I have went through this in the past. MLS rules vary from state to state, but most follow the same rules.

You can not brand a photo that will be placed into mls with the realtor info. Why?...because that tour can be pulled from any realtors website that offers mls search. You can however place your own floor cap with your company info, as long as it doesnt link to any page with realtor info, or your website.

Most VT providers (including myself) are starting to work up 2 tours for each listing. One very basic tour without all the realtor info to be placed into mls, and the other with all the realtor info so they can place it on their website.

Hope this helps.

Kris

MLS rules vary not only from state to state, but from Board of Realtors to Board of Realtors. I belong to two, and there are two different sets of rules governing them even though they overlap coverage areas. Some areas have three or more BOR's (coastal areas of Texas is my reference) covering each overlapping area and even one blanket BOR as such for a county with each city within the county having its own BOR.

I would have to say that in my area, that would not hold true. MLS is a major way for customers to search for homes, and each realtor makes sure to advertise that way. If you are a realtor without a website offering mls search tools, you may as well not even have the website.

I would guess that out of every 10 tours I do, 6 of them will say to "make sure the tour is on realtor.com" while all 10 would say "make sure it goes into mls"

What eagle has said used to be 100% true, but most mls providers now offer search tools for the customer, and not just for the realtor. It is a HUGE selling tool to their customers.

One other note. You said you were in the panhandle of Florida. In doing some research work for a realtor in Florida, I believe all IDX is provided by Florida Association of Realtors (FAR), so the rules should be standard throughout Florida how MLS is displayed in your state.

AS someone pointed out earlier, rules can vary from county to county, but what you will find in most cases - and true in your case -, is that all boards have to approve an IDX MLS provider. There are not alot of choices for them out there, so most in the same state will have the same provider. In fact, your IDX provider is the same as ours in NC, but your association has required different rules for the IDX provider to display the info.