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California Regional MLS (CRMLS) is rejecting the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) newly enacted Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy.

NAR’s policy created a category of exempt listings called “delayed marketing exempt listings” that will allow a seller the option of having their listing agent delay the marketing of a listing through Internet Data Exchange (IDX) and syndication for a period of time. Each multiple listing service (MLS) will be given the discretion of deciding on a delayed marketing period that is most suitable for their local marketplace. MLSs were encouraged by NAR to implement this policy at their discretion by Sept. 30.

In a statement posted to its website, CRMLS announced it would not adopt the new policy and “will instead use options already available to users to accommodate the aims of NAR’s request.” CRMLS argued that “implementing a new status would only complicate things and create confusion for our agents and brokers,” adding that consumers will be inconvenienced because “they’ll need to create accounts on each major portal just to view active listings.”

“CRMLS can achieve the policy’s aims and maintain transparency without introducing any new statuses,” the organization stated. “We will instead rely upon the Active status, which already accommodates the spirit of the new policy. CRMLS is exploring additional features that may be used alongside the Active status to support the NAR policy.”

CRMLS added that major broker/franchise websites including Zillow and Redfin “already receive CRMLS VOW [Virtual Office Website] feeds, which include all listings, thereby making the new policy ineffective. This means listings will appear on these major sites but not on the nearly 30,000 CRMLS IDX websites or Realtor.com, which doesn’t use a VOW. Is that really what sellers want?”

CRMLS also took a dig a NAR by declaring, “It’s time to stop unnecessarily changing up the rules and to let agents and brokers get back to work. We aim to have our user’s best interest at the forefront of all decisions we make.”