Saturday, September 10, 2005
DOJ sues NAR - Let the Games (and Spin) Begin
It was inevitable. For those not relocated due to Katrina, life still had to go on, and new controversial issues had to take over the front page headlines. I, for one, am glad not to be the first one to do so, but now that it’s been done we’ll follow.
Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR), challenging a policy that harms consumers by keeping information out of their hands, and out of the hands of innovative people and companies. In other words, it’s about MLS data.
The real issue here is who owns information about your house, as a home owner / seller. Realtors, and even some FSBO advertising companies, think they do. That’s why in some cases they’ve started charging consumers for the ability to search it.
This gets into a whole issue of freeflow of information and what consumers want. Because of that, rather than make a massive post, I want to cover this over a couple of posts I’ve been preparing for a while.
But for more detailed information about the DOJ / NAR legal battle, check out this summary by Steve Kerch at Marketwatch.
~Robert Creek
The FSBO Blog
