-anthony-lamacchia/
10/26 Vendor Alley: Exhibit B
https://www.vendoralley.com/2026/10/26/exhibit-b/

Get The Facts

See if your question is answered in these FAQs:

What has Compass demanded?

On September 8, 2026, Compass, Inc. sent a letter to CRMLS demanding we amend our rules to create “Office Exclusives” that would be withheld from the MLS and allow for free riding, a practice that would disadvantage cooperating brokers and create a fractured marketplace.

What is CRMLS’s response?

We reject the demand to create an unequal market. CRMLS has filed a complaint against Compass on 10/05/2026 seeking declaratory judgment, reaffirming our commitment to a fair and transparent MLS that favors no parties and treats all cooperating brokers equally.

Does this mean CRMLS demands all listings be submitted to the MLS for cooperation?

No. CRMLS’s Rule 7.9 already permits a seller to authorize full public marketing and advertising of a property without submitting it to the MLS for cooperation.

What does “free riding” mean?

CRMLS characterizing free riding as taking advantage of the benefits of a shared marketplace while withholding your own contributions from that marketplace.

What does it mean now that CRMLS refuses Compass’s demands?

If Compass decides to pursue litigation, CRMLS intends to establish the MLS Cooperation Legal Defense Fund. The fund would support efforts to preserve a fair, open, and cooperative MLS marketplace where all cooperating brokers have equal access.

The Case for Cooperation: Defending an Open Marketplace