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Welcome to another edition of “Ask the MLS.” Here, we talk to people running innovative MLSs around the country and ask them questions about their markets, their members and what keeps them up at night.

To view all our Ask the MLS interviews, click here.

Today’s post features Carl DeMusz, President and CEO of Yes-MLS. Yes-MLS spans 36 counties in Ohio and West Virginia, and is comprised of the MLSs formerly known as the Northern Ohio Regional MLS (NORMLS) and Centralized Regional Information Services MLS (CRISmls). Yes-MLS launched in May 2018. 

NORMLS and CRISmls both originally launched Homesnap Pro in December 2016, and Yes-MLS is a member of the Broker Public Portal. Here’s what Carl had to say:

1. Tell us about the Yes-MLS market. Any changes over the last few months?

The Yes-MLS market is the same footprint as the former NORMLS and CRISmls, which is the “NEOHRREX” Counties. This is 27 counties in North and East Ohio plus 9 counties in West Virginia. We serve over 12,500 members and almost 1,300 firms.

Our median sale prices are up 5.2% and our average price is up 7% over a year ago, while our inventory dropped 11.7% and months’ supply of inventory is down 25.5%.

2. You recently oversaw a merger (NORMLS and CRISmls merged to form Yes-MLS). How have your members responded to the merger? Did any surprises come up that you weren’t expecting?

Our members are glad to see Yes-MLS fully operational and filling the market area as opposed to the former two MLSs. A surprise for us was how much harder it was to complete a consolidation verses a merger.

The legal due diligence was much harder to complete because we shut down the former companies and started a whole new company. In a merger, one company simply merges into the surviving company. The only reason for the consolidation was local politics.

3. What is the top challenge facing Yes-MLS members, and how is YES helping to address it?

Like many MLS markets these days, Yes-MLS members struggle with off-MLS listings, late MLS listings, and a weakening of cooperation in parts of the market.

Yes-MLS has increased our quality assurance and education throughout the region to encourage cooperation between members. We also promote tools like Homesnap that encourage members to enter their listings into Yes-MLS earlier.

4. What keeps you up at night?

Wondering when young people will realize how much they are giving up by not owning their own home.

5. If you could buy a vacation home anywhere in the United States, where would it be?

Cape May, New Jersey on the beachfront. It is my hometown and I should have kept one of the many homes I have owned there over the years.