Many of you have asked us to add “virtual” live stream open houses to NorthstarMLS. We are happy to announce that the system programming is complete, and you may now add these to your listings.
The Open House scheduling tab in the Add/Edit system has been reactivated with two available Open House Types to choose from: Public Virtual and Broker Virtual. (Scheduling of physical open houses remains suspended.)
Please note, live stream Virtual Open Houses are scheduled live broadcasts. If you have an unbranded recorded tour of the home, you may continue to add it as a Virtual Tour, but not as a live stream Virtual Open House.
As you would expect, Broker live stream Virtual Open Houses are viewable only within NorthstarMLS by other subscribers. So, there are no restrictions.
Live stream Public Virtual Opens are shared within NorthstarMLS, client emails/portals and through the IDX and third-party website feeds. There are no restrictions on what site/tool you may use to host these live stream open houses. Popular choices include Zoom, GoToMeeting, Facebook Live, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, YouTube Live.
However, during the live stream public virtual open house, do not promote yourself, your broker or your services. Particularly if you want to later upload the recording as a Virtual Tour.
Also, there are two new MLS fields available for live stream Virtual Open Houses:
- Live Stream URL: The web address for your live stream virtual open house.
- Virtual Open House Additional Info: This is a text field where you can enter other details, for example call-in phone numbers for a live stream open house on Zoom.
Same as with physical open houses, information on live stream virtual open houses is available by clicking the Open House icon below the main photo: 
or the Open House tab in the Matrix 360 display (the tab will be active if there is an Open House scheduled). They may be searched through “Open House” under the Matrix Search tab.
Public and Broker Live Stream URLs may not be placed in the Public Remarks field. They are, however, allowed in the Agent Remarks field.
After the Live Stream Open House has ended, you may upload a recording of it to your listing as a Virtual Tour as long as it contains no agent/broker branding or links out to other websites. (For example, a link to your recorded open house on your branded social media site would not be acceptable as a virtual tour.)
Questions? Contact our Help Desk at help@northstarmls.com or 651-251-5456 (1-877-251-5455), M-F 8:00-5:00 (closed at noon on April 10 for Good Friday).