Interboarding is the strategic practice of listing a property on the MLS system of a real estate board other than the one to which the listing agent primarily belongs.
Why Interboard? Maximizing Property Exposure
The primary benefit of interboarding is to significantly expand a property's market exposure. By placing the listing on a secondary board's private agent-facing system, you dramatically broaden the number of potential buyers who will see the property details.
For example, an agent listing a property with the REALTORS Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) may also choose to interboard their listing with the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) This strategy taps into the massive agent network of the Greater Toronto Area, which is critical for properties that attract buyers from a larger metropolitan hub.
The Interboarding Process
Cooperation is facilitated because real estate boards and associations often have reciprocal agreements or shared systems in place (e.g. Information Technology Systems ontario (ITSO)).
Each board will have its own process, requirements, and fees for interboarding, but the steps generally follow a two step process:
- Home board listing: The property must first be finalized and set to Active the agent's primary board's MLS system.
- Secondary board submission: The agent must then consult the specific Interboard instructions for the secondary board that they are listing to. They will need to complete any data forms, submit a full copy of the active home board listing, and pay any applicable fees.