Illustration generated using AI technology.

While You Were Selling Houses, Tech Companies Stole Your Data Rights

Before the internet, the concept of owning your listing as a real estate broker seemed straightforward. If you held the listing agreement, you controlled the listing. That paper contract in your filing cabinet represented clear authority over how property information appeared in the marketplace.

But while you focused on showings and closings, the digital revolution fundamentally altered how content ownership works. Today, that listing agreement is merely a starting point. In the digital age, control over listing content depends on copyright law, and most brokers are inadvertently relinquishing valuable rights they could be protecting.

Understanding Copyright in Real Estate Listings

First, a crucial legal distinction: copyright protects creative expression, not facts. The number of bedrooms, square footage, and price are unprotectable facts. However, the creative elements you add like photos, written descriptions, and the selection and arrangement of information, can receive copyright protection when they meet the originality threshold.

Here are four categories of potential copyright protection in your listings, along with important legal considerations:

1. Photographic and Video Content: Clear Ownership Rights

Photography and videography receive strong copyright protection. Under U.S. copyright law, the copyright initially vests in the photographer or videographer at the moment of creation, not the person who commissioned or paid for the work.

This creates a critical gap: without proper agreements, the photographer owns those images, regardless of who paid for them. They could license them to others, use them in their portfolio, or even restrict your use on certain platforms. Brokers get sued every year by professional photographers when their pictures show up in magazines.

Essential agreements needed:

For outside photographers: The broker needs either a “work made for hire” agreement (which must meet specific statutory requirements) or a written copyright assignment. NAR provides sample agreements that address these requirements: https://www.nar.realtor/copyright/listing-photo-sample-agreements

For agent-created content: Your independent contractor agreements should include explicit language stating that copyrightable works created within the scope of the agency relationship are either works made for hire (if agents qualify as employees for copyright purposes) or are assigned to the brokerage. Note that independent contractor status can complicate work-for-hire claims, making assignment clauses essential. You are likely updating your ICA agreements, time to make sure you specify this understanding. There are many circumstances where an agent is no longer with the firm, but the firm keeps the listing. Unless you want to reshoot the photos and property descriptions, you need this in your agreement. 

2. Written Property Descriptions: The Originality Requirement

Property descriptions can receive copyright protection as literary works, but only if they contain sufficient originality and creativity. A description stating “3 bedrooms, 2 baths, granite counters” is purely factual and unprotectable. However, evocative marketing prose: “Morning light dances across restored oak floors in this craftsman sanctuary” likely meets the originality threshold for copyright protection.

The AI complication: The U.S. Copyright Office currently takes the position that works produced solely by artificial intelligence without human creative input cannot be copyrighted because they lack human authorship. If you use AI tools to generate descriptions, ensure substantial human creativity in the selection, arrangement, or modification of the output. Document the human contributions as a requirement in our ICA to support any copyright claims.

3. Compilation Rights: Limited but Real Protection

Individual listings may qualify for “compilation” copyright, which is protection for the selection, coordination, and arrangement of components. However, this protection is notably “thin.” It covers only your specific selection and arrangement, not the underlying facts or individually copyrighted elements.

For example, while others cannot copy your exact selection and sequence of photos paired with specific description excerpts, they could independently select similar photos and create their own arrangement. This compilation copyright prevents wholesale copying of your listing presentation but doesn’t create exclusive rights to the underlying information.

Note to MLS: Data license agreements should explicitly require that the sequence of photos is not altered in any display.

4. Database Protection: The Collection as a Whole

A collection of all your listings may receive copyright protection as a compilation, but again, protection extends only to the selection and arrangement of the complete database, not to individual facts or listings. In the U.S. (unlike in Europe), there’s no sui generis database right, meaning substantial investment in gathering information doesn’t automatically create ownership rights.

This means competitors cannot copy your entire listing database wholesale, but they could independently compile the same factual information. This is the Bing argument. Microsoft Bing creates an independent compilation of the information from millions of listing websites and creates a new compilation. 

