Free Listing Services....When Enough is Enough!

This topic is not a new topic...  A friend of mine who is quite involved with our local MLS brought to my attention the exploits of Dave Barry and his sinister approach to the real estate market.  Our conversation got me thinking about the various listing services and MLS in general.  I started searching for more information on line and on varous blogs, and really couldn't find a very good source of focused discoure on this topic.

So I guess I am sort of throwing this question out to this community to see what people are thinking. 

Do brokers oppose the free listing services available?  What are the biggest conflicts with the NAR and MLS?  A lot has been talked about regarding the REALTOR code of ethics and how Dave Barry's Open MLS was contrary to this.  Obviously Dave Barry's biggest problem is that he seems to be flying in the face of copyright law, and wanted to take proprietary information straight off of MLS websites and make this available to all for free.  This is extreme and clearly would never work because it's illegal.  But what about the more generalized issue, that of free listings, free information, and its adverse affect on MLS and the brokerage community in general?

I just don't see the connection here.  Ultimately, my loyalties lie with my clients.  My service to them is to provide maxium exposure for their listing, or seek out maximum information for their search.  Plain and simple, this responsibility should be on the top of any Code!

I think the trend is that information is freely available and needs to be organized in a way that brokers and customers can easily access it.  If such services wipe out some portion of the brokerage community, while this is an unfortunate result for these people, it is simply the sociological trend of where our industry is at right now.  My personal opinion is that our industry in many ways is outdated and many of the practices our outdated, and it is for this reason alone that the exlusivity of information and models such as the MLS model is clawing to hold on.

Bottom line, brokers are nickled and dimed to death...and these fees are simply becoming way too expensive, especially in light of the fact that information is freely available.

Consider your trusty title company.  I use AmeriTitle almost exclusively because they provide such a high level of customer service.  But the information they have is available to the public at large.  Due to their excellent service in collecting and sharing this information, I am a loyal customer.

I think that ultimately, if you're a broker who is afraid or fearful of what the demise of the exclusivity of information will bring to our industry, I think you should reconsider what your best service is!  There will always be a place for brokers in the world of real estate transactions.  But I think that us brokers are going to need to embrace technologies and start diversifying our portfolio of services because the trend is firmly in place and the momentum is undeniable, the days of exclusive information collected by big companies (non-profit? or not) are numbered.  The cat is out of the bag....  The information is out there, and it's our job as brokers to be the master of this domaine.  Yes, every Tom, Dick and Harry can search for real estate of all types easily and for free...but can everyone as easily navigate the complexities of a real estate transaction?  NO.

There will always be a place for an expert broker who delivers real value to their customers.

I'm eager to hear any responses, for or against, because I'm trying to gauge the market place and figure out what the future of these institutions is.

All the best-

Matthew Lind

www.FacetRealEstate.com