Who Owns "For Sale" Property Information?

The National Association of Realtors (NAR), many agents, and even many FSBO companies think THEY do.

I can't answer the question with any authority; the debate has been going on for years. But I can say that consumers will win when property information is treated like the "public record" that it really is.

The NAR / DOJ (Department of Justice) legal battle that just started up again is now concerning an NAR policy that allows agents to restrict who gets their property listing data, and where it goes. The DOJ contends (and rightly so) that this limits innovation, harms consumers, and all manner of other bad things.

The biggest obstacle in real estate is connecting buyers with sellers. That obstacle exists because it's fairly difficult to find all the properties for sale (if you're a buyer), or find all the buyers (if you're a seller). Why is it difficult? Because there are so many different sources of information. Some buyers prefer sources A, B and C, while some sellers prefer sources D, E, and F. You see the conflict here.....

A total breakdown of barriers between sources needs to occur. It is time to have one massive database that EVERYONE can tap into -- buyers and sellers -- without having to fork over an arm, leg, first born child or other comparably valued commodity. Consolidating all this information into one source is called "aggregating," and is visible with tools like KatrinaHousing.net and Relief.WelcomeWagon.com, where multiple sources are searched at once.

But one step further than that, this aggregated database needs to be accessible not only at one central location, like Realtor.com or KatrinaHousing.net, but at the website of any real estate agent or real estate advertising company. This way, no matter where a buyer wants to go, s/he can find all the properties available at once.

That database can't act like the failed IDX, VOW or ILD policies of the National Association of Realtors; to be useful, all properties must be included, and all must be available to everyone for search/display.

Theoretically, that could be accomplished right now with the same methodology behind KatrinaHousing and Relief.WelcomeWagon: an automated spider that collects basic information along with the source. That, however, is why it matters "who owns 'for sale' property information." Doing this would step on some big toes, and just beg for lawsuits from MLS boards around the country who believe they own the compiled data. A spider technology would most likely win in a legal battle, however...there is precedent for it - especially if the purpose was to link back to the original source. But it's just not worth the risk and cost of a legal battle.

Another option would be to get the cooperation of every MLS board in the country. That sounds good, but the problem is most boards have a policy against intermixing the MLS properties with any other type of properties - such as those For Sale By Owner. So there is a structural barrier that would take a while to overcome, with all the power brokers in charge of MLS's.

The last option, and the most promising one especially in light of this clash between NAR and DOJ, is one that has been discussed more and more recently: scrap the existing MLS system, and rebuild a better system from scratch. Go straight to the sources (agents) and recreate the network the way it should be in the 21st century and beyond.

Regardless, so long as the laws remain friendly to free enterprise, consumers will win this. They always do. And consumers must be able to easily search every available property, just like they search every website with Google. When consumers can do that, it will mean they are being better served - because agents and FSBO companies will then be competing based on the service they provide to the public, rather than on the information they have access to.

It has happened with stock trading, travel, and insurance. The time has come for it to happen with real estate.

--Robert Creek (The FSBO Blog)

Comments

[rdb]

robert,

your observations about what consumers desire is shared by many people, including myself. i am proud to announce, for the first time anywhere, that our organization has been developing this venue for many months now. our consumer friendly real estate community is called sellsius. our goal is to debut sellsius @ the 2005 TRIPLE PLAY Realtor convention & trade expo. this event will take place in atlantic city, new jersey on December 6.7.8.

more information will be available soon...

best regards,

-rdb

my prayers go out to all the 9/11 families & victims of Katrina.
"we will never forget"
"we will rebuild"

[JFH]

We agree with you completely and have launched The US Condo Exchange ( http://www.uscondex.com ) to address the needs of each member of the community seeking to have access to an open community where everyone can make informed,timely and efficient decisions as they buy, sell, list, compare and research CONDOS.

Please visit http://www.uscondex.com to see what we are doing.

warm regards,

jh