Tips for Listing Compliance in 2025

As 2024 comes to an end, your MetroTex MLS would like to pass along a few tips to help keep your listings in compliance with the NTREIS MLS Rules in 2025.

Here are some of the most common issues that resulted in MLS violation notices in 2024:

Commission

No offers of buyer agent commission may be in any field in the MLS including private, public, showing instructions, driving directions, documents or photos. (MLS Rule 10.01)

Photos

No branding or contact info of any kind is allowed in your photos. Most commonly, branded photos were floorplans and “virtually staged” photos. Do not include the app/company used for the photos.

Text overlay is allowed for limited content. Text overlays on your photo for an upcoming open house, contact information or price change are not appropriate.

Also prohibited are QR codes, photos that include people (especially children), and photos that include license plates. (MLS Rule 7.29)

Inappropriate Remarks

Contact information, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and website addresses, are not allowed in any field in a listing except for Private/Agent Remarks or Showing Instructions. Please ensure you are not including contact information in any other fields or in your photos. (MLS Rule 7.30)

Incorrect Address

Listing Data Checker (LDC) not only compares the address in the parcel ID in CAD with the address in listings, but it also looks at if the address is in the correct fields. Remember – the city in the listing is required to match the city in CAD that is collecting taxes. This may be different than the USPS mailing address city!

Fields for address in a listing include: Street NUMBER, DIRECTION, NAME, TYPE and DIRECTION/SUFFIX fields.

• STREET TYPE = Avenue (Ave), Drive (Dr), and Road (Rd) (check if in drop down) 
• DIRECTION (prefix) and DIRECTION/SUFFIX = North, South, East, West.

Status

There were a lot of violations in 2024 for incorrect status. (MLS Rule 8.08) Make sure you reference the status definitions list to ensure you are utilizing them correctly. A few notes on specific statuses:

• Pending: LDC compares contract dates and listings in Pending status for longer than 90, 180 and 365 days. Please reply to the email violation if the listing is still pending – we must manually waive. If you change to the correct status, the violation is automatically waived.
• Active Option Contract: Violations are often issued when option date has expired & is still in Active Option Contract status. If option was extended, please update the expiration date in your listings by selecting change to Active Option Contract where the expiration date will show correctly.
• Failure to Report Sold: You are required to submit the sold price to the MLS for your listing.