Thanks for your feedback Marc,

I'm not sure it's even a question of if the current MLS works well or not.

You say they wouldn't want to release "data structures?" is that really what the boards value is to you?

As a broker who is charged with being the absolute best channel for getting the best offer for your clients homes possible ... do you really see the value of your local board as being because they have proprietary data structures?

I believe that it's holding back the industry and preventing the natural growth of the industry to continue to build "information silo's" out of the MLS that are by design... made to control access to the data.

As I see it it's only in the best interest of the boards, who now make their money on a "per listing to our MLS" model, to control that access.

The attitude that the listing data is somehow proprietary is in direct odds with the intent of the contract which is to sell that person's home.

By limiting access to that data and treating it like an intellectual property, or some other "product" is counter the interests of the very people that inventory comes from.

If sellers had a better understanding of how the regional boards and even brokerages treated their listing data, and how they limit access to it, thereby limiting their chances to find the best offer for their property, I think there would be more pressure from sellers to see the data access walls broken down.

Ya Brian ... :)

We all know change is never easy, but it's usually inevitable.

The irony is that those who adapt early are the ones that will be best positioned as these changes happen.

All of which limits the ability to get that listing to the widest possible audience, to get the best price for your client, who is ultimately the one that should be benefiting from the best possible advertising for his listing.

Your argument that agents (I can't figure out how to make the fancy R so, I won't use the TM name :) have paid millions for the current technology is sort of like saying that you won't upgrade your 486 computer because you paid thousands for it 'back in the day'.  

Technology evolves as does business.  

Do you really feel that it's best for your clients to be in a walled garden?  It's not about what's best for the agents and brokers (which quite frankly I truly believe it's much better for the brokers and agents anyway, clients are more educated, they come ready to buy, they don't require as much hand holding, you reduce staff time etc.... )

It's about what will help sell your clients house faster and for more money with the best possible service. 

People will never make a half million $ + purchase online.  Ultimately they'll still need agents to negotiate and close deals, provide local knowledge and expertise etc... It's just a shifting of the goal posts and in the end I have no doubt that it will encourage growth and innovation that will far outweigh any small setbacks that a single organization feels as a result of that change.