Those members who have been eagerly awaiting updates to our Virtual Office Website (VOW) policies, good news! The Rules of Cooperation have been updated and will come into effect as of January 1, 2019.
The VOW policy outlines the framework through which members are able to share sold and other previously restricted data through their password protected website.
If you already operate a VOW:
- Review the Rules of Cooperation (See Section 9 – VIRTUAL OFFICE WEBSITE (VOW). You’ll need to understand what’s new and what you will need to do to ensure you are in compliance with the rules.
- Before you can get access to the expanded data feed, you will need to sign the MLS® VOW agreement, available through the FVREB.
- You will need to ensure that your service provider has signed a new third-party agreement.
- You have six months to sign the new agreements, even if you do not want access to the expanded data feed.
If you want to start up a VOW:
- Review the Rules of Cooperation (See Section 9 – VIRTUAL OFFICE WEBSITE (VOW). You’ll need to understand what’s involved to ensure you are in compliance with the rules.
- You will need to sign the MLS® VOW Agreement, available through the FVREB.
- You will need to ensure that you are working with a service provider who has signed a new third-party agreement.
Once your signed agreement is submitted to the Board, we commit to turning around approval within two business days. Then, it’s up to you and your service provider to determine what’s necessary to build and launch your new VOW.
Wait a minute… what exactly is a VOW?
A Virtual Office Website is exactly like it sounds. It enables you to do business virtually, just like you would from a regular bricks-and-mortar office. Through a VOW, you can provide access to more data than is typically advertised on REALTOR® websites or REALTOR.ca, which may be necessary when you are dealing virtually with your customers and clients. You can only provide this information through a password protected website, since some of this information is sensitive, private and not available publicly on government registries.
Keep in mind, the change in the Rules does not allow anyone to add sales data to the typical Realtor website. Most Realtor websites are considered advertising, as they are available to anyone who visits, whether they are working with that Realtor or not.
Note, this is a very simple explanation – there are obviously a number of other criteria you will need to understand that are fully detailed in the Rules.
More information:
- Find the revised Rules of Cooperation on the Rules, Standards and Resources page on REALTOR Link®
- Find more details about VOWs on the dedicated Virtual Office Website (VOW) page on REALTOR Link®
- The new MLS® VOW Agreements will be available on REALTOR Link® within the next few weeks.