By Sharon Hill

Brian Larson, attorney for the MLS Domains Association, and long-time real estate blogger and litigator, released three distinct announcements about changes at MDA, and its bid to control the pending dot-MLS  top-level domain.

1. The China-based owner of www.mls.com, which appears to be an aggregator rather than MLS affiliate, has stepped up to try to claim the dot-MLS as its own – the very thing that the MDA means to thwart with its own ICANN application.

2.  The MLS Domains Association has chosen its own registry provider.

3.  Bob Bemis, who last week announced his new position at real estate and rental site Zillow, has offered to resign as the MLS Domains Association president and  leave behind the dot-MLS project he spearheaded for so long.  That’s certainly as it should be, since his new role at Zillow would put him in what some would call the enemy camp.  Strangely, his MDA resignation has not been accepted – yet a president elect has been named, in case he leaves.  With his relocation to Seattle to take over at Zillow in the spring, Bemis will no longer be CEO of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Bemis told us by email that the board of the MLS Domains Association asked him to stay on as acting president until the association makes the dot-MLS application or until he leaves ARMLS, whichever comes first.  Zillow is not part of this dot-MLS project, he confirmed. 

We frankly don’t get how he would be able to oversee both the dot-MLS project and Zillow interests. In fact, it would seem the conflict began from the day he announced his position with Zillow. So we await a promised conversation with Bemis about the timing of all this. We certainly don’t understand if the MDA is expecting that he could or should wear both hats as the announcement below seems to suggest.

The professed mission of the association’s dot-MLS project is not to put third-party sites out of business – we’re not suggesting that. Its goal is rather to compete with the  many active MLS-named sites that have no real MLS affiliation. MDA has chosen to do that by creating and claiming a  TLD (top-level domain) that disallows any group that is not an MLS.  If the organization succeeds,  any site such as WestFloridaProperties.mls, or ManhattanHomes.mls or some such, that has that dot-mls extension, will be an MLS affiliate. This should build consumer trust in the MLS branding, Bemis, Larson and the other MLS folks at the MDA believe. Nevertheless, there is plenty of reason to see the association as a competitor of third-party sites such as Zillow. 

Take, for example, the recently published, MLS Domains Association-paid-and-promoted WAV Group research that concludes, according to the MDA blog, that…

• A majority of consumers prefer MLS sites as sources of real estate information over brokerage sites and third-party sites such as data aggregators;
• Fifty-seven percent of consumers would be more interested in looking at homes on .MLS websites rather than .com websites.
• These findings are significant to MLSs, real estate associations, and their subscribers/members….  The study clearly points out that consumers trust MLS data more than other sources.

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Here’s today’s announcement on the helm changes at MLS Domains Association:

MLS Domains Association elects Merri Jo Cowen as president-elect

Bob Bemis continues as president

Minneapolis, February 20, 2012: MLS Domains Association announced today that it has elected Merri Jo Cowen, CEO of My Florida Regional MLS, as its president-elect. The president-elect will join the current president of the Association in a variety of leadership activities, with the intention that she will be prepared to take over the presidency at such time as the current president resigns or is unable to carry out his duties. According to board member Ray Larcher, CEO of Triangle MLS in the Raleigh-Durham area, “Merri Jo is a natural leader and the perfect person for us to groom for the office of president.”

The Association’s current president, Bob Bemis, had offered to resign after the announcement last week that he will be stepping down later this spring from his position as CEO of the Arizona Regional MLS. MLS Domains Association’s board of directors asked Bemis to stay on as president and board member at the Association, at least while he remains at ARMLS. According to Cowen, “Bob has been the spearhead of our mission for almost two years, and he is currently involved in important and intricate negotiations regarding our efforts. We do not want to lose his vision and leadership at this crucial time, particularly as our application to ICANN is due by April 12, 2012.” Cowen will be joining Bemis in negotiations with entities within and outside the real estate industry relating to support for the Association’s application and potential competing applications.

