National Association of Realtors Headquarters

I have to admit that tis is so far from me that I even do not quite understand what impact that would have had on the industry.

The Federal Trade Commission has prevailed in several cases, Elaine, involving unfair trade practice in real estate. In one such case where the FTC won, the FTC charged the Austin Board of Realtors with illegally restraining competition and ordered them to eliminate a 2005 rule blocking internet searches for non-traditional, low-cost or discount brokerage properties. The Federal Trade Commission charged the Austin Board of Realtors with violating the antitrust laws by preventing consumers with real estate listing agreements with discount brokerage services from marketing their listings on public Web sites. The Austin Board of Realtors was prohibited from adopting or enforcing any rule that treats one type of real estate listing agreement more advantageously than any other listing type, and from interfering with the ability of its members to enter into any kind of legal listing agreement with home sellers. The FTC charged that any listing other than an exclusive right to sell listing agreement was snubbed in the Austin Board's mls. The FTC found that the Austin Board of Realtors blocked MLS information about homes where sellers entered into a non-traditional form of listing agreement such as an exclusive agency listing where the seller can sell the home on their own without the liability of having to pay a commission agreement, or where the seller bought lower-cost, unbundled brokerage services, and that the seller was banned from Web sites such as the National Association of Realtors' "Realtor.com" site, the ABOR-owned "Austinhomesearch.com" site, and other public Web sites operated by ABOR member brokers.

Here's the link to the complaint http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/07/austinboard.shtm

They said that the Austin Board of Realtors blocked competition illegally in the home sale market with a policy that also blocked listings of discount brokers from a home search Web site in Central Texas. They said the policy discouraged sellers from using a potentially lower cost option to market their homes and reduced the ability of buyers to use the internet to look for homes.

The MLS in Milwaukee was also targeted. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/12/mls.shtm , another example.

Seven MLSs were targeted by the FTC in 2006, five agreed to settle the investigations by entering into consent agreements, and two MLSs fought the charges. One of those MLSs that fought later settled the charges before the case proceeded before a federal administrative judge. That case involves an FTC complaint against Realcomp II, an MLS in Michigan that's affiliated with a group of local Realtor associations.

Hope your having a great weekend, Elaine.

I remember that David, during the really busy years they were always looking into real estate brokers, commissions, MLS, etc.

If i recall correctly, our local MLS suit, was alot of by owner sites that were not Realtors wanted in on our MLS. We paid for it to become what it is, and continue to do so, so why should non-members whom are not paying a commission have that access to oour clients and customers? It had me pretty mad and resulted in quite a few emails to our local newspaper that to me were very opionated at the time.

It's almost a good thing we are in a market where our value to clients can really show.

Andrew, the FTC charged that MLS Inc. withheld mls benefits from members of its Metro MLS and from consumers who chose to enter into nontraditional forms of listing contracts, such as exclusive or open agency agreements and that the MLS rules blocked these "non-traditional, less-than-full-service" listings from being posted to the MLS and to local or national web sites, but provided this benefit for traditional 'exclusive right to sell' or full service listings. If owner sites and the properties represented were non-traditional listings under contract by area brokerages, they were scoffed by the mls, even if they were entitled to representation by an mls subscriber.

The FTC on Oct. 12, 2006, announced a series of actions targeting similar policies adopted by other MLSs across the country. The FTC successfully prosecuted several of these cases where the mls had violated anti-trust laws. In Wisconsin, those actions led to an FTC complaint and settlement agreement with the Realtors Association of Northeast Wisconsin Inc.

Whoever makes the rules affects all of us. If the boss tells you to jump in the river without a lifejacket, does that mean that you should?

Amazing.... considering that discount brokers give all of us a hard time and put us out to always having to justify our commission.  We have seen a few discount brokers come into our area only to be washed away.  They corrupt the system by their bad service and second rate experience.  Now this is just my opinion, but I am glad they ruled against the discount brokers.

So your saying that discount brokers should be excluded from participating in a cooperative manner, also, Kim? In its complaint, the FTC charged that MLS Inc. adopted a rule in 2001 stating that "All active listings of all participants are eligible for Internet publication unless ... the listing is subject to an 'exclusive agency' contract," The FTC also said that, "The Web site policy restricted competition by inhibiting the use of exclusive agency listings in the Southeast Wisconsin Area," and "There is no cognizable and plausible efficiency justification for the Web site policy."

A consent order, was approved by the commission in a 5-0 vote and was subject to public comment until Jan. 14, 2008, and prohibited the MLS from adopting or enforcing any rules or policies that deny or limit the ability of participants to enter into exclusive agency listings or other lawful listing agreements with sellers.

Kim, are you also saying that the potential right of the seller, under an exclusive agency agreement with a discount broker, to sell the home on their own, without having to pay a commission, should also be eliminated from the mls? I've seen outstanding discount services in this region and the savings to the sellers have been astronomical, which is not to say that a successful measure of cooperation hasn't also been negotiated between full service and discount brokerages. I've included a case or two for you to review http://www.ftc.gov/bc/realestate/cases/index.htm .

Thanks to you, Elaine, for allowing me to post to Kim.

I don't know enough about the FTC to comment. However I do appreciate people like yourself keeping the rest of us informed.

Excellent posting!  I appreciate the work you put into it, because I didn't know most of this!  Thanks again and keep up the great work!