http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2009/05/16/nars-idx-rule-changes-need-more-study/
For a few hours there, it looked like the NAR BOD was actually going to do the right thing.
Then, the guy from Indianapolis stands up and says, in effect, “Instead of doing the right thing, lets send this back to the rules committee so NAR members can enjoy another 6 months of uncertainty.”
It was apparently a close vote, but in the end, the decision was not to decide.
As the band Rush put it in “Free Will” (not “Tom Sawyer” — thanks, Tony) — If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
Its interesting that the motion to send a rule that would have protected a broker’s right to use IDX data for SEO purposes back to committee was made by a director of the board that tried to label Google a “scraper” in the first place.
Why would he do that and why would the board go along with it?
It comes down to the question I’ve already asked: It’s either a stunning degree of cluelessness, or it is a deliberate attempt to find a way to hobble IDX to the benefit of NAR (Realtor.com) and to the benefit of the local boards who see being a consumer Web destination for local listings as a rasion d’etre.
If its the latter (and I suspect that it is), it shows that NAR and some MLS boards see themselves as being in competition with their own membership, who, by the way, provide the frolicking listing content in question in the first place!
The MLS ostensibly exists to organize the market. Brokers who are stuck in MLSs that have decided to become competitors under the guise of a “member service” need re-assert themselves and remind their boards who works for who.
Here’s a metaphor that even a NAR Director can understand: If the role of MLSs is to market its member’s listings, then why didn’t MLSs compete with brokers for column inches in newspaper real estate sections, or publish their own glossy magazine-style publications full of (outdated) MLS listings?
Here’s a modest proposal for a motion for the NAR BOD to consider: I move that all local boards follow the lead of the Northwest MLS and immediately cut off data feeds to Realtor.com, and that all MLSs who have listing search sites that compete with their own members be replaced by a directory of links to their broker sites.
In a world where Google is, easily, the #1 Real Estate search engine and the place where most real estate searches start, anything less is a de facto conflict of interest.
Ryan Hartman says:
Hey. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt? Maybe they realize there’s an opportunity to scrap trying to control the information altogether by abandoning the entire idx provision and others like it?
Wishful thinking, huh? I actually agree this has to be motivated by $$$ somehow someway…
Thanks for the update…
May 17, 2009 — 9:01 am
Tony Arko says:
Just like all the incompetent leaders that are running our banking system, Congress, the Treasury, etc, the incompetent leaders of NAR have decided to kick the can down the road in lieu of making a decision. Our leadership is devoid of leadership skills. They are unworthy of the positions they hold because they got there not by merit but by politiking. I am embarrassed to be a member of NAR.
And the Rush song you quoted is “Freewill” not “Tom Sawyer”.
May 17, 2009 — 9:04 am
Jody Cowdrey says:
Add this to the growing list of ignorant decisions that are quickly sinking the NAR into the depths of irrelevancy.
I wonder what’s next….
May 17, 2009 — 11:25 am
Susan says:
Thanks for the update John. I initially thought it was just a lack of knowledge, but now I agree that its most likely about money.
I totally love your proposal to follow the lead of the Northwest MLS…..cut off the data feeds that are side-tracking our leads and draining Realtors for $.
May 17, 2009 — 2:07 pm
Paula Henry says:
John – yes, for a few hours it looked like we might get a ruling in favor of the agent on the street. Instead, those who sit behind a desk and make rules, decided they need more time. Truth is, it was a poor interpretation of the existing rule and NAR needs to admit as much and let MIBOR wait for the decision, not the REALTOR’s.
May 17, 2009 — 4:44 pm
Paula Henry says:
BTW – Your proposal is in the best interest of dues paying members.
May 17, 2009 — 4:46 pm
John Rowles says:
@Paula: Yeah, but more time for what?
The pingback above draws the parallel between what the lobbyists for the dead tree media are attempting to do with copyright law and what MIBOR is trying to do — both are attempting to kill the messenger that consumers have chosen over and above them and in droves.
MIBOR over-reached by labeling Google a scraper and NAR backed them. The NAR IDX committee seemed to realize that NAR had gotten caught with its hand in the cookie jar, and may even have realized that it had no business in the cookie jar in the first place, and drafted very strait-forward language that withdrew the hand from said jar and put the lid back on.
Then, this (from the blog post I linked at the top): “The NAR director who spoke to the board expressed concern at the speed at which these changes were about to be implemented, possibly without full consideration of their implications.”
IOW, “We want another shot at the cookie jar, we will just take our time with it and be sneakier about it this time, so as not to arouse the suspicions of the members/suckers.”
As long as NAR runs R.com for a profit and local boards think they can and should place themselves between their members and consumers, the people who write the IDX rules can use that power against those of us who rely on IDX in order to eliminate competition for their Web sites.
If that is not a monopolistic restraint of trade, I don’t know what is.
May 18, 2009 — 7:17 am
James Boyer says:
Like I have been saying in other posts, it is time for the technologically savvy Realtors of the world to step forward and start taking possitions on their respective boards, and start helping to implement rules that make sense. Cutting off the data feed from Realtor.com makes sense, cutting off Trulia, Zillow, and whatever other lead sellers are out there makes sense. Shutting off the public websites that MLS’s run is logical.
Jim
May 18, 2009 — 1:10 pm
Paula Henry says:
Hi Jim – I hope you meant illogical 🙂
May 18, 2009 — 1:25 pm
Patsy Snyder says:
Amen, James. I do hope that all our tech saavy Realtors will storm their local boards and get this mess turned around in favor of Realtors. Aren’t they glad that we work like dogs to provide data!
May 18, 2009 — 3:45 pm
Curtis Reddehase says:
Many of you already know my position on all of this. As soon as I saw Morgan’s blog I scheduled a time with my local MLS
I have a meeting with ABOR tomorrow afternoon and feel that it will be most productive.
I actually have some TREC registered MCE classes to help agents get started with their own sites.
I am just doing my small part to be productive
May 18, 2009 — 8:04 pm