For some agents, the national listing portals are great marketing tools; for others, a necessary evil; and for yet others, an attempt to pick their pockets. But a new listing platform expected to launch in the third quarter of this year could change the way brokerages and agents interact with those portals.

Called Upstream, the platform provides a single location to upload an agent’s listings, which then feeds into each of the more than 800 nationwide Multiple Listing Services, as well as portal sites like Zillow and Redfin. Brokerages and agents will be able to opt out of working with specific vendors – and if enough of them do, it could be a game-changer for the industry.

“Everybody is super excited about the project and what it provides for them: cleaner, faster interface and distribution control over the listings, which is what they care about,” Upstream CEO Alex Lange said. “When the house is listed, it is the broker’s fiduciary data, so giving them distribution control is important to them.”

The project was initiated by large brokerages who wanted to simplify the way listing data was entered and give the brokerages control over where it goes. Currently in beta testing, the platform will be available nationwide in the second half of 2017.

‘The Value Of The Exchange’

Agents have strong feelings about the portal sites, particularly Zillow’s Premier Agent program and others like it. Zillow’s program allows participants to display their photo and contact information appear next to listings in specific ZIP codes for a fee. However, only the premier agent’s information is displayed alongside that agent’s own listings. Other portals have similar programs.

“Listing agents are being penalized. They need to pay extra to eliminate other agents’ photos from their listings,” said Elad Bushari, owner of The Bushari Group in the Back Bay. “Is it fair? I guess the world is not fair. It’s the cost of doing business.”

Bushari doesn’t blame the portals, though he said they could take a hit if big, national real estate firms opted out en masse.

“I propose blaming MLS and MLS rights; frankly, every broker can stop the feed to [the portals] very easily, with the click of a button if they wanted to,” he said.

“Brokers always have control of whether their listings appear on Zillow Group sites. Even when we receive listings directly from an MLS, brokers have the choice to participate in that program or not.”

For other agents, like Frank Celeste of Gibson Sotheby’s International in Charlestown, the portals are just another marketing tool. Celeste has been a premier agent for about five years, and receives a fair amount of listings because of the exposure.

“If you Google a listing, it’ll come up on a variety of sites; some you pay for, some you don’t,” he said. “Being a premier agent is another form of advertising. Getting your client the maximum exposure is the name of the game. You’re doing your best by your clients by using” the portals.

But Upstream, if successful, could strain the relationships between the portals and the agents who use them. Vendors may have to cooperate more with individual brokers using Upstream.

“If everyone [brokers and vendors] managed the exchange of value, they could share what they want to share,” Lange said. “It’s the monopoly and the arrogance that makes it difficult. It’s a matter of asking, ‘How do we get a valuable exchange here?’”

For their part, the portal sites are waiting for the program to fully launch before fretting over disruptions to their business models and trying to address some of agents’ concerns, themselves.

“Upstream isn’t out in the open market yet, so it’s hard to comment on something we haven’t seen,” said an Upstream spokesperson. “We think the challenges that brokers face with listings management are serious, which is why last year we bought a company called Bridge Interactive.  Bridge streamlines listings management for thousands of brokers in cooperation with their MLSs.”

Collin Bray of Century 21 Cityside in Boston is one of the rare agents who doesn’t have an emotional take on the portal sites. For him, it’s all about the numbers.

The sites are “a great service provider,” he said. “They’ve created a model that’s very popular and provides a great service. If it didn’t, people wouldn’t use it. If people didn’t go there, agents wouldn’t advertise there.”

Bray uses the premier agent programs because, he said, it helps prospective buyers get the best possible information, and it helps protect his sellers.

“In the downtown marketplace, leads could be filtered to other agents. It’s a disservice to my clients to not let buyers speak directly to me,” he said. “We live in a world where consumers want info and they want it yesterday.”

RE/Max Leading Edge owner Linda O’Koniewski said some of her agents pay for premium space on the portals, but she thinks every agent would get a better return on their marketing dollars if they spent them locally.

“I guess I come from a background where the people who survive are the people who generate their own leads,” O’Koniewski said. “People are spending $2,500 a month on [portal listings] and it works, but a lot of those deals are six to 18 months out in the future. If you want business now, you should go out in your community.”