Critical Legal Limitations

Even with proper copyright ownership, several factors limit your practical control:

MLS Agreements: When you submit listings to an MLS, you typically grant broad licenses allowing syndication to numerous platforms. These agreements often include irrevocable rights that persist even after the listing expires. Review these agreements carefully as they may substantially limit your ability to control distribution. Generally, the broker provides a limited license to the MLS for MLS purposes and in return the MLS will protect the brokers rights by filing a copyright on the compilation.

As a broker, it is critical that you ask your MLS if they are filing the copyright. If not, the MLS may not be able to enforce those who violate the license agreement beyond turning off the feed.

Fair Use: Others may use portions of your copyrighted content for criticism, comment, news reporting, or transformative purposes without permission.

Independent Creation: Copyright doesn’t prevent others from independently photographing the same property or writing their own descriptions. Google does this with StreetView.

Factual Information: Remember, you can never own exclusive rights to factual information about a property, only to your creative expression of that information.

Practical Steps for Protection

To maximize your content rights within legal limitations:

1. Implement comprehensive agreements: Ensure every content creator—photographers, videographers, agents, copywriters—signs appropriate copyright transfers or work-for-hire agreements that comply with statutory requirements.
2. Document human creativity: When using AI tools, document human contributions to support copyright claims.
3. Understand your MLS agreement: Know exactly what rights you’re granting and whether you can negotiate more favorable terms.
4. Register valuable content: For particularly valuable photography or creative content, consider federal copyright registration, which provides additional legal remedies.
5. Mark your content: Use copyright notices (© 2025 [Brokerage Name]) to put others on notice of your claims. You can also go further by submitting your compilation to the copyright office on a quarterly basis. 
6. Broker Add/Edit – Brokers and franchises who understand the concept of data as an asset will use tools like Ocusell for listing add/edit and push their listings to the MLS. By creating the unique order of operations in compiling and organizing the data, you strengthen your claims and the claims by the MLS. If you only use the MLS, you may not have as strong of a copyright claim because they created the add/edit process and schema for listing input. 

While the framework for protecting listing content through copyright exists, it requires deliberate action and proper documentation. The failure to secure these rights doesn’t mean tech companies “stole” them. Rather, brokers often unknowingly gave them away through inadequate agreements or overly broad licenses.

Understanding these four areas of potential copyright protection, and their limitations, is essential for brokers seeking to maintain whatever control is possible in an increasingly connected digital ecosystem. Your creative content has value, but only if you take the legal steps necessary to protect it.

WAV Group can help. Reach out below so we can support you in putting these best practices into action and in educating your agents and staff. We can also review agreements through our business lens and work with your attorneys.

The post The Multi-Billion-Dollar Mistake: How Brokers Surrender Their Most Valuable Asset appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

In an era of accelerating digital alteration, where artificial intelligence tools and photo editing software can dramatically change a home’s appearance, the risk of misleading advertising has grown sharply. Misleading advertising has always been illegal nationwide, but new AI tools that are growing in adoption by real estate agents have amplified the problem and caused states like California to respond. 

For brokerages committed to digital sovereignty, meaning they own their listing platforms, control their data, and protect consumers from misleading representations, recent changes in California’s regulatory landscape should be viewed as both a challenge and an opportunity.

Legally speaking, AB 723 makes no demands on an MLS or any other online platform. The responsibility falls on the listing agent and the broker. I imagine the thing that any MLS will have to tackle is to make sure their platform and policies don’t interfere with a licensee complying with the law. Said differently, if you deepfake a photo and put it in the MLS and you do not place a description that the photo was altered and add the original photo, you may be acting unethically, breaking MLS policy, and possibly breaking the law. 

I must admit, when I first reviewed the language of this law I overreacted. The law seemed so overreaching for something that listing agents have done for years – prepared a home for sale with staging. Many thanks to industry leaders across California from lobbyists, lawyers, and MLS executives who provided information from the California Department of Justice conversations to introduce context.

This is a big change for listing agents and brokers only. The following is what we have researched thus far.

What Has Changed

With the enactment of Assembly Bill 723 (AB 723), now codified as Business & Professions Code §10140.8, California has created new requirements for listing brokers and licensees who use “digitally altered images” in real estate listings. Despite the opposition of the California Association of Realtors and efforts of lobbyists, the law takes effect January 1, 2026. The violation is a misdemeanor crime.

