Entries Tagged 'MLS' ↓

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The federal government has been pressuring the different MLS organizations across the country to stop deliberately denying access to their data by some real estate companies. These actions have lead to multiple lawsuits by the Federal Trade Commission recently.

Now the National Association of Realtors at their national meeting have come out and created a blanket policy for MLS’s across the country that will open access in a consistent and open format. This will be welcome by those that have been denied access to the data, typically low cost brokers in the communities.

The existing IDX policy permits members posting MLS listings on their own Web sites to select the listings they show on the basis of objective criteria such as location, type of property, compensation offered for buyers’ agents or the level of service provided by the listing company. It was approved by NAR’s board of directors at its meeting here Monday.
“These actions standardize distribution of MLS data to external Web sites for the first time and ensure that all listings are treated equally by MLSs,” said NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs of Grand Rapids, Mich., vice president of Coldwell Banker-AJS-Schmidt. Vredevoogd Combs said Realtors® displaying MLS listings on their sites are governed by the Realtor® Code of Ethics, which obligates members to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public. via  Yahoo! Finance.

Well, not war, but they are aggressively going after multiple listing services that are “illegally restraining competition by limiting consumers’ ability to obtain low-cost real estate brokerage services”.

Two MLS’s are facing Litigation:

• 1) Realcomp II, Ltd., a corporation owned by several realtor boards and associations, which provides services to more than 2,100 real estate brokerage offices in southeastern Michigan, and has more than 14,800 members; and
• 2) MIRealSource, Inc., which is owned by the real estate professionals it serves, and provides services to more than 840 real estate brokerage offices in southeastern Michigan and has more than 7,000 members.

The Five MLS’s that are faced complaints and have agreed to consent orders are:

• ) Information and Real Estate Services, LLC, based in Loveland, Colorado, which operates a regional MLS for northern Colorado, that is used by more than 5,000 real estate professionals;
• 2) Northern New England Real Estate Network, Inc., which is based in Concord, New Hampshire, and operates an MLS for the state that is used by several thousand real estate professionals;
• 3) Williamsburg Area Association of Realtors, Inc., which is based in Williamsburg, Virginia, and operates an MLS for that area and surrounding counties that is used by approximately 650 real estate brokers;
• 4) Realtors Association of Northeast Wisconsin, Inc., which is based in Appleton, Wisconsin, and operates an MLS for areas including Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and surrounding counties, and is used by more than 1,500 real estate brokers; and
• 5) Monmouth County Association of Realtors, Inc., which is based in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, and operates an MLS for Monmouth and Ocean counties and the surrounding areas of the state that is used by several thousand real estate professionals. via the FTC

Get the feeling that the discount brokers are salivating right now as the MLS monopoly is facing the power of the Federal government? And what tools are going to be created to fill this vacuum and pry the door open further.