Open MLS - Promoted by San Francisco Lawyer David Barry and Cronies

Great article, Dennis. I personally am ok with more exposure to my listings this will bring. There are people who are going to do everything online and barely need the services of Agent anyways, and they should pay much less. There will always be plenty of buyers who need full service Agents like your company and mine provide and in turn we will get compensated the due 3% or so... I think a few different business models work well in this industry and each fits a certain type of consumer.

Nice Article Dennis, especