Saturday, September 10, 2005
Who Owns “For Sale” Property Information?
The National Association of Realtors (NAR), many agents, and even many FSBO companies think THEY do.
I can’t answer the question with any authority; the debate has been going on for years. But I can say that consumers will win when property information is treated like the “public record” that it really is.
The NAR / DOJ (Department of Justice) legal battle that just started up again is now concerning an NAR policy that allows agents to restrict who gets their property listing data, and where it goes. The DOJ contends (and rightly so) that this limits innovation, harms consumers, and all manner of other bad things.
The biggest obstacle in real estate is connecting buyers with sellers. That obstacle exists because it’s fairly difficult to find all the properties for sale (if you’re a buyer), or find all the buyers (if you’re a seller). Why is it difficult? Because there are so many different sources of information. Some buyers prefer sources A, B and C, while some sellers prefer sources D, E, and F. You see the conflict here…..
A total breakdown of barriers between sources needs to occur. It is time to have one massive database that EVERYONE can tap into — buyers and sellers — without having to fork over an arm, leg, first born child or other comparably valued commodity. Consolidating all this information into one source is called “aggregating,” and is visible with tools like KatrinaHousing.net and Relief.WelcomeWagon.com, where multiple sources are searched at once.
But one step further than that, this aggregated database needs to be accessible not only at one central location, like Realtor.com or KatrinaHousing.net, but at the website of any real estate agent or real estate advertising company. This way, no matter where a buyer wants to go, s/he can find all the properties available at once.
That database can’t act like the failed IDX, VOW or ILD policies of the National Association of Realtors; to be useful, all properties must be included, and all must be available to everyone for search/display.
Theoretically, that could be accomplished right now with the same methodology behind KatrinaHousing and Relief.WelcomeWagon: an automated spider that collects basic information along with the source. That, however, is why it matters “who owns ‘for sale’ property information.” Doing this would step on some big toes, and just beg for lawsuits from MLS boards around the country. A spider technology would most likely win in a legal battle, however…there is precedent for it, especially if the purpose was to link back to the original source. But it’s just not worth the risk and cost of a legal battle.
Another option would be to get the cooperation of every MLS board in the country. That sounds good, but the problem is most boards have a policy against intermixing the MLS properties with any other type of properties - such as those For Sale By Owner. So there is a structural barrier that would take a while to overcome, with all the power brokers in charge of MLS’s.
The last option, and the most promising one especially in light of this clash between NAR and DOJ, is one that has been discussed more and more recently: scrap the existing MLS system, and rebuild a better system from scratch. Recreate the network the way it should be in the 21st century and beyond.
Regardless, so long as the laws remain friendly to free enterprise, consumers will win this. They always do. And consumers must be able to easily search every available property, just like they search every website with Google. When consumers can do that, it will mean they are being better served - because agents and FSBO companies will then be competing based on the service they provide to the public, rather than on the information they have access to.
It has happened with stock trading, travel, and insurance. The time has come for it to happen with real estate.
~Robert Creek
The FSBO Blog
September 11th, 2005 at 9:14 am
robert,
your observations about what consumers desire is shared by many people, including myself. i am proud to announce, for the first time anywhere, that our organization has been developing this venue for many months now. our consumer friendly real estate community is called sellsius. our goal is to debut sellsius @ the 2005 TRIPLE PLAY Realtor convention & trade expo. this event will take place in atlantic city, new jersey on December 6.7.8.
more information will be available soon…
best regards,
-rdb
my prayers go out to all the 9/11 families & victims of Katrina.
“we will never forget”
“we will rebuild”
September 12th, 2005 at 7:53 am
Please visit http://www.uscondex.com .
What We Do
The U.S. Condo Exchange or USCONDEX is an international online marketplace for buyers and sellers of condominium apartments. The Company’s mission is to create a transparent market where (i) buyers can make educated purchasing decisions based on thorough, consistent and exhaustive market data; (ii) sellers can cost-effectively reach a large, targeted domestic and international customer base; and (iii) developers, financial institutions, investors and others can obtain objective data for use in making development, financing and underwriting decisions.
Why
The U.S. Condo Exchange was established to captilize on the rapidly growing and highly disorganized U.S. marketplace for condominium apartments. The current condo market has been fueled by a period of historically low interest rates coupled with an aging population of baby boomers who are migrating to states with tax advantages and superior climates. Additionally, international buyers view U.S. condos as good investments and as a hedge against currency and political risks. Lastly, condo supply and demand is being driven by the desire of investors to own real estate as an asset class in diversified investment portfolios.
The U.S. Condo Exchange combines traditional real estate sales with cost-efficient internet-based technology. The USCONDEX technology platform is disruptive to existing real estate sales channels, effectively enabling individual buyers and sellers to access the marketplace without an intermediary.
September 17th, 2005 at 7:05 am
[…] Just a few days ago, I wrote this: “Regardless, so long as the laws remain friendly to free enterprise, consumers will win this. They always do. And consumers must be able to easily search every available property, just like they search every website with Google. When consumers can do that, it will mean they are being better served - because agents and FSBO companies will then be competing based on the service they provide to the public, rather than on the information they have access to. […]
September 19th, 2005 at 1:37 pm
I agree that the day will come that we can all go to one or multiple sites and find all homes that are available. However that won’t hap[pen until home buyers and sellers, and companies that offer them innovative marketing alternatives, come together to overcome the political might of the entrenched traditional full commission broker industry.
Lets get started!
Bruce Hahn
President
American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance
Serving the interests of the nation’s 75 million homeowners and future homeowners since 1984.
The American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance is a nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization dedicated to assisting the nation’s 75 million homeowners understand significant policy issues affecting homeowners and homeownership, and empowering homeowners to make their voices heard by state and federal officials.
Visit our web site http://www.americanhomeowners.org. Contact us at: 6776 Little Falls Road, Arlington, VA 22213-1213. Direct Dial: 571-214-1013; Headquarters: 703-536-7776 Fax: 703-536-7079.
September 19th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
Robert,
I like the way you think, and the kind of real estate change agents and consumer advocates you are attracting as readers of your blog.
Can’t wait to see how some of the new aggregator business models are doing, and thanks for chronicling them here.
In 2000, I served as a consultant to the first company to try to use XML to aggregate listings, the original OpenMLS.com. What we thought technology could do, politics blocked. So, there is some truth to Bruce Hahn’s statement that industry innovators will need to organize to achieve their ends.
Equally true, is the power of an idea whose time has come. A falling real estate market will cause sellers to seek out business models which offer them the opportunity to save money to offset losses in home equity, and Web 2.0 business models and data collaborations will deliver it to them.
It should be interesting to see what kinds of alliances get formed between real estate change agents and consumer advocates in coming months and years, and I look forward to reading more of your blog posts.
September 20th, 2005 at 10:31 am
[…] This blog has been quite astir the past week or so, with some very interesting posts and comments. One comment stands out over the others, as demanding some action. Bruce Hahn, President of the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance, commented here that many of the innovations being called for won’t happen until buyers, sellers, and innovative companies “come together to overcome the political might” of the entrenched full-commission broker industry. […]
September 21st, 2005 at 5:45 pm
As a regional FSBO magazine and website, we are accutely aware of the need for consumers to receive the information they desire in a way that removes roadblocks. We provide home seller’s phone numbers as a way for buyers to contact them directly, while other FSBO sites hide this information in order to direct buyers to call centers (so they can try to sell them a mortgage, etc.) As to who owns listings,while I think it does serve consumers to be able to find information in a variety of places, it should be up to the homeseller to understand and agree to which websites their properties are uploaded to.
Recently, many of our listings have been stolen by a FSBO website that generates leads for mortgage companies. Our advertisers did not agree to being seen on the website, and the very “snagging” of the property ads has violated this website’s own user agreement. Behavior such as this is unscrupulous and should not (and will not) be tolerated.
On the other hand, If we let advertisers know that their listings may also appear on specific other sites, and they agree to that, that’s fine with us.
September 21st, 2005 at 6:04 pm
Liz, what FSBO sites would those be that hide seller contact info behind call centers? Among FSBO sites, I’ve only ever seen that done as an add-on service that the seller chooses, and often pays extra for (the exception you’re probably referring to, based on your location, is ISoldMyHouse.com).
Nearly all FSBO sites show direct contact info - the scenario you just described sounds more like the Agent/Broker side of real estate. Companies have set themselves up with MLS access, show the listing data, collect leads, and sell them back to the agents.
Question geared towards sellers: do you care what websites your home is displayed on? Whay say ye - “the more sites the merrier” or “I want to cherry-pick”?
Question for companies: Have you ever had a customer complain that their home was shown on too many sites, or one particular site they didn’t like?