Under this law:

• Any real estate advertising by a California licensed listing broker or salesperson that uses a “digitally altered image” must carry a clear and conspicuous disclosure stating that the image has been digitally altered. This requirement is limited to the listing broker and agent. 
• The listing advertiser must also provide access to the unaltered original image or images, either by including them in the posting (if the site is controlled by the licensee) or by providing a publicly accessible link, URL, or QR code that clearly identifies the original image.
• “Digitally altered” is defined as changing, adding, or removing elements of the property, such as fixtures, furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, paint color, hardscape, landscape, facade, floor plans, and elements outside of, or visible from, the property, including, but not limited to, streetlights, utility poles, views through windows, and neighboring properties. Routine edits such as lighting correction, straightening, cropping, or white balance are excluded.
• The law builds on existing provisions that prohibit false or misleading real estate advertising and gives the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) disciplinary authority to enforce compliance.

Actual legal language:

SECTION 1. Section 10140.8 is added to the Business and Professions Code, to read:

10140.8. (a) (1) A real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf, who includes a digitally altered image in an advertisement or other promotional material for the sale of real property shall include in the advertisement or promotional material a statement disclosing that the image has been altered and a link to a publicly accessible internet website, URL, or QR code that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image. The statement shall be reasonably conspicuous and located on or adjacent to the image and shall include language indicating that the unaltered images can be accessed on the linked internet website, URL, or QR code.

(2) If an advertisement or promotional material described in paragraph (1) is posted on an internet website over which the real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf, has control, they shall include the unaltered version of the images from which the digitally altered images were created in the posting. A person subject to this paragraph may comply with this requirement by including a link to a publicly accessible internet website that includes, and clearly identifies, the original, unaltered image. If the real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf, complies with this requirement by including a link to the unaltered images, the statement required by paragraph (1) shall include language indicating the unaltered images can be accessed on the linked internet website, URL, or QR code.

(b) (1) For purposes of this section, “digitally altered image” means an image, created by or at the direction of the real estate broker or salesperson, or person acting on their behalf, that has been altered through the use of photo editing software or artificial intelligence to add, remove, or change elements in the image, including, but not limited to, fixtures, furniture, appliances, flooring, walls, paint color, hardscape, landscape, facade, floor plans, and elements outside of, or visible from, the property, including, but not limited to, streetlights, utility poles, views through windows, and neighboring properties.

(2) “Digitally altered image” does not include an image where only lighting, sharpening, white balance, color correction, angle, straightening, cropping, exposure, or other common photo editing adjustments are made that do not change the representation of the real property.

Sources: Business & Professions Code §10140.8 (AB 723, Chapter 497, Statutes of 2025); Senate Judiciary Analysis, July 15, 2025; Governor’s Press Release, October 10, 2025.

Why This Matters for Listing Brokerages

• The law only applies to digital advertising of the listing agent and firm because they are the only ones in control of their digital advertising. It does not apply to IDX or other brokers who get data from the MLS because that is not under their control. 
• Enforcing these disclosure standards protects brand integrity and consumer trust.
• Listing Agents are altering photos and using them in marketing today and not disclosing it
• Because the law takes effect in January 2026, now is the time to build processes, tools, policies, and governance around listing imagery to avoid risk.
• Existing listings that were loaded into the MLS before Jan 1st may need to be updated or removed.
• The requirement for a QR code or a link only applies when the listing agent or firm are printing advertising.
• Listing Brokers and listing agents need to be careful to clearly identify altered images on their websites if powered by IDX. If you place the language “altered image” as a watermark on the image when you add it to the MLS and include the original image, you should be compliant. But if you manually add the image to your website – be careful and do it right. 

The Bottom Line

For listing agents and brokerages in California, AB 723 represents a landmark step in photo-media transparency. By acting now, you can strengthen consumer trust, reinforce your commitment to digital sovereignty, and turn compliance into a competitive advantage. 

