Open MLS for the Public but still No Complete MLS for Brokers

Mitchell - This move doesn't surprise me.  We're seeing more and more information being made available directly to consumers - which I believe is the way of the future of real estate.

I agree with Tony Mitchell.  It is not only the wave of the future it is happening right now.  The Georgia MLS and even our Local MLS here in Glynn County Georiga share the majority of property infomration with the public.  I say majority as they do not disclose the names of the sellers, a chronology of reductions or increases or term of listing.  But all other information that may induce a buyer to contact the listing agent or any agent is included. 

I certainly a glad not to be part of your NY market.  Sounds like to me that Greed is King with no one sharing info.  Don't get me wrong I am all about money.  But to service my clients I need the property exposoded to as may folks as possible and to provide the information to other agents as well as the public only strenghtens my position.  I might loose half of the total commission through a co-broered sale but hey, half is better than losing the lisitng and the half.  That's just my philosophy.

An informed client is a agents best client. I want my clients (especially my sellers) to be able to access the information on their own.  I send them regular updates, but it truly helps to be able to have it on a public format

This is a really interesting thread - I see agents commenting in favor of disintermediation. This is exactly the opposite reaction I expected.

None of these comments are from folks in NY --- I would be curious to see how the NY Realtors view this and what they know about the actual reason for this long overdue and drastic change from the status quo.  I'm sure there's a Lot more to this.  We as realtors want the public to be informed but we know that all comes with a price, whether it's on a personal website or dues paid to a huge MLS service or dues paid to a local board --- what's the price that will be paid here and who is paying that price?  

What is the endstate?  I have friends who have commented "Being a realtor is just a scam; 6% for doing nothing.  There should just be a website with all homes listed for the public to pick and choose".  Obviously, I disagree with this.  We do lots of things, namely understand the market's current state, where it has been and hopefully have some insight into where it is going.  We make it so that only qualified (a good chunk of the time) buyers see a house.  We understand the process and the paperwork.  But lots of regular folks don't see this.

In the Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania), the MLS is available to the public.  I hate to admit that I am shocked that it not that way accross the board.

Okay - take this phrase...

"Being a realtor is just a scam; 6% for doing nothing.  There should just be a website with all homes listed for the public to pick and choose."

And TiVo back to 1998 when we saw this phrase...

"Being a travel agent is just a scam; 6% for doing nothing.  There should just be a website with all flights listed for the public to pick and choose."

• Obviously, I disagree with this. (yep, travel agents disagreed too)
• We do lots of things, namely understand the market's current state, where it has been and hopefully have some insight into where it is going. (same argument - travel agents did lots of things too)
• We make it so that only qualified (a good chunk of the time) buyers see a house. (hmmm, no comment)
• We understand the process and the paperwork. (travel agents argued on this point as well)

I'm not trying to shoot holes in your industry or what it really means to disintermediate MLS data - these are simply observed parallels.

Whether these are fair assertions made by home puyers and sellers is an argument I hope to see, but I have no qualifications for rendering an opinion either way. But it seems to me that the marketplace is suggesting the high transaction costs associated with real estate trade be tamed a bit.

Many people still use travel agents to this day, but I get the feeling there was a significant consolidation in that industry when the once private data become public.

Mitchell - 

"Selling a home is not an easy task. Most people prefer to have a broker do it for them."

This, I agree with. It's likely to be much harder than it looks. I'm just an ordinary consumer when it comes to real estate buying and selling. But I'm also aware that there are aspects of transactions that are foreign to me, and there are potential pitfalls. As such, I'm not likely to "go it alone" when it comes to selling my home. However, I am likely to do some of the tasks associated with buying my next home. It doesn't matter what those tasks are for this conversation - suffice it to say that there are slivers of activity that I might be more qualified to do than a real estate agent, and at less cost. Hold that thought...

