<<The realtors agree to share with each other and they agree to exclude non-realtors>>
You have now raised an entirely different subject than the one which is in focus now.
First of all, the two realty firms you mentioned are NAR members, meaning they are REALTORS. So let's proceed to what you are really talking about....which is....
not sharing the MLS with non-Realtors. That's a very old old subject that was hot many years ago and involves entirely different issues, such as...Who is going to administer accountability among all users of lockboxes? As a homeowner, I'm sure you want this accountability, or am I wrong?
There are other issues involved, as well, but I'm not going to do a seminar on that old thing.
About 20 years ago, we still had a few brokers in our area who refused to join NAR and become Realtors. They did OK back in the old days....were small shops and had their own niche of continuous business going. The world is too big today for many small shops like that to survive. Everyone needs the MLS....the market is too huge not to have a clearinghouse of information about homes for sale and homes which have sold, and to have a system of cooperation/compensation/ethics/rules--not to mention a standard contract and listing format used by everyone-- in place for the many different brokers and agents operating in the market.
If you could see what the Washington metro area real estate market consisted of--and the size and number of brokers operating in the market-- during the 1970s, you wouldn't even recognize it.
I got thrown a few curves during my time in the business by brokers from faraway small towns in the state, who brought buyers to my listings--different sales contract, different modus operandi, different customs. Had to let them into the house because they had no lockbox access. The only way to deal with the situation was to re-write their client's offer on our local form, or else have my client get a lawyer to review the whole thing. Then the buyer had to get a lawyer to review what WE had rewritten. A MESS.
A few older-timers than that could REALLY tell you some stories. |
