Why your MLS should offer Trestle as a data distribution option
by Matt Cohen
A straight‑talk guide for MLS executives and operations leaders

The quick take
- Make life easier for multimarket brokers and tech partners already using Trestle elsewhere. Trestle is the preferred data distribution platform for 950+ tech providers.
- Deliver more value to brokers by providing access to 3x more data, as well as bundling optional neighborhood and property insights with the listings in a single feed.
- Adopt at no cost to the MLS, with the potential to start generating non-dues revenue within weeks.
- Get the latest RESO certifications—Cotality maintains the latest RESO certifications. The NAR deadline for the RESO Data Dictionary 2.0 certification was April 2025, but most other vendors still haven’t met that deadline for all customers by 2026.
- Make data licensing easier—Trestle eliminates paper contracts and provides fast and easy workflows for approvals and payment.
- Use it with any MLS platform—Trestle can be used by any MLS organization.
If the flow falters, everyone feels it
Real estate runs on accurate, timely listing data. If the data flow hiccups, broker websites, partner products, consumer sites, and even market perception take a hit. Offering Trestle™ from Cotality™ alongside another data distribution platform adds practical redundancy for business continuity. If one provider has an outage, a policy change, or a maintenance window, the other keeps data moving so member tools stay up, your help desk stays quiet, and your continuity plan isn’t just on paper.
Be the hero for multimarket brokers and tech partners
Choice lowers friction. Many national brokers and vendors already use Trestle in other markets. When you add Trestle at your MLS, those brokers and partners can reuse the connections and payloads they already trust—no extra mapping required.
Standards and reliability: RESO done right
Cotality has a proven track record of setting a standard for real estate data consistency and reliability and maintains the latest RESO certifications. The NAR deadline for the RESO Data Dictionary 2.0 certification was April 2025, but most other vendors still haven’t met that deadline for all customers by 2026. With Trestle, you’ll have peace of mind that your data certification stays current well ahead of industry deadlines.
Data governance and security
Protecting the integrity of MLS data is protecting the market itself. Trestle Defender continuously monitors data access and licensing relationships to safeguard compliance and protect data integrity. Trestle Defender is included at no extra cost to help you with:
- Precontract vetting of data licensing applicants with configurable approval workflows.
- Active monitoring to identify expired credentials, anomalous patterns, and policy risks.
- Auditability to enforce compliance and uphold your Data License Agreement.
Up to 3X more data with near real-time updates
With 1,750 fields and 82,000 lookup values, Trestle delivers the richest dataset in the industry. Developers and data teams gain the depth they need to build complete, feature-rich property experiences without relying on multiple feeds or custom extensions. Trestle supports near real time listing delivery with data that refreshes as frequently as every two minutes. This enables consistently “always fresh” listing experiences, improving consumer trust, search accuracy, and market responsiveness for brokers and technology partners.
Give your brokers property + neighborhood data in one feed
Homebuyers don’t just look at listings—they want to understand the neighborhood, too. With Trestle, your brokers get affordable, optional easy access to reliable property and location insights packaged with listings delivered from a single platform. That means richer websites and tools that keep visitors engaged—and keep more leads local.
Online billing & contract management
Trestle makes licensing easier for everyone with fully online contracts, e-signing, and automated billing. MLSs can manage agreements and fees in one place, brokers and vendors complete contracts without back-and-forth paperwork, and all parties have clear records of permissions and payments.
Cost and rollout
Adding Trestle RESO doesn’t add license cost for the MLS. Typical implementation is completed in weeks. Digital agreements and billing keep things tidy, and you can communicate a simple choice to vendors: stay with your current feed or switch to Trestle if you are already using Trestle for your other feeds.