A Florida multiple listing service is making a new REO MLS data field mandatory, requiring real estate professionals who are listing a bank-owned property to indicate it as such.

The Regional Multiple Listing Service, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and covering multiple counties, launched its new REO, searchable MLS field on Tuesday. 

While other MLSs have created similar fields to indicate bank-owned or short sales on listings, MLSs don’t often make it mandatory, and some agents opt to not fill it out. 

“We make every attempt to stay competitive with the demands in the marketplace and  easier for agents to find relative information,” Eric Sain, president of the RMLS, told Inman News. “This is one of those implementations. The neighboring MLSs around us already had a required ‘foreclosure-style’ field.”

More sites are adopting REO fields to make it easier for home buyers to locate such properties, which often sell at steep discounts.