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May 28, 2008

When the National Associtation of Realtors Loses, Everyone Wins

I never really understood how in a day and age where you can find
just about everything you want wanted online, the National Association
of Realtors figured they could keep its small slice of the internet
private.

But guess what? That's all in the past now. And the NAR will now allow
access to the MLS to all agents thanks to a court settlement that opens the MSL.

The reality though is good real estate agents have been sharing the information
publicly for years. They weren't trying to keep homes a secret. The
understood by sharing information, their homes has a better chance of being
sold.

In fact, it's tough to find an agent these days worth their commission who
isn't putting their listings on Craig's list, Backpage or Oodle. And just
about every agent I know with a decent website offers search... And
most of the time the information if provided by the local MLS... Also,
Realtor.com always provides enough information that combined with a simple Google search will
yield what you need to find the sellers or even the listing agent of any property.

I know the folks over at ZipRealty were happy... Zip told the NY
Times, "For us, it's a great result," said Pat Lashinsky, chief
executive of ZipRealty in Emeryville, Calif., which offers online
users rebates of up to 20 percent off standard sales commissions. "We
think it's a great result for consumers."

So I guess congratulations to the members of the National Association
of Realtors, your dues will no longer be going towards fighting a
lawsuit that benefited no one.

Click here for the settlement information...

Posted by Jeff Brooks on May 28, 2008 06:47 AM | Permalink

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