Together they crystallize the central question facing the industry: should a residential listing belong first to the open MLS marketplace, or first to the brokerage that signed the seller? The answer will reshape how listings flow, where consumers find homes, which businesses capture the revenue, and what the Multiple Listing Service exists to do
What used to be a cooperative system is fragmenting into competing strategies—portals seeking consumer attention, brokers defending inventory, and agents working to secure direct, contractual relationships with buyers.
“The next real estate disruption isn’t technology — it’s regulation of who controls the data.”
More importantly, brokerages should review their training programs to caution agents regarding what can be said and what should be avoided in advising buyers as to steps in the loan process – in short, what are the RED FLAGS.
As the CEO of the San Diego MLS, Saul was quick to respond with the fact that MLSs should be looking for alternative ways to showcase the value of the MLS. He explores the concept of flipping the current subscription-based business model and finding opportunities to monetize the data and bring benefits back to the providers of the data.
In response to a wrap up question as to what we were keeping our eye on these days, here’s a 12 minute video clip focusing on the renewed interest in the end-to-end platform.
While we’ll be looking at the increasing number of lawsuits centering around the Three-Way Agreement issue, it is worth keeping a close eye on the reaction of local associations to challenges voiced by some of its members to lessening the costs for services they don’t consider essential to their business.
The most difficult questions focused on why the DOJ took the position that the written buyer agreements required to show a property were possibly an antitrust violation.
Now is a good time to brush up on the lawsuits and reports surrounding the broker commission issues in the residential real estate space.
What about the words used in the 108-page proposed NAR Settlement Agreement. Is there a meeting of the minds as to the intent of some of the meanings?
Another case Gibson et al V NAR et al. https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/znpnzorqwpl/Gibson%20v%20NAR%20202310.pdf The attorney for the plaintiffs, Michael Ketchmark, also the attorney in Sitzer/Burnett, is beginning to
Is the DOJ concern the total elimination of the offer of compensation? Even from the seller? Is it finding ways to reduce commissions and sales prices? Is it opening up access to the MLS? Is it unlinking MLS from the Association?
While DOJ claims to be concerned about brokers’ “steering” of buyers to higher commission listings, it ignores entirely NWMLS’s rule change that made information about sellers’ offers readily available to consumers. The antidote to steering is transparency.
