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Contributor and broker Holly Brink says that alternative MLSs and associations across the country are offering agents the long-overdue flexibility they need.

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Since the National Association of Realtors faced its historic legal reckoning, the real estate industry has been reorganizing itself. Agents and brokers are questioning long-standing assumptions about cooperation, commissions and membership, and a new wave of organizations is moving in to fill the space NAR once held.

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Two of the most visible examples, the American Real Estate Association (ARA) and MyStateMLS, are tapping into a growing appetite for freedom and flexibility.

After decades of near-mandatory NAR affiliation, many agents and brokers are exploring alternatives. For some, the shift is about principle after years of controversy. For others, it’s about economics, since local dues, national fees and mandatory association costs do not always match the value agents feel they receive.

ARA vs. MyStateMLS

Co-founded by Compass agent Jason Haber and The Agency CEO Mauricio Umansky, the American Real Estate Association has already topped 30,000 members. Douglas Elliman became the latest to join, adding 6,600 agents. The founders say ARA’s mission is to give professionals a voice beyond the NAR structure and to foster greater transparency across the industry.

At the same time, platforms like MyStateMLS, founded by Dawn Pfaff, are offering agents practical independence. Launched nationally in 2015 after starting as NY State MLS in 2009, it now claims more than 50,000 members across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. MyStateMLS lets licensed professionals post listings on Realtor.com, Zillow and Homes.com without requiring NAR membership.

Agents from a wide range of brokerages are already listed in the MyStateMLS directory. Search the brokerage in the directory, and you’ll see that more than 1,000 come from Douglas Elliman, another 400 from eXp Realty and about 350 from SERHANT. Their participation shows how strongly agents value national exposure without the limits of traditional MLS boundaries.

Many of those agents keep both for now. They stay active in their local NAR-affiliated MLS while using MyStateMLS to widen their exposure. They do it for the reach, the flexibility and the control.

According to its website, MyStateMLS sends listings “DIRECTLY to Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, their network of websites, and Homes.com” and lets agents decide how to promote “coming soon” or off-market properties and how to show compensation information.

Agents who work across multiple states or specialize in luxury, land or manufactured housing often find the traditional MLS model restrictive. MyStateMLS offers a single platform that allows licensed professionals to list and search properties nationwide — “any city and state that you are licensed for, for one low monthly payment,” according to the provider.

Many members say they keep their local, NAR-affiliated MLS, but they test MyStateMLS for its reach, flexibility and control — including syndication to major portals and fewer traditional MLS constraints.

Financial savings?

In terms of savings, ARA and MyStateMLS together cost about $560 a year — $20 for ARA membership, and $45 per month for MyStateMLS access. That’s far less than the thousands of agents pay annually in national, state and local association dues plus traditional MLS fees.

While MyStateMLS is the most visible national example, it is not alone. Other independent MLS or MLS-style services are beginning to open access beyond NAR membership. Unlock MLS, based in Central Texas with about 20,000 subscribers, began allowing non-Realtor access for the first time in 2025.

Phoenix Realtors launched an MLS Choice program, a membership option that provides access to state-compliant forms to agents who are not NAR members. These programs are smaller in scale but demonstrate growing demand for MLS services that operate outside the traditional association structure.

Agents gain greater control over their marketing when they use independent systems. MyStateMLS lets sellers and brokers decide where and how their listings appear, from office exclusives and “coming soon” campaigns to full syndication across hundreds of national and international websites. This flexibility allows agents to tailor their marketing strategy to each client rather than follow rigid one-size-fits-all MLS rules.

NAR scramble

For years, NAR required listing brokers to offer compensation to buyer agents through MLS policy. The 2024 Sitzer | Burnett settlement changed those rules.

When the lawsuits hit, most MLSs had to scramble. They rewrote rulebooks, updated software and retrained members. Some agents saw listings pause or disappear temporarily while new compensation disclosures rolled out.

Independent MLSs such as MyStateMLS never had those requirements, which left them largely untouched by the industry’s most significant legal and procedural shakeup in decades. They kept moving, offering a sense of stability as the rest of the industry adjusted on the fly.

Innovation ahead

Now, as more agents experiment with life beyond NAR, a broader movement is emerging. ARA questions the association model itself, while independent MLSs rethink how listings are shared and distributed. Together, they reflect an industry testing what independence really means and where collective power might live next.

The settlement forced traditional players to evolve, while also clearing the way for innovation. What comes next will depend on how boldly agents choose to use that freedom. For the first time in decades, real estate professionals have something rare: a real choice, and the freedom to build the business they believe in.

Holly Brink is the co-founder, COO and managing broker of My Real Estate Company in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois. Connect with her on Instagram or LinkedIn.

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