This is a landmark opportunity for MLSs and Realtor Associations to get in front of this problem before it emerges on January 1st by providing brokers and listing agents with a clear interpretation and training around this new law.

What listing brokers need to do now

• Explain this new law to listing agents
  • If you load an altered image into the MLS, you must include the words altered image in the photo remarks. You do not need to add the words to the photo, but you may want to do that as an option. It will remind you that if you print the photo, you will include a QR code or link to the unaltered image.
  • If you load an altered image into the MLS, you must also include the original image in the carousel – for example, add the original image at the end.
  • If you print the altered image, you must put a QR code or URL to the original image
  • If you display the image on the internet (like your website or your facebook page), you must include the original image and note the image that was altered.
• Update your Independent Contractor Agreements
  • You should already have language in your ICA agreements about photos. Add a provision that if the listing agent violates this law, they are responsible.
• If you are CRMLS participating broker – train agents on the existing MLS rules
  • False or Misleading Advertising and Representations; True Picture Standard of Conduct. Participants and Subscribers may not engage in false or misleading advertising, including, but not limited to, advertisements or representations regarding the Participant’s or Subscriber’s relationship to the MLS, about the MLS itself, or about any property listed with the MLS. MLS Participants and Subscribers shall present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public, including internet content, images and the URLs and domain names they use, and Participants and Subscribers may not:
  • 12.10.2 Manipulate (e.g., presenting content developed by others) listing content and other content in any way that produces a deceptive or misleading result;
  • 12.10.3 Deceptively use metatags, keywords or other devices/methods to direct, drive or divert Internet traffic;
  • 12.10.4 Present content developed by others without either attribution or without permission,or;
  • 12.10.5 Otherwise mislead consumers, including use of misleading images.

If you have questions about this topic, please connect with a member of our team below.

We’re closely monitoring developments and can help interpret what they may mean for your organization. At this time, there has been limited guidance shared with listing brokers and agents as attorneys, lobbyists, and industry leaders continue their discussions with the DOJ to clarify the implications of the law. Notably, there is ongoing advocacy for a full MLS exemption; a position supported by sound reasoning that we will examine further in an upcoming brief.

The post California’s New Photo Disclosure Law and What It Means for MLSs and Brokerages appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Why MLSs are jumping in now

Roomvo is a no-charge product, which speeds MLS adoption. In the future, when consumers purchase goods, the MLS will receive a rev share. Today, the partnership is the marriage between engaging technology and the traffic offered through MLS integration. Today, OneHome is ranked as the #6 most visited home-search site. 

Charbonneau’s team spent months hunting for a visualizer that could render at broadband-era speed, run inside existing photo galleries, and still look believable on a 6-inch screen. Roomvo cleared the bar and came with a track record at retailers like Home Depot and Shaw, where shoppers who “visualize” convert up to five times faster.  

Beck’s motivation was different: REsides wants to prove that an MLS can add consumer-facing magic without yanking leads away from listing brokers. Dropping Roomvo inside OneHome keeps buyers inside the MLS ecosystem while giving agents a conversation starter that national portals can’t match. REsides also provides the Roomvo functionality on their MLS consumer site at resides.io (also linked below).  

Centris: engagement spike meets seller psychology

• Where it lives – The feature (“Redécorer!” in French) is already live in the Centris.ca iOS and Android apps, as well as on their website.  
• Early signals – Charbonneau told me session length and image-carousel swipes “jumped immediately,” and the biggest lift came on dated listings—homes with tile counters or orange-hued oak that usually trigger a price cut.
• Seller benefit – When buyers can picture a quartz island instead of Formica, the listing holds its price. Agents now bring the app to listing presentations to prove they’re marketing past cosmetic objections.

REsides: from portal to pipeline

• OneHome plug-in – Buyers can now swap floors, backsplashes, and wall colors right inside the Matrix client collaboration portal they already share with their agent when home shopping..  
• Data handshake – Every click funnels back to the agent dashboard, flagging which finishes a client loves and which rooms they tweak most. These are high intent signals that traditional portals never surface.
• Broker message – Beck positions the tool as “evidence REsides can out-innovate the portals without selling a single lead,” a line that’s already creeping into recruiting decks.

