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As far as a fully functional MLS as per the US and Canadian MLS systems, no we are not there yet.

Let me give you some background on who we are and why we have launched this website.

I have lived in Sosua for almost 2 years and my partner Ed the software engineer has been here for 3 years.

When I first came here I had no idea that the North Coast realty system was like the wild west, that realtors will rarely show an actual address for fear someone like a taxi driver will find out, bring a buyer and pocket the 10% interest because exclusive contracts between buyer and seller hardly exist here.

Because there isn't an MLS here people have to look through each and every brokers listings to seek out the property they are looking for and co-broking isn't that common.

Realtors will often only show clients the listings of their own brokerage because of this lack of co-broking, further denying the buyer a professional service.

For me personally, and no I am not a realtor, this simply must and will change because the buyers and property owners are getting a bit of a raw deal.

Certain listing sites such as Point2Homes also allow redundant listings which realtors use as clickbait, further infuriating potential buyers and renters who after being excited about a property, learn it was sold 2 years previous. They also allow multiple listings of the same properties which customers also find annoying.

So the idea for a website like an MLS came to mind. At this time it could not be a North American type MLS because there is no licensing for realtors and rarely are there exclusive contracts. But we could at least offer a one stop hub for buyers and renters, saving them time.

The next thing we wanted to do was promote exclusive contracts by adding into the Terms & Conditions that if there is an exclusive contract on a property, then no one else can list it. The same goes for any listing whether exclusive or not, only 1 listing per property. The idea being we are slowly pushing toward a true MLS because we believe it will come in time.

The other biggie is to stop redundant listings and that is to be taken care of in the subscription model which updates every 30 days.

We launched the website in May and a week or so later we were stunned to learn that Point2Homes was leaving the DR (and everywhere else). Well that sort of changed a few things because we had brokers coming to us to discuss our model of business.

Some wanted us to keep the Point2Homes model but most I'm happy to say, guardedly want change.

I heard 2 days ago that the DR government are now looking into licensing realtors which also means they must have official residency. I have no idea how long this will take to begin implementing but being the DR it will likely be years but it is coming.

Therefore we are not a true MLS as in the North American sense because we can't be, but that is where we want to go.

Meanwhile, we obviously want to attract as many of the ex Point2Home listers as possible so we can build our listing numbers which helps to drive traffic to the site.

To do this we offer free listings until 2025, after which we will begin paid subscriptions and I will  be honest here and tell you we haven't figured out the subscription packages and costs yet, but we have a few months before that kicks in.

To help the Point2Home listers migrate their listing data, Ed developed an import tool which uploads the file that Point2Homes listers can upload to from their point2Homes account. This saves a lot of time creating a new listing.

Our business model is also about fostering a community spirit among realtors and we plan to have a realtor forum for them to talk to each other etc.

I hope this has helped clear up any questions.

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to explain a little about who we are and what we are about.

Regards,

John