Is MLS a Monopoly That Should Be Broken Up?

It seems to me we have that choice. You are free to join or not join any MLS you'd like if you are licensed in that state. Some MLS's are Realtor sponsored and some or not, although if the broker wants to be recognized as a Realtor then all agents must also join the Realtor organization. Not a  big deal.

I guess you are free to operate as an independent and you can find all of the listings on Zillow or Trulia, or a host of other sites. There's no guarantee that you are automatically considered a cooperating broker if you operate independently of an MLS. So maybe you won't get paid unless you contract for that for each listing you manage to find access to. You'll need a key of some kind. Hmmm. It just might be easiest if you joined an MLS and abide by the rules they have instituted to make the process run smoothly for all.

It is possible in Washington to join an MLS that is out of your area. I don't see the problem there. You would have to pay a fee. As for a state wide (small sttes and exception...R.I. and Deleware come to mind) or natioinal MLS, I don't want to see it. I can't service that area. No entity could keep the laws of all of the states and the nation and the number of listings under control accurately.

Ray  I believe the MLS provided in Northern Virginia is exceptionally well run.  There may be locales where a competitor might be better  Karen

Oh Ray - this is a very hot topic in Canada right now.  The Competition Bureau is stating that they believe the MLS system is a monopoly.

Lots of articles in The Globe And Mail.

Oh Ray - this is a very hot topic in Canada right now.  The Competition Bureau is stating that they believe the MLS system is a monopoly.

Lots of articles in The Globe And Mail.

Hi Ray, thanks for the clarification. There is a point to making all of the listings in one area available to all of the agents of the area. It is to better serve the public, which is what the authorities look for when breaking up monoplies. MLS's don't charge the consumer anything unless you consider yourself the victim of the monopoly.

Our mls the NWMLS is huge and covers most of western Washington, but I know of two othr mls.s in overlappiung areas who have decided not to join. It's their choice.

There was a time when there were no mls's and the consumer had to go from office to office to access all istings in an area and some places still operate that way. If you are trying to make acase that agents are having a bad go of it because we are forced to join the in the area we want to work, you would have a hard time proving it to me. There are a couple of agents in Seattle that I know of who have remained independent and do well. They choose not to share their listings nor sell listings of other agents.

The problem we've talked about here is that we didn't want to let the "low service for a low fee and then not represent you after that" agencies in, but ended up letting them in. The govt looks at them as saving people money and to exclude them would be limiting the consumer of a choice.   

This is a year later but thank you for your discussion.  I feel the MLS is a monopoly, in cahoots with NVAR and NAR.  The fees are outrageous and we all pay them because we must.  We have no choice.  It would be interesting to see a report as to where all the money goes, who gets paid what at the top.  Is there any such report?  I don't know the rules on associations as to whether they are for-profit businesses or not-for-profit but in any case, we realtors have no choice but to pay the fees in order to do business. 

I recently came across a webiste that offers a Wide Open MLS for Agents and Homeowners, easy to use and Free Listing Upload with a coupon code.

The site is www.xpozzz.com

I think we all should access to a OPEN MLS!!!!

Hi Ray,

There are about 1000 MLS's +/- in the U.S.A.  That’s an avg of 20 per state.  A single MLS would eliminate a lot of the inefficiencies grossly apparent in the current structure. 

The DOJ and FTC prosecutions are about preventing tyrannical MLS rules that reduce competition. The Realtor Boards have used their MLS as an unlawful vehicle to suppress and reduce competition from entering their market place. 

This is done in a variety of ways including arbitrary requirements that have nothing to do with protecting consumers or improving the Realtor image.  They have everything to do with maintaining or enlarging the incumbent broker’s market share.

This is bad for small brokers trying to compete against the old stodgy embedded brokers.  Consequently, this is bad for the consumer as limits their choice.  NAR has a long history of endorsing or refusing to enforce discriminatory and anticompetitive rules against its own associations.

Starting in 1950 in U.S. vs National Association of Realtors (NAR), it was sanctioned for engaging in price-fixing: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/339/485/

There have been hundreds of similar court filings against boards and MLS’s everywhere.  They discriminated against blacks, against women, against married women, and for many other arbitrary reasons.  As a result billions of dollars of our tax dollars have been spent by the government including local, state, and federal courts to eradicate anticompetitive practices that are either expressly or tacitly endorsed by NAR.

Ironically, NAR is one of the largest non-profit associations in the world yet it spends millions of our Realtors dues on defending itself and other MLS’s from unlawful conduct it sanctions.  It is absolutely breathtaking how NAR has spun the news.  More breathtaking is that this conduct still exists.

History shows they won’t change their ways until a government agency compels them to do so. As indicated in the links below, the bulk of the lawsuits are commenced by brokers and not the public.  Again, the injury to the public is the byproduct of the MLS rules designed to suppress new or innovative brokers from entering the market.  If it weren’t for these exclusionary rules the public would have no claim or at least they wouldn’t have direct proof of the cause of their grievances.

Here’s an interactive map showing the enforcement in each of the states: http://www.ftc.gov/bc/realestate/maplinks/index.htm

These are more links to the atrocities committed by MLS’s and Realtor boards: http://www.ftc.gov/bc/realestate/cases/index.htm
 
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/
 
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/real_estate/MLS.html
 
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/reports/223094.htm#IVB
 
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/reporter/competition/realestate.shtml
 
http://www.ftc.gov/reports/realestate/V050015.pdf
 
http://www.ftc.gov/bc/realestate/workshop/index.htm#ftcstaffreport1983

As a disclaimer, many of the volunteer leaders of the associations have good intentions. Unfortunately, they are ill informed and purposely kept in the dark as they help move a hidden agenda forward.  Many but not all of the full-time, well paid staff profiteer from compulsory membership dues and MLS fees.

QUESTION

If it wasn’t mandatory that you buy a Realtor membership in order to buy a MLS subscription, would you still do so and why?