Experience Roomvo  

• You can go to the Roomvo website, but I prefer the production experience on the REsides consumer website – just do a search on their site and select a listing to remodel.
• For viewing inside of OneHome – reach out to Adam Beck at REsides, or someone at Cotality. To experience it at Centris be sure to download the Centris app on your mobile device, but it’s also live on their site.

What Roomvo learned from the first two roll-outs

Quinn says MLS photos push the visualizer harder than retail catalogs because lighting and camera angles vary wildly. The Centris pilot forced Roomvo’s AI to handle wide-angle lenses and evening shots; the REsides implementation stressed speed inside a server-side portal. The upside: both deployments now share the same codebase, so any new MLS can switch it on with minimal dev time.

Take-aways for brokers and agents

1. Differentiate your listing pitch – “We give buyers a remodeling budget, not a reason to low-ball,” Charbonneau notes. Bring the app to the kitchen table and watch skeptical sellers lean in.
2. Mine the intent data – Agents on REsides get a heat-map of rooms and materials each client tweaks most. Use it to tailor follow-up emails (“Here are three listings with the white-oak floors you loved”).
3. No extra log-ins – Because both MLSs embedded Roomvo at the photo layer, agents aren’t asked to learn yet another dashboard, which is key for adoption.
4. Position yourself as tech-forward – Whether you’re in Montreal or Hilton Head, being able to say “my MLS lets buyers remodel in-browser” beats a generic “virtual tour” bullet point.

Roomvo’s next trick is a persistent “my products” palette that lets shoppers carry their favorite finishes from one listing to the next – think Pinterest, but transaction-ready. If that lands before peak-season 2026, expect even more MLSs to jump on board. Brokers who wait risk showing buyers a static slideshow while the competition offers a design studio.

Disclaimer: Centris, REsides, and Cotality are WAV Group clients – there is no commercial relationship with Roomvo.

The post Centris lit the fuse, REsides picked up the torch: how two MLSs are turning static photos into interactive showrooms appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

The rollout is live across the Rapattoni MLS platform and represents a meaningful step forward in the operational AI strategies now gaining traction in MLS organizations nationwide.

What the integration delivers

At the core of the new functionality is Restb.ai’s image recognition engine. It scans every listing photo uploaded to the MLS and generates three distinct outputs:

• AI-generated alt-text for every photo – strengthening ADA and WCAG accessibility compliance, while also supporting SEO and syndication
• Autofill for listing fields – detecting 370+ RESO-compliant features automatically from the images and populating them in the listing form
• Picture-based property search – allowing consumers to search for visually similar homes based on architectural features or styles, rather than relying solely on filters or keywords

The screenshots below demonstrate how Restb.ai technology is integrated into the MLS system. These innovative features are particularly valuable in practice, enabling users to save time and enhance the quality of listing input.

Together, these features aim to save time, reduce manual entry, improve listing accuracy, and make search more intuitive for buyers – all without changing how agents currently use their MLS.

Accessibility and compliance built in

The AI-generated image descriptions are editable, making it easy for agents to refine or personalize what the system produces. Just as important, those captions are also passed along to third-party listing portals during syndication – expanding listing visibility and improving the browsing experience for visually impaired consumers.

It’s a feature with clear ADA implications, and one that many MLSs have been slow to address.

A platform-wide push from Rapattoni

Rapattoni President Ralph Hoover sees this integration as a milestone in the evolution of MLS software. “By combining Restb.ai’s technology with the Rapattoni platform,” he said, “we’re helping customers deliver smarter, faster, and more accessible real estate tools.”

That integration is now part of Rapattoni’s core offering – meaning other MLSs on the platform may soon follow MetroList’s lead.

A win for agent workflow

For MetroList CEO Dave Howe, the driving force behind this launch is agent efficiency. “By integrating Restb.ai’s autofill technology and advanced Picture Search, we’re making it easier than ever for real estate professionals to manage and market their listings,” Howe said.

