Video for the MLS: virtual tour fields and unbranded rules

A common way this goes: an agent pastes the link to her listing video into the MLS virtual tour field the afternoon the listing goes live. The video is good. It also ends on a four second card with her headshot, brokerage logo and cell number, because it is the same file she posted to Instagram that morning. Two days later the MLS sends a compliance notice, the link comes down, and the listing spends its first weekend without a tour.

Nothing about that video was wrong for Instagram. It was wrong for the MLS, which plays by different rules, and those rules are set by each MLS on its own.

The field takes a link, not a file

Most MLSs do not host video. They give you a URL field, usually called the virtual tour link, and that link opens a page that plays the video. Many systems have two fields: a branded one shown only to other agents, and an unbranded one that can be shown to the public and syndicated. Some have only one.

Two examples, as each MLS described its rules at the time of writing. CRMLS in Southern California asks that the unbranded virtual tour field hold only a tour of the listing, with no agent or broker names, phone numbers, websites, email addresses or solicitations of any kind. Bright MLS in the Mid-Atlantic accepts unbranded tour links and says the video itself should carry no brokerage or agent branding. Your MLS may draw the line in a different place.

What usually counts as branding

Because the field holds a link, the page around the video is judged as well as the video. A clean film on a page with your headshot and a lead form can still fail. Under most unbranded rules, look out for:

• Intro or end cards with your name, logo, team name or brokerage.
• Phone numbers, emails or URLs anywhere on screen, including small text in a lower third.
• Narration that says who you are (“I'm Dana with Coastal Realty, call me to see it”).
• A hosting page with a contact form, agent photo, “more listings” links or a chat widget.
• A watermark from your video tool. That is branding too, just someone else's.

Some MLSs also restrict music, ask that the tour show only the subject property, or cap the length. A few do not allow narration in the unbranded field at all. If yours is one, a music only MLS cut is the safe version.

What the MLS cut should look like

Widescreen 16:9, because buyer agents mostly open the MLS on a desktop and portal players are built for horizontal video. The property and only the property: rooms, exteriors, the lot, amenities that convey. On screen text limited to facts like beds, baths and square footage. And every staged or edited photo still labelled on screen, which is a separate requirement from branding and covered in our guide to photo editing disclosure.

The link should stay stable, too. If you swap a shot after the listing has gone out, you want the same URL to show the new version rather than an old file someone downloaded.

Where the tour goes after the MLS

Once the listing syndicates, the tour link can travel to Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com and brokerage sites. Each displays it differently (an embedded player, a button, or nothing) and changes that from time to time, so you will not always know every place it shows up. That is the best argument for keeping the MLS cut clean: the MLS is only the first place it plays. Portal specifics are on our Zillow listing video and Realtor.com listing video pages.

Keep the branded version for your own channels

Unbranded rules apply to the MLS field, not your marketing. Your branded vertical cut belongs on social; the branded widescreen cut belongs on your listing page, with your contact card and a showing request form. Make both from the same edit on day one and you never have to re-export under deadline.

That is how Property Video Generator works: every project renders an unbranded MLS cut alongside the branded ones, and the listing website has a separate unbranded link for the MLS field. The branded page with the form and QR code is for everywhere else.

Before the link goes in

1. Look up your MLS's current rules on virtual tours, branding and altered images. Rules from 2023 may be out of date.
2. Confirm which field the link belongs in and whether it is shown to the public.
3. Watch the MLS cut once with sound, listening for your name as well as looking for it.
4. Open the link in a private browser window and see exactly what a buyer's agent sees.
5. Check every staged or edited photo carries its label in the video.

It is far easier to leave a contact card out than to pull it after buyer agents have seen it, and depending on the MLS a violation can mean a fine. For how our MLS cut is built, see property video for the MLS.