MLS

The National Association of Realtors is attempting to head off challenges from web-based real estate sale sites. The Realtors want to enact a rule that would allow a brokerage that belongs to the Multiple Listing Service to bar other MLS members from putting their listings on the web. This change would allow a brokerage to decide which realtors could sell their listings on the Internet and which could not. The proposal has been in the works for two years. The United States Justice Department does not agree with the trade organization. The Feds have threatened an antitrust lawsuit to block the rule. Recently, lawyers for the federal government and the NAR meet to try and work out a compromise. According to the Wall Street Journal …Laurie Janik, general counsel for the group said, “it is likely that the Realtors will offer to remove the provision for selective exclusion. In that case an MLS member would have the choice of allowing all other members to display the information or blocking all of them from doing so”. At issue is the rise of discount brokerages that rely heavily on the MLS and the Internet to service customers. Because their costs are lower they charge a lower commission posing a threat for the larger more traditional companies.