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In the second announcement a China-based firm which owns www.mls.com has filed a trademark application that might mean a fight for ownership of the rights to the dot-MLS extension: 

MLS Domains Association acknowledges likely competing bid for .MLS

Operator of real estate website MLS.com appears poised to apply to ICANN

Minneapolis, February 20, 2012: MLS Domains Association announced today that  it will likely not be making the only application to ICANN for the new .MLS top-level domain on the Internet. ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and is responsible for managing top-level domains worldwide. Its window for applications for new TLDs is open from now until April 12, 2012. “We know of one other likely applicant,” said Bob Bemis, president of the Association.

MLS Domains Association noted that Nanning Billin, the China-based company that owns and operates the website at www.MLS.com, has filed a U.S. trademark application for “DOTMLS.” Nanning Billin has also informed MLS Domains Association that it intends to oppose the Association’s application in what is called a ‘rights objection.’ “We are firmly convinced that the claims of the MLS.com folks are unfounded, but we expect some kind of fight with them going forward,” said Bemis. These facts suggest that the operators of MLS.com may be planning to apply for .MLS.

“We have no idea what their business model may be, if they apply,” said Bemis. But he pointed to a possible business model under which a speculator would sell agents or brokers in U.S. cities exclusive rights to market themselves and their listings at addresses like DadeCounty.MLS or Atlanta.MLS. (Consultant Brian Larsondescribed such a possible business model in a post on the Association’s blog last August. See http://www.mlsdomains.org/what-if-the-mls-industry-does-not-apply-for-mls/ .)

“We have no crystal ball to know who will apply, or what they plan to do,” said Bemis. “But we are taking all appropriate steps to ensure that legitimate MLSs in the U.S. will be able to use .MLS domains for real estate purposes and that other entities will not be able to do so.”

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Finally, the MLS Domains Association, has chosen its registry provider:

MLS Domains Association selects CentralNic as registry provider

Association cites CentralNic’s experience with integrated registry and registrar services as key factor in selecting registry back-end service provider

Minneapolis, February 20, 2012: MLS Domains Association, a non-profit association of U.S. multiple listing services, has selected CentralNic Ltd. as its registry back-end service provider for the new .MLS top-level domain. The Association concluded a due diligence process late in 2011 and executed the contract with CentralNic this month.

“With so many top-notch providers to choose from, we opted for CentralNic because of its successful experience with novel TLDs,” said Association President Bob Bemis (who is also CEO of the Arizona Regional MLS in the Phoenix area). “We also found CentralNic to be unusually responsive and forthcoming with a number of creative ideas during the evaluation process,” he said.

Ben Crawford, CEO of CentralNic, said, “We are delighted to have been selected as back-end service provider for the MLS Domains Association, especially as the result of such a rigorous review process. They have an admirably clear vision for how to use the .MLS domain for the benefit of their members and to make it easier for consumers and search engines to identify authentic multiple listing services. We look forward to partnering with them on executing their strategy.”

“We have an important mandate from our member MLSs to work only with the most capable technical contractors available,” said Bemis. “But we expect no more than two or three thousand second-level domains ever to be registered on .MLS, so we need a registry partner who can provide a high level of service for a relatively small market of customers.” The board noted that CentralNic has provided an integrated registry and registrar service for clients in the past. Although the Association will comply with ICANN requirements to allow any qualifying registrar to work with .MLS, it plans to provide its own registrar services through a related entity using CentralNic technologies.

The Association is preparing its application to ICANN for the new .MLS TLD now and expects to file it before the end of March 2012. The deadline for applications is April 12, 2012.

About MLS Domains Association

MLS Domains Association is a non-profit association of U.S. real estate multiple listing services, the sole purpose of which is to obtain, manage, and promote the use of the .MLS top-level domain on the Internet. Its members include more than 50 MLSs in the U.S. representing around 600,000 MLS subscribers. The Association is seeking classification as a 501(c)(6) business league from the IRS.