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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tradelite who wrote (15170)	11/17/2003 10:25:07 PM
From: Doughboy	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 306849

Tradelite, I think you missed the point that the NAR is going to allow its members to refuse to share MLS listings with internet websites like ziprealty and erealty. These are the services that that are nationwide competition with the NAR's own attempts to dominate website marketing and with the individual websites of NAR members. I think the main issue is whether the MLS is a form of collusion or boycott and I believe it is. The realtors agree to share with each other and they agree to exclude non-realtors. If the MLS was any other kind of marketing list, that would not be unlawful. But if the MLS has market power, which I think it does, then any agreements between realtors to boycott or collude or price fix are illegal under the antitrust laws. Moreover, I think from a purely non-legal perspective, you've got it wrong. The listing does not 'belong' to the realtor. It belongs to the client, and the realtor is clearly acting against the interests of his or her customer by withholding the listing from other parties. Isn't there something wrong with that?