Transparency and Disintermediation 

There are other market parallels that have survived in the face of rampant transparency and [some] disintermediation. Many people still have stock brokers, some people still pay slightly more to have a travel professional. But in these cases [where transparency has reshaped entire industries], one thing is abundantly clear - historical transaction costs have fallen. It doesn't mean stocks or travels costs less - it just means market topologies have been reshaped; certain aspects of industries that were once very relevant, are now irrelevant.

But it's important to note that the Internet's ability to rapidly dis-intermediate entire business sectors is really just a capability that may or may not be a good idea for any given market. The outcome (or forecast outcome) - i.e., what may happen because of this capability and why transparency leads to irrelevance - is the more important aspect that the real estate industry should pay attention to.

Transparency is no Guarantee of Disintermediation

Transparency *may* lead to disintermediation, but it may not; it depends on how consumers react to the pervasive availability of information in markets where the information has traditionally been inaccessible. My view is that the degree with which disintermediation actually impacts any business segment has little to do with how transparent the information becomes, and mostly to do with how irrelevant business providers become under the new light cast through increased transparency.

Disclaimer - I'm certainly not qualified to predict what will happen in real estate, but I have a hunch that there are two dimensions of transparency that may each create irrelevance independently and to different degrees.

1. The pervasive access to information relating to the selling of a home;
2. The pervasive access to information relating to the buying of a home;

Unlike say the travel industry, we consume airline seats for a specific period of time. However, we rarely sell an airline seat -- save the occasional bump in exchange for some economic advantage. Stocks, on the other hand, are more like real estate - we buy them and sell them. And even in this multi-dimensional market of activity, the stock buying and selling industry has been significantly reshaped.

"New Yorkers are not looking to dis-intermediate."

I agree with this comment as well - no consumer wants to dis-intermediate. But all consumers want to optimize wealth which is synonymous with controlling costs. Regardless of how Mitchell shapes this statement, transaction costs will probably fall - the only question remaining - who will benefit?

The real estate industry should not confuse the threat of disintermediation with the risk of becoming irrelevant to it's customers. While your industry may seem like it's under attack by companies like Google, Trulia, and Zillow, these are simply artifacts of market forces that are attempting to seek lower transaction costs. Some of these ideas will fail, and some will succeed. But as I said earlier, transaction costs will most certainly fall - not because consumers believe you are overcharging them - but because they can be achieved at lower cost. The businesses that manifest ways to lower transaction costs will be the likely benefactors, just as the businesses that create (or sustain) relevance given the new market topology will also emerge as highly competitive leaders.

I believe that real estate's challenge is to identify it's own future relevance given the likelihood that greater information transparency will reshape some (perhaps many) of the present transaction inefficiencies. Could the answer be that simple? ;-)

Wave of the future? Where are we headed? Lets be ready for what the consumer wants next! I still believe that we provide a vital service to our clients every time they buy or sell property!

We call it the "Shopping Mall Approach." Okay, WAV group calls it that in their analysis of HAR.com, one of the most successful Consumer MLS Websites in the U.S. today. Yes, it's where the market is heading and why not? I want to know where the open houses are in a certain area within my criteria. Why in the world would I want to go to 5 places to get that information? We're ready to make the presentation in our hometown and then going where we can as fast as we can before the big-boys come a knocking.

In Houston we live with HAR.com and I would never go back to limited information to the public. HAR.com allows me to be more productive so I'm not wasting time going to homes that my clients "might be interested in".  When we go out looking at homes we are looking at ones my clients have already put on their short list.  Since we are required to post a minimum of 6 pictures and a maximum of 16 plus one virtual tour, my clients are informned consumers from day one.  It puts the pressure on me to be a professional and actually bring real value to my clients.  The market isn't headed this way, it is already there and is the "norm" that other MLS's are expected to meet by consumers.  We no longer merely "find property", we have to be able to intelligently analyze data, understand trends, tie it into financing issues, and be able to negotiate a contract to our clients advantage and then follow through with inspections and all of nuances of the transaction.  Finding the house is actually a small part of our job.