This is the news from NARdiGras — from RealEstateJournal.com:
A revised policy approved by the National Association of Realtors this week may make it harder for discount brokers to draw attention to homes they list for sale.
The policy, approved by directors of the trade group at a convention in New Orleans, involves information about homes that real-estate brokers get from their local multiple-listing services, databases that are typically operated by local Realtor associations. Among other things, the policy reaffirms that brokerage firms that put listings from the MLS on their own Web sites can exclude certain homes.
The revised policy states that brokers must use “objective criteria” if they screen out some listings. The criteria could include location, type of property, compensation offered for agents who find a buyer, or the level of service provided by the listing company. Thus, listings from brokers providing limited service for lower fees could be excluded from other brokers’ sites.
By contrast, the policy now states that multiple-listing services must make all types of listings available to the Web sites of participating brokers. It would be up to brokers — not the MLS — to decide which listings are used on individual brokers’ sites.
A broker quoted in the article makes a compelling case for this position: “We spend a lot of money advertising our Web site to the public, and we have a right to put what we want on our site.”
Indeed. And as a counter-marketing strategy, a brokerage could proudly announce that its web site sports the full MLS.
But: There’s more. The other night Cathy, Russell Shaw and I were talking about the contrary case: What if I want to exclude one of my listings from the MLS feed? That sounds counter-intuitive, but for certain very-high-priced homes, it makes sense. As the listing broker, I might want to advertise and cooperate, but I would not want to invite a deluge of traffic from unqualified buyers.
Moreover, I think this new policy has about as much chance of succeeding with the Feds as the last one. The individual liberty of real estate brokers seems not to matter much in this debate…
Technorati Tags: real estate marketing
Doug Quance says:
Here in Atlanta, BuySide is already doing this.
For example, the now-famous 20% commission listing is NOT displayed in their MLS search engine. And that’s not the only one I found in a brief search of their site.
Now WHY certain listings are absent from their website is not readily apparent to me. Obviously, it’s not because of the commission offered…
November 17, 2006 — 7:51 am
Phil Hoover says:
I believe NAR will lose their fight with the Feds and be forced (right or wrong) to allow all listings to be displayed in MLS.
Which may be a moot point, because Google (or someone else) will figure out how to bypass MLS and build a database of ALL listings anyway.
In five years, data will be king and the hundreds of MLS’s will be history.
When the data is openly available to everyone, the role of the Realtor will change drastically.
November 17, 2006 — 8:26 am
Lenny G says:
“What if I want to exclude one of my listings from the MLS feed?”
Our MLS has a data field, “IDX” in which we can choose to have a particular listing included or excluded from IDX feeds. It is checked “Yes” by default. I would assume all MLSs have some similar functionality?
November 17, 2006 — 9:25 am
Doug Quance says:
> “What if I want to exclude one of my listings from the MLS feed?”
We used to have the option to exclude any listing from Realtor.com or other broker’s websites… but no more.
We can only do this on a wholesale basis by opting out of broker reciprocity. All or none.
And the option to exclude our listings from Realtor.com doesn’t exist anymore, as far as I know.
Our MLS rules, however, allow us to limit the IDX feed that we use for our own websites. For example, we can exclude the listings of a particular geographical area, or another broker… but a disclaimer must be used to notify the public of such a restriction.
That policy has been in force since April 2004.
November 17, 2006 — 10:05 am
John K says:
I think the agencies that choose to remove listings are not doing the right thing. I have to wonder, as the author of the article did, whether or not companies that delete listings are really sure to show all of their competitors’ properties when asked by buyer clients.
November 17, 2006 — 6:30 pm
Don Pennington says:
Look, if any of you want a place to list one or two houses that get excluded, for free, just use http://www.eSwap.US You’re also invited to use it for other items too…FREE!
November 18, 2006 — 10:23 am
Athol Kay says:
You all realize that this is aimed only at listings that are taken as exclusive agency right? cf http://therealestateguide.blogspot.com/2006/11/nar-and-wisdom-of-solomon.html
November 21, 2006 — 2:25 pm