Navigating the Clear Cooperation Policy: Tools to Help Agents Stay Compliant

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Quick Summary

• NAR/MLS Rule: The Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) requires you to submit a listing to the MLS within one business day of publicly marketing it.

• Portal Rules: Zillow enforces an even tighter 24-hour requirement, and other portals like Realtor.com and Redfin have their own interpretations.

• The Challenge: The definition of “marketing” is vague, which leaves many agents worried about what actually counts.

• Our Solution: Open Homes offers features like “Go Live Date” and listing statuses such as Private, Off-Market, and Office Exclusive to help you navigate compliance better.

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What’s the deal with the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP)?

In 2020, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) officially implemented the Clear Cooperation Policy. This rule states that within one business day of marketing a property to the public, the listing must be submitted to the MLS. “Public marketing” includes everything from flyers and yard signs to digital ads and email blasts.

More recently, major portals have started enforcing their own interpretations of the policy.

• Realtor.com emphasizes that its operations are based on MLS agreements and shows all listings, reinforcing the spirit of the CCP—even while advocating for full transparency.
• Redfin strongly opposes private listings (“pocket listings”) and aligns its policy with NAR’s Clear Cooperation Policy: any publicly marketed listing must enter the MLS or it won’t appear on their platform.
• Zillow/Trulia enforces a strict 24-hour rule: once a property is publicly marketed, it must be on the MLS (and therefore Zillow) within one business day. After two warnings, a third non-compliant listing — and any that follow — will be blocked for the life of the listing agreement.

For many agents, a big concern is understanding how the portals are defining and applying the rules. For example: does a private website count as marketing? What about buying a domain name or setting up a “Coming Soon” page? The lack of clarity has created anxiety for agents everywhere.

How Open Homes’ tools can help

At Open Homes, we’ve built tools to give you flexibility and peace of mind as you navigate CCP compliance based on our understanding of the policy.

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Go Live Date → Your intended marketing start date

Your listing’s Go Live Date is the date you intend to market the property — not just the day you add it to the MLS. For example, if you plan to post the listing on Instagram one day before submitting it to the MLS, you need to set your Go Live Date to that earlier date. This ensures everything works properly behind the scenes (like previews, thumbnails, and descriptions) and keeps your marketing in sync across platforms.

Important: if the Go Live Date passes and the listing becomes public, changing the date to a later time will not hide or unpublish the listing. Once it’s live, it remains live — unless you unpublish it and allow time for search engines to remove it from their index.

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Office Exclusive/Private/Off-Market → Listings that are only viewable with a shared link

“Office Exclusive,” “Off-Market,” and “Private” listings are all hidden from syndication and search engines. They are only accessible to those with whom you share the link.

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Final thoughts

To avoid unnecessary headaches:

• Always give us a Go Live Date (and set it far in the future if unsure).
• Use Private, Off-Market, or Office Exclusive listing statuses if you need to keep things hidden from search.

When in doubt, communicate your intent clearly in the order notes or directly to our team—we know the policy can be confusing, and we’re here to help!

Since the not-so-clear Clear Cooperation Policy’s interpretation can vary between NAR, MLSs, and the major portals, no one can offer a one-size-fits-all solution. But with careful planning and the right tools, our hope is that you can better navigate the rule so you can list with confidence.