Who is responsible for local MLS fees for Counselor Realty agents?
Counselor_Realty Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
(including any Additional Office or Extension Office) will include an IDX home search option for each market that the agent directly serves with listing reciprocity among Counselor Realty, Inc. and our franchisees (local MLS fees are the agent's responsibility). You will be required to pay us a Website Set Up Fee for any such webpages or subdomains, as more particularly described in Section 5.5. You will also be required to pay us a Website Fee associated with the webpages and subdomains we create for your Office, any Additional Offices or Extension Offices, and for the licensed agents operating through such offices, in such amounts, and at such times, as we shall determine from time to time in our sole discretion and as more particularly described in Section 5.5. Leads created off Counselor Realty, Inc.'s website for listings in the region where your franchised office is located will be provided and directed to your Office; provided, however, that if the lead is for a listing that is listed by one of our franchisee's agents or one of Counselor Realty, Inc.'s agents, such lead will be directed to such agent, if that agent has elected to create a Counselor Realty web page/subdomain. If there is more than one franchisee in the region (distinct areas served by the same MLS system, or its equivalent), those leads will be shared and/or split between the affected franchisees, as determined by Counselor in its sole discretion. We may take into account office locations, number of agents, types of leads or any other rational means to distribute leads.
Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD page 32)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Counselor Realty's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the agents are responsible for their local MLS fees. As stated in Item 22, the franchise agreement for any office, including additional or extension offices, includes an IDX home search option for each market the agent serves. This service provides listing reciprocity among Counselor Realty and its franchisees. However, the responsibility for paying the local MLS fees falls directly on the agent.
This means that as a Counselor Realty franchisee, you will not be responsible for covering the MLS fees of your agents. Instead, each agent will need to manage and pay their own MLS fees to access local listing data. This is a common practice in the real estate industry, where agents often operate as independent contractors and are responsible for their own business expenses.
Prospective franchisees should factor this information into their financial planning and ensure that their agents are aware of this responsibility. While Counselor Realty provides the IDX home search option, the cost of accessing the MLS data remains with the individual agent.