Kevin Sears, 2025 NAR President

I am reaching out to share that today, NAR is announcing the approval of a series of updates to the MLS Handbook, following a comprehensive review of our existing MLS policies. The updates focus on modernizing the Handbook to ensure it reflects how agents and MLSs operate today.

The changes were approved by the MLS Committee and the Executive Committee and were shared with the NAR Board of Directors, following earlier review and approval by the MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board.

For background, for the first time in its history, NAR completed a comprehensive risk assessment of all MLS policies, with the assistance of a leading outside law firm. To review our policies and decide on which to change, I convened the "MLS Policy Risk Assessment Presidential Advisory Group," or MLS PAG, representing a broad cross-section of industry stakeholders.

Based on their review, the MLS PAG submitted 18 recommendations on which MLS Handbook policies should be modified or repealed. In total, the PAG made 18 recommendations that work to:

• Reinforce matters of local discretion, such as non-member access to MLS;
• Clarify MLS administrative matters and operations and rules enforcement; and
• Remove matters that reflect outdated practices for MLS enforcement.

The recommendations ensure that MLS policies will continue to serve the best interests of REALTORS® across the country. Now that the recommendations are approved, the updates will be reflected in the 2026 MLS Handbook, scheduled to be published in January 2026.

NAR will continue to review and implement policy modifications, when necessary, with transparency and in a timely manner, to ensure that policies remain current and in line with the evolving needs of our members and the industry.

To answer any questions you may receive from members or other stakeholders, we have prepared the talking points below to help guide your conversations. Please keep us informed of those discussions. If you receive any inquiries from the media, please share them with Bennett Richardson (BRichardson@NAR.Realtor) and Raffi Williams (RWilliams@NAR.Realtor).

Thank you,

Kevin Sears

Additional Summary:

• [Today/this week] NAR announced the approval of comprehensive updates to modernize the MLS Handbook.
• For background, in 2025, NAR conducted its first comprehensive antitrust risk assessment of all MLS policies, led by a top national law firm.
• Kevin Sears appointed an MLS Policy Risk Assessment Presidential Advisory Group (MLS PAG), a diverse group of brokers, association and MLS executives, and industry partners, to review findings and propose updates to existing MLS policies.
• The MLS PAG recommended 18 policy updates to the MLS Handbook, focusing on reinforcing matters of local discretion, modernizing administrative, operations, and enforcement rules, and removing outdated practices, culminating in the first fulsome update in 20 years,
• The recommendations have been approved by the MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board and the MLS and Executive Committees, and were shared with the Board of Directors.
• These updates mark the start of NAR's broader MLS modernization and risk mitigation efforts.
  
  
  
• The assessment was conducted by preeminent antitrust experts from nationally renowned law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, and reviewed by Kevin Sears' MLS PAG.
  • The MLS PAG met 4 times, and it represented a broad cross-section of industry stakeholders (brokers, association execs, MLS execs, and industry partners).
• To clarify matters of local discretion and modernize the MLS Handbook to better reflect current practices, the 2025 MLS Policy Risk Assessment Presidential Advisory Group (MLS PAG) is making 18 recommendations to update the MLS Handbook. The modifications to the policies work to:
  • Reinforce matters of local discretion, such as non-member access to MLS (7 recommendations)
  • Clarify MLS administrative matters and operations (6 recommendations), and rules enforcement (2 recommendations); and
  • Remove matters that reflect outdated practices for MLS enforcement (3 recommendations).
• The recommendations have been approved by the MLS Technology and Emerging Issues Advisory Board and the MLS and Executive Committees, and were shared with the Board of Directors.
• As the last comprehensive update to the MLS Handbook occurred 20 years ago, the recommendations modernize the MLS Handbook to ensure that:
  • Policies continue to support members in serving in their clients' best interests,
  • Potential legal risks are minimized and avoided for NAR, REALTOR® association MLSs, and members; and
  • The way MLSs and agents operate today is properly reflected.
• These recommendations represent the first outcome of NAR's risk mitigation efforts. Moving forward, NAR will continue to pursue opportunities to:
  • Further modernize MLS policies,
  • Mitigate potential legal risks; and
  • Better serve MLSs, members, and the industry.
• NAR's governance structure ensures that the association will continue providing MLS policy guidance.