Dear Westchester-Putnam MLS Participant:

We trust that you know by now that the Westchester-Putnam MLS is considering installing a centralized appointment-making system for showing listings.

Hopefully you or your representative attended one of the briefing sessions that we held on March 31 and April 1. It that is not the case, please bring yourself up to speed by visiting the prospective vendor's website, www.showings.com. Click on the "Overview" and "Member Benefits" pages to learn what WPMLS is exploring as a possible new service.

If WPMLS moves ahead on this, we are likely to pay for it partly with a new listing entry surcharge that all Participants pay when they enter a listing, and partly by a monthly per-office charge that is paid only by those offices that opt in to the full service. We feel that the listing entry surcharge payable by all Participants is appropriate because a showing system truly benefits all members with smoother, faster results when they are calling to show the listings of CSS-enrolled offices.

In a mid-range example where about half of our member offices choose to place their listings with the showing service, one option for paying for that would be a $10 listing entry surcharge (plus WPMLSs existing $5 charge), and an estimated monthly charge of $93 just for those firms that opt into the service. Another option is to have a higher listing entry charge - $20 (also + the $5 existing charge) - which would reduce the voluntary office subscription charge to only $36 per month. These are only examples to give you an idea of what the costs might be. The exact figures depend on how many firms sign up for the service; more subscribers result in lower costs for everyone.

The WPMLS Board of Directors wants to know how you feel about moving ahead with a showing service. We've posted a survey on CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY which we sincerely ask you to complete no later than April 7. The results will be made available to you. There are just a few questions but they are very important for our decision making.

Thank you very much for your input.
WESTCHESTER-PUTNAM MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE, INC.