Dominik Pogorzelski, President of MLS at Restb.ai, put it more bluntly: “MLSs are looking for ways to modernize without disrupting their agents.” The key, he said, is to build AI into existing workflows – not force agents to learn new ones.

The bigger picture

MetroList’s move comes as a growing number of MLSs explore how AI can be embedded at the system level – not just as a bolt-on feature for marketing or member support. From alt-text and accessibility to smart forms and image-driven search, the Restb.ai integration is a glimpse into where MLS platforms are heading.

The goal isn’t to reinvent the listing process – it’s to make it faster, more accurate, and more inclusive.

The post MetroList moves fast with AI: Restb.ai brings computer vision to Rapattoni MLS appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Homes.com recently launched a great new feature displaying historical property photos alongside current listings, becoming the first major portal to offer consumers this comprehensive view of a property’s visual history. While industry observers initially raised questions about innovation, copyright concerns, and potential violations of trust, the reality is far more nuanced—and reveals important strategic considerations for MLS leadership.

New listing

Old Listing

The Real Story Behind the Feature

According to Andy Woolley, VP of Industry Relations at Homes.com, the historical photos are not the result of new data partnerships or innovative technology. Instead, they represent a creative use of data that MLSs have been providing all along. This is 100% compliant with data licensing. 

“The property images displayed on Homes.com come to us downstream from an MLS, and our display of images associated with sold properties are all subject to local MLS rules,” Woolley explained. 

The feature operates entirely within existing IDX frameworks. MLSs license the historical image data to Homes.com under the same terms that govern all IDX displays, with proper copyright protections in place. “Typically the participant and subscriber warrant that they have procured all necessary licenses to media they submit to the MLS, and they grant the MLS a perpetual and irrevocable license to use, store, display and distribute the media as part of the MLS compilation,” Woolley correctly noted.

The Policy Patchwork Problem

However, there are significant inconsistencies in how MLSs handle sold property images. “Many MLSs do not restrict the display of images associated with sold properties, but some do limit the history or the number of images. For example, some MLSs restrict sold properties to one image.”

This creates a fragmented landscape where consumer experience varies dramatically depending on local MLS policies. Some markets provide rich historical photo galleries spanning multiple years, while others limit consumers to a single image from previous listings.

Key Questions for MLS Leadership

This development raises several critical strategic questions that MLS CEOs should be asking:

1. Data Retention and Storage Strategy

If Homes.com can display photos from seven years ago, MLSs are clearly storing substantial historical image data. What are the costs associated with maintaining this archive, and are MLSs capturing appropriate value from this investment?

2. Competitive Intelligence and Market Position

Are MLS executives fully aware of how their sold data is being leveraged to create compelling consumer experiences on third-party platforms? While MLSs provide the raw data, portals are capturing the engagement and consumer mindshare.

3. Revenue Optimization

Historical property photos clearly have significant consumer appeal—enough for Homes.com to feature them prominently as a differentiator. Should MLSs be monetizing this valuable historical data more strategically rather than including it as part of standard IDX feeds?

4. Policy Consistency and Coordination

The variation in sold image policies across MLSs suggests a lack of industry coordination. Some MLSs restrict historical photos to one image while others provide comprehensive galleries. This inconsistency may be limiting market potential and creating confusion among data recipients.

Attribution and Display Rule Considerations

A closer examination of Homes.com’s implementation reveals potential gaps in current IDX display requirements. While the platform lists the agent associated with historical photos, it does not display the brokerage firm. This raises an important question: should IDX display rules be modified to require broker attribution on historical content, similar to requirements for active listings?

Current IDX policy requires that “all listings displayed pursuant to IDX shall identify the listing firm in a reasonably prominent location.” However, the application of this requirement to sold property photos appears inconsistent across platforms and markets.

NAR’s Copyright Framework for Listing Photos

To address potential copyright concerns, the National Association of REALTORS® provides three sample agreements that establish clear ownership and usage rights for listing photographs:

Work for Hire Agreement: Under this framework, commissioned photographs are considered “work for hire,” making the commissioning party (typically the broker) the automatic owner of the photographs from their creation.

Assignment Agreement: This approach has the photographer assign all rights, title, and interest in the photographs directly to the broker, transferring complete ownership.

