I decided to do some research on how our local MLS systems fell asleep on the job. The situation is even worse than I thought. It appears that the controlling powers, who protect our interests, have grossly failed to protect the MLS name. Some random findings:
http://www.chicagomls.com/ is privately owned and is available for $9613.00 (Perhaps the Chicago Board of Realtors could pick it up on behalf of membership???)
http://www.losangelesmls.com/ --as well as http://www.californiamls.com/ and http://www.sanfranciscomls.com/ are privately owned by Virtual Office Realty and Bill Bastine, the "designated broker"--neither of whom appear to be licensed by the California Department of Real Estate.
http://www.coloradomls.com/ and http://www.denvermls.com/ are also privately owned and the same guys are launching http://www.usamls.com/ on Halloween, 2006.
http://www.floridamls.com/? It's nothing more than an advertising site, while http://www.orlandomls.com/ is owned by a Keller Williams agent.
Do your own research, and I suspect you will encounter similar findings. I believe the National Association of Realtors needs to develop some new protected terminology and should toss MLS and Multiple Listing Service names out the window. If Google can have their protected name turn into a recognized verb in less than seven years, our NAR should be able to do the same.
http://www.sandiegopreviews.com
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