national association of realtors and department of justice
the NAR is in the bay area this weekend for their annual meeting. although the official word out of san francisco is that the focus will not be on the department of justice’s antitrust investigations into the real estate industry, you can bet that it will surely be a hot topic of conversation.
there are a number of good articles out there covering the conference and the controversy. information on the internet wants to be free. especially when the incentive for someone selling a home is unquestionably to get the listing of their property in front of as many eyeballs as possible. fighting technology isn’t good for consumers or for the industry. media coverage of the fight is not favorable; newsweek recently called the real estate industry a “cartel”.
in the end, fighting the internet isn’t good for agents and brokers. they need to recognize the innovations occuring in the business and find new ways to be competitive, rather than having a trade organization interfere and lobby against new business models, making the inevitable change more painful by having done so. j. bruce mcdonald from the justice department is right:
“One of the competitively threatening things about Web-based suppliers in any industry is that they can reach more customers more quickly and save costs, and that may translate into cutting price. All those things are attractive.
“The way we go about obtaining goods and services on the Web is threatening to brick-and-mortar business models.”
the brick and mortar business models won’t disappear completely. but i think they are in for some very real changes. the best thing for the industry and consumers alike is to get on with the changes, think creatively, and continue to provide whatever quality services are demanded by buyers and sellers.
December 7th, 2007 at 5:54 am
What The National Association Of Realtors Don’t Want you to Know
The truth about board of Realtors® owned MLS throughout the country
For_Immediate_Release:
United States of America (Press Release) December 6, 2007 — Antitrust complaint unfair trade practices update to previous complaints.
Shutting off service to your MLS as stated in the letter below and shutting out to prevent non Realtors ( real estate agents) on Realtor owned MLS boards in my opinion is unfair trade practices on a large scale.
When a Realtor list a home is it disclosed to homeowners at the time of listing that all Non Realtors (real estate agents) will not be able to sell or show any homeowners listings unless they join the local board? Of course not, therefore limiting competition in the marketplace by the thousands of potential home sales from real estate agents nationwide with Realtor own MLS boards… I do believe that there are around 1.7 million real estate agents VS 1.3 million Realtors that leaves a Hugh gap for home buyers and home sellers if this information is not disclosed up front.
Now that shutting down Supra display keys attached to Realtor owned MLS boards because of unpaid Realtor Board dues, Not unpaid MLS dues only compounds this problem even further for the consumers who have active listings on the Realtor own MLS boards with the agents that are now shut out from a service that is provided by GE/Supra and in which the dues are not not in default..
Lets look at what I call the poster child state, Georgia
Georgia has two major Non MLS Realtor Boards GMLS and FMLS that do not discriminate between Realtor or Real Estate Agents therefore providing 100% competition for the consumers and has created a fair marketplace with a level playing field for all to enjoy.
Why have I choose not to renew my Realtor dues is a very simple explanation for me, I am shammed to be associated with NAR and to be dragged into the DOJ lawsuits against NAR for all the public to see and judge me as a not trustful Realtor (Anti trust) guilty by association, and to further damage the already scarred reputation of being a Realtor.
Were is NAR ethics here ? Http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&I.e.=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_en__214__214&q=the+doj+vs+nar
So with an estimated Realtor loss of 10% at the Orlando Regional Board of Realtors not renewing next years dues and are paid up MLS dues have had there Supra keys shut off also, what do they tell there listing homeowners clients and Home buyers? When they can not gain access to there listing, or show potential home buyers homes..
This is fair practice!! Sorry I call it unfair trade practices on a large scale and I support The Department Of Justice actions 100% to protect the general public from this unfair trade practice.