NWMLS Effectively Bans Open Houses

The NWMLS, the organization that facilitates cooperation amongst real estate brokerages just announced that they’re disabling the ability to input open house dates and times on listings:

As the news and impact of COVID-19 continues to rapidly evolve, NWMLS has made the difficult decision to temporarily disable the public and broker open house feature in the Matrix system.  NWMLS’s decision is strongly supported by the Governor’s office.  

Until at least March 31st, brokers will not be able to input, search, or view public or broker open house information in Matrix.  Open house information will not be available for display on member public websites (IDX and VOW sites).  NWMLS will separately contact all listing brokers who have a scheduled open house to let them know it has been removed from Matrix.

I’m pleasantly surprised that they’ve taken this step as, unfortunately, real estate agents can’t be trusted to self-regulate in this regard.