I am sure that most of you have heard that there was a complaint filed in Detroit against the area MLS. Saying that MLS owned by Realtors unlawfully targeted exclusive agency. The complaint was filed because discount brokerages use exclusive agency listings. Basically allowing sellers to list the house without paying a commission.
The MLS's public display policy included the exclusive right-to-sell listings but removed exclusive agency listings from its feed to REALTOR.com and IDX feeds.
The judge determined that the MLS's Web policy was not anticompetitive as the FTC claimed. Brokers can still submit exclusive agency listings to MLS and if they wanted them to be on REALTOR.com they could also list them there by paying an additional fee. The judge stated that the use of MLS's as a free from of advertising by people who did not want to pay a commission to a member of the agency was not anticompetitive, bt was justified.
This to me was a fair desion because I have to pay for MLS. I also pay extra for REALTOR.com to have the showcase homes. But am I not seeing the other side of the picture and why this came up. I would love to hear you guys chime in on this.
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