Illinois Realtors members can now gain access to Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED). The Realtor association serving the Prairie State exclusively told HousingWire about this new partnership on Wednesday. 

The announcement comes less than a week after MRED announced that it was opening its multiple listing service, including its Private Listing Network (PLN), to any licensed real estate agent nationwide and has secured a nationwide listing feed and membership subsidies from Compass International Holdings (CIH). 

Historically, MRED has worked with state and local Realtor associations within its service area to provide Realtors with access to its MLS, making IL the latest association to join MRED’s roster.

“What this represents is our number one belief that the MLS continues to provide a critical service to Realtors, not just in Illinois, but nationally,” Jeff Baker, the CEO of IL Realtors, told HousingWire. “The MLS creates the best, most efficient and most consumer friendly marketplace for realtors to serve sellers and buyers.” 

With MRED expanding nationally, Baker said this move now provides an opportunity for agents across the country seeking MRED access to become members IL Realtors. 

“Real estate professionals across the country, often for their own business reasons, want to belong to multiple MLS systems in different regions of the country,” he said. “So, Illinois Realtors is simply making itself available to those Realtors, in particular, to the ones outside of Illinois to obtain that service.”

Baker noted that this move was not meant to target non-Realtor association members seeking MRED access. 

“We’re not targeting non-members,” he said. “Our emphasis is if there are Realtors outside the state of Illinois, who for whatever their business reasons are, would like to have access to MRED, then we’re available to help provide that access.”

Baker said IL Realtors members should have access to MRED within the next week or so and that real estate professionals can currently pre-register on the association’s website. 

“Illinois Realtors is about Realtors,” Baker said. “At the end of the day, what we aim is to do is to create the best environment for Realtors here in Illinois and, to the extent that we can, make real estate better for Realtors everywhere.”