Exclusive License Agreement: For photographers who prefer to retain ownership, this option grants brokers an exclusive license to display and distribute the photographs specifically in connection with real estate industry activities.

These sample agreements, available on NAR’s website, are designed to ensure that brokers and MLSs have proper licensing rights to the photos they submit and subsequently distribute through IDX feeds. As Woolley noted, “Typically the participant and subscriber warrant that they have procured all necessary licenses to media they submit to the MLS, and they grant the MLS a perpetual and irrevocable license to use, store, display and distribute the media as part of the MLS compilation.”

However, the effectiveness of these copyright protections depends on consistent implementation across the industry—something that may require closer examination as historical photo displays become more prominent.

The Broader Strategic Implications

The Homes.com historical photos feature represents more than just a new consumer tool—it’s a case study in how the 2012 IDX policy amendment continues to create unexpected opportunities for data recipients while potentially leaving MLSs undercompensated for the value they provide.

When NAR required sold data inclusion in IDX feeds over a decade ago, the focus was on basic transparency and market information. Few anticipated that this decision would eventually enable rich, multimedia consumer experiences that span years of property history.

Recommendations for MLS Leadership

MLSs should consider several strategic actions in response to this development:

Audit Current Policies: Review sold data licensing terms to ensure they align with organizational revenue goals and member interests.

Evaluate Data Value: Assess the consumer appeal and market value of historical content being provided through standard IDX feeds.

Coordinate Industry Standards: Work with other MLSs to establish more consistent policies around sold property image display and attribution requirements.

Consider Enhanced Licensing Tiers: Explore whether historical multimedia content warrants separate licensing terms or premium pricing structures.

Looking Forward

The Homes.com historical photos feature serves as a reminder that data licensing decisions made over a decade ago continue to shape today’s competitive landscape. As MLSs navigate an increasingly complex proptech environment, understanding how their data assets are being leveraged downstream becomes crucial for strategic planning.

The question isn’t whether MLSs should be concerned about features like historical photo displays—it’s whether they’re maximizing the strategic value of the comprehensive data assets they’ve been building for years. In a market where consumer engagement increasingly determines platform success, historical property photos represent just one example of how creative data applications can create competitive advantages.

For MLS leadership, the key is ensuring that policy decisions made today will continue to serve member interests and organizational goals years into the future—rather than inadvertently enabling tomorrow’s disruption.

The post Homes.com Publishes Historical MLS Photos on Active Listings. Should MLSs Be Concerned? appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

There are three elements of a listing that the broker can claim as copyright. The first is the photo, the second is the property description, and the third is the compilation (think of this as a collage that contains facts like bedrooms and bathrooms and the photo and description). In context, entering a property into the MLS is the same as creating a digital piece of artwork.

Remember the days when real estate agents would copy photos off the internet and Getty Images would pursue the MLS for damages, resulting in fines and other penalties to the broker whose agent uploaded a copywritten photo to the MLS? Even today, MLSs continue to sort out disagreements between firms when an agent uses another agent’s photos on a listing. These problems have waned thanks to the education efforts of NAR (national, state, and local), and the MLS. We have also advised that brokers make sure that there is a license agreement in place when a professional photographer is hired. The NAR has sample agreements for professional photographers – make sure you use them.

ChatGPT terms of use

I imagine that by now, you have tried ChatGPT. It’s a really cool application that takes prompts from the user and generates something else. For example, you can tell it to write a property description and give it some information about the subject property. The machine (Artificial intelligence) will write the property description for you. It does a really good job, typically better than most real estate description authors. Social media is swarming with tips and tricks on how to use ChatGPT for writing property descriptions. The problem is that when ChatGPT writes something, you are not the author. Since you are not the author, you do not own the copywrite.

Adding a property description written by ChatGPT violates the ChatGPT Terms of Use unless you say it was written by ChatGPT. Specifically “The role of AI in formulating the content is clearly disclosed in a way that no reader could possibly miss, and that a typical reader would find sufficiently easy to understand.”

So please stop it.

