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Settlement Reached for Online Real Estate Agents
(0)One small step forward in doing away with the strange and inefficient quirks of both the MLS system and the strange disconnect at times between buyers/sellers/agents/brokers:
The Justice Department gave a boost Tuesday to online real estate brokers - and potentially their clients - by forcing new industry policies that give Internet-based agents access to home listings they were previously denied.
The tentative settlement, which still requires court approval, could save consumers thousands of dollars when buying a home.
Online real estate agents often charge discounted commission fees and let buyers review listings at their own pace.
For years, however, Internet-based brokers have complained that the National Association of Realtors wanted to let real estate agents exclude some of their listings from their online competitors, many of whom offer discounted prices. More than 800 multiple listing services nationwide are affiliated with the Realtors group.
In a September 2005 lawsuit, government lawyers said such policies discriminated against online brokers. The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, opens the MLS databases to online and traditional residential property agents.
“It really does free brokers generally to engage in whatever they feel is the most efficient and effective way to compete,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Deborah A. Garza of the Justice Department’s antitrust division told reporters.
She said the settlement “should lower the cost of the transaction for buying a house.”
While I believe that everyone has the right to make a decent buck, it’s hard to argue that the current default method of buying or selling a house benefits the buyer or seller in any way, which is a pretty unusual scenario in the free market system embraced in the US.