Multiple listing services nationwide offer a pro-competitive design that benefits consumers and real estate agencies alike, despite claims to the contrary by the United States Dept. of Justice, declared Laurie Janik, general counsel of The National Assn. of REALTORS® at a press briefing with reporters and editors at the group's annual conference in San Francisco today. Janik said that she expects the group to prevail in the current round of litigation with the feds.
The litigation concerns an NAR model of rules and regulations governing REALTOR® Internet display of property listings and the alphabet soup attached to that display: MLS (multiple listing service), IDX (Internet data display), VOW (virtual office web site), and ILD, (Internet listing display). What is clear to this REALTOR®/Blogger is NAR's clear line of thinking about Internet display that will ultimately protect the consumer in terms of cost and service. What is unclear and unsettling is how the association will pursue its aim to limit legal, licensed referral agencies, a growing business model, from membership and participation in MLS. --Frances Flynn Thorsen
Comments