Building the standards of tomorrow: RESO 2026 Fall Conference highlights

At RESO’s 2026 Fall Conference in Colorado Springs, the conversation went well beyond data standards. Across sessions on AI, broker technology, mortgage finance, and international markets, a common theme emerged: better-connected, more consistent data is essential to moving real estate forward. Here are the highlights.

Evolution of Data Dictionary standards

In his “Welcome to Colorado Springs” presentation, Craig Cheatham (CEO at The Realty Alliance) highlighted the need for AI data governance and rethinking legacy licensing categories that no longer fully meet. He also highlighted the need to maintain current standards compliance – important because many are no longer current with their RESO compliance, using Data Dictionary version 1.7 while version 2.0 compliance had a NAR adoption deadline of April 2025.

Rebecca Jensen (RESO Board Chair, CEO at Midwest Real Estate Data) and Sam DeBord (CEO at RESO) presented “RESO Today”.  Sam reported Data Dictionary 2.0 adoption at 65.9%. Ideas for improving adoption were presented in a later session. Sam gave kudos to Cotality and Momentum MLS for being first with Data Dictionary version 2.1 certification, after certification became possible the week before the conference.  Rebecca is due tremendous thanks for her “tour of duty”, since she is leaving her board position after seven very productive years.  

Broker technology and AI integration

A “Broker Spotlight” featured Nick Bailey (President at Bailey Enterprises), Nina Dosanjh (RESO Broker Advisory Vice-Chair, Chief Technology and Operations Officer at Vanguard Properties) and Jeff Bosch (RESO Broker Advisory Chair, CEO at IRES MLS). The group discussed broker data problems - integration, flexibility, and cost. Nick suggested that we need more intelligence layered on back-office data, giving brokers better tools to focus on recruiting and retention as well as agent profitability. The group discussed the potential benefits of AI in simplifying listing entry. Nick said that AI is going to become the new Zestimate in that agents will need to address sellers that think they know more than their agent.

Mortgage finance and collaborative data needs

The value of richer, standardized data also extends beyond brokerage operations to mortgage finance. In one of the highlight sessions of the conference, Sam DeBord moderated “Fannie, Freddie and RESO: Fuller Listings, Faster Closings” with Crissy Bellandi (Credit Policy Director – Disaster Risk at Freddie Mac) and Lyle Radke (Senior Director of Collateral Policy at Fannie Mae). Understanding the benefit and managing risk involves lots of data, including the MLS, appraisal, and mortgage data. They discussed the need for more detail from the MLS regarding six categories: living area by level, disaster mitigation features, ADU details, solar ownership type, vehicle storage type, and construction type. More details of their proposal were provided during the Data Dictionary Workgroup session.  

Global expansion and cross-border standards

In the “Global Challenges and Opportunities” session, Melissa King (RESO Board Director, COO at OneKey® MLS) and Patrick Pichette (CEO at Realtyfeed) discussed supporting the $45.3 billion spent by foreign buyers on U.S. homes. RESO now has members in 44 countries, and challenges with some of the data were discussed as well as changes that are coming in Data Dictionary 2.2 to support currency, location, and utilities in these markets. Cotality’s Ethan Bailey (Senior Principal, Solutions Management at Cotality and Board Member at RESO) has been helping lead the charge on international additions to the dictionary.

Listing maintenance and administrative efficiency

In “Who's Afraid of the Big (B)Add/Edit?”, York Baur (Chief Industry Relations Officer at Lone Wolf Technologies) and Clint Skutchan (Founder at twenty-two Intelligence) addressed concerns about broker listing maintenance MLS interfaces – there’s no reason to fear them being “Upstream 2.0” or “a national MLS”. It’s merely about broker efficiency.

Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) update

In the “CMLS Update” Jessica Edgerton (CEO at Council of Multiple Listing Services) described an increased focus on federal, state, and local government advocacy for the MLS, as well as consumer advocacy. CMLS will also be continuing work on policy, research, and best practices. CMLS will be adding brokerage and technology provider membership classes. Lastly, CMLS will be organizing a legal action fund.

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Security, AI risks, and mitigation strategies

In “AI Agents in the MLS Interface”, Kurtis Cicalo (CEO at Voiceflip) and Meagan Fowler (COO at Voiceflip) demonstrated how AI could be used to scale social engineering. Association and MLS staff need to take care not to fall for the hackers’ tactics and change member contact information in the Association Management System or MLS, which allows for password changes and illegitimate system access, which can lead to listing fraud.  

While AI creates new risks for organized real estate, there are attempts to mitigate those risks at RESO. In the “Foundational standards an AI” session, Nate Divine (Chief Technology and AI Officer, Inside Real Estate) proposed having RESO certify MCP servers, including data dictionary, web API, identity (UPI and ULI) and context. In the Governance Workgroup, Ethan Bailey has proposed “Hierarchical AI Governance & Machine-Readable Usage Rights” to address the communication of rights and restrictions to AI companies via the MCP. And Al McElmon (Director, Software Engineering at Cotality) proposed a way to request fast takedowns of fraudulent listings using EventTypes in the RESO standard.  

Workgroup initiatives and industry outlook

There were other presentations related to changes desired for the standard, and workgroup meetings included Research & Development, Data Dictionary, and Transport, as well as the Certification subgroup.

The energy at RESO wasn’t confined to the presentations from the stage. It carried into workgroup meetings, the trade show, and hallway conversations where ideas could become the next round of practical improvements. That is what makes RESO exciting: it brings the industry together not just to imagine what comes next, but to build the shared foundation that makes it possible. The next chapter of real estate technology is taking shape—and RESO is a place to help write it.