How to Choose a Local REALTOR Association That’s Right for You

How to Choose a Local REALTOR Association That’s Right for You

  • by Premier Agent Network
  • September 22, 2018

The first thing you want to do when choosing a local Realtor association board is to see if your broker is a member of it. If your broker is not a member of one of the local Realtor Association boards, find out which ones they are members of or ask if they can become a member of one you are interested in.

You want to find out which REALTOR Association is closest to you, what areas they cover, what MLS service they use, what lockbox system they use, and pricing. As you know, national, state, and local membership dues can get expensive and it has its benefits. You want an association that covers mostly all the areas you do business and also shares data with multiple MLS services. The more access you have, the more opportunities you have with buyers and sellers without having to join multiple MLS services. In the greater Los Angeles area, the Supra lockbox system is most common to show properties. If you get a client in a different area where they use a different lockbox system, you may have to make arrangements to show or list the property. Most associations have a onetime application fee and MLS fees are about $25 to $40 per month.

Not all associations are the same. Some MLS providers might share the same data but have different ways of providing the data for you. For example, some may provide a RETS connector, FTP feed for raw data, a farmable IDX solution, or a link to for your clients to search the public MLS. If you are using your website to display listings for sale, also called IDX (internet data exchange) feed, you want to check with your broker to see if they signed an agreement to receive this data.

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Update: November 1, 2025