The MLS board has encountered several questions lately regarding teams in the MLS.  After researching ways of handling this new way for agents to work together, they have developed a simple, effective team policy that is consistent with surrounding MLSs.  Staff is reaching out to current teams to clarify the new policy and help transition to the new team structure, if desired.  The biggest shift will be that agents working in teams will be identified only as a team, not have an option of having both individual and team listings/sales. You are either operating in the MLS as part of a team, or as an individual agent, but can’t be both. (team application here).  Here is the new policy:

What Defines a Team

A team is defined as two or more Berkshire MLS Participants or Subscribers working or acting as one for all transactions. As outlined in the Rules and Regulations of the Service, all team members must be subscribers of the Berkshire MLS and may not be waived out.

Creating a Team

To create a team, the Participant will need to fill out a Team Application. Anyone who wishes to create a team will be charged a $100 processing fee. If an individual switches teams or removes themselves from a team more than once in a calendar year a fee of $25 will be assessed per each change thereafter. (NOTE; Existing Teams do not have to pay this new fee)

Transfer of Listings

All listings and sales, for all team members, from the start of team creation will be transferred. This includes Active, Coming Soon, Contingent, and Under Contract. No statistical history shall be transferred.

Team Guidelines

The Participant must notify the Membership office of all team changes, including removing a member from the team, the addition of a team member, the transfer of a member to a new team, or termination of a team. Please use the Team Change Form for all necessary changes. Other guidelines are as follows:

• Participants and Subscribers may only be on one team at a time
• Team members may access the MLS at the same time
• The Team brk# assigned will replace your User brk#, for the purpose of submitting new listings and closing listings
• You may use your User brk# or Team brk# for maintaining contacts, portals or client information.
• Each team member is charged the standard monthly MLS access fee in advance of services.

Team Names

The Berkshire MLS does not allow teams to register names that imply the team is an independent brokerage. Team names should not indicate in any way that the team is its own business or entity. The following words are prohibited from being in a team name registered with MLS:

• Advisors
• Agency
• Associates
• Brokerage
• Brokers
• Company
• Consultants
• Corporation
• Corp., or Inc.
• Partners
• Partnership
• Properties
• Property
• Real Estate
• Realty

Created 7/2021  Full MLS Policy can be found here.