If you want to use ChatGPT to draft your property description, then edit it significantly, that’s fine. Just be careful. Also, do not copy paste.

The post Using ChatGPT Is Probably an MLS Violation appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Once the AI “reads” the image, it can also be used to automate compliance, like search for images with license plates, people, or yard signs for example. The technology also improves the accessibility of the site by automating descriptions to each page that can be read by website audio reading solutions.

Finally, the same technology also makes it much easier for subscribers to input a listing and optimize the SEO potential of each listing. Few solutions exist that can provide this many marketing and compliance advantages to an MLS.

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board – the largest MLS in Canada – has just inked a deal with restb.ai to bring these advantages to their 58,000 subscribers.

I love to see MLSs pushing the envelope to continue to reduce friction in the listing set-up process, all the while helping their members deliver more robust online marketing to their prospects and clients.

Please see below for the full press release.

TRREB enhances performance by integrating Restb.ai MLS Suite solutions

November 10, 2022 Press Release

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) signed Restb.ai as its partner for AI powered computer vision technology and data. Restb.ai is an AI technology service provider that specializes in computer vision for real estate. TRREB will implement the complete Restb.AI MLS Product Suite, giving its subscribers access to the world’s fastest and most accurate Real Estate AI APIs.

Restb.ai’s product suite will automate TRREB’s listing input process on its AMP MLS platform by extracting data from listing photos.  This process saves users time, provides WCAG & ADA protections for members’ IDX/VOW websites, increases the value and searchability of MLS data by providing advanced image tags, and also provides photo compliance protections for its members. 

John DiMichele, CEO, TRREB said, “We were impressed with what Restb.AI technology has accomplished. We liked everything about their MLS AI Product Suite and our members will love and appreciate all the features it will bring into the MLS system. We see computer vision as the means to building the next level of property information, giving us details and insights, we’ve never had before.” DiMichele added, “Restb.AI has been responsive, professional, and great to work with as we customized the solutions to fit our member’s needs.”

Lisa Larson, Managing Director, North America, Restb.ai said, “Having the opportunity to work with TRREB is an honor for Restb.ai. They continue to innovate, always seeking to elevate MLS’s and their data strategies. This partnership will pave the way for other MLS’s to embrace the power of artificial intelligence for their members.”

“As more MLS’s integrate the Auto-Pop API, agents will transition away from the time-consuming task of inputting listing data to simply editing and refining the listing. Restb.ai will do the heavy lifting for them,” Larson added.

Using Restb.AI’s advanced artificial intelligence (Advanced Auto-Populate API)  and automation agents will produce more accurate and robust listing data in less time.

CLICK HERE to get the full list of solutions included in our MLS Suite!

If you’re interested in learning more about how our AI solutions can help you, feel free to reach out to our Managing Director, Lisa Larson at lisa@restb.ai

About Toronto Regional Real Estate Board 

TRREB is Canada’s largest real estate board with more than 58,000 residential and commercial professionals connecting people, property and communities. 

Genevieve Grant, Public Affairs Specialist ggrant@trebnet.net 416-443-8159

About Restb.ai 

Restb.ai is the leading image recognition solution for real estate. Its AI-powered solutions analyze property imagery to unlock real estate specific insights at the image, listing, and market-level.  Our solutions are used globally by leading real estate companies to enhance and personalize users’ experiences, improve property valuations and automate content moderation. We leverage the most cutting-edge deep learning AI techniques (CNNs, GANs, and NLPs) to provide the most value to our clients. Our underlying technology is built from the ground up and accessed via an easy-to-use RESTful API interface. Imagine having a real estate expert analyze each of the 1 million property photos uploaded every day… Well, now you can.

For media inquiries, please email contact@restb.ai

The post Restb.ai brings photo intelligence to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board appeared first on WAV Group Consulting.

Here are a few snap shots from their website regarding property data:

It does not look like they have any property photos on the website – or at least I do not see any on there. I am not aware of any of our MLS clients licensing data to this firm. It makes me presume that they are scraping it. Don’t you just cringe when you see information like this?

Hopefully at least one MLS (or many MLSs) will put a plug in this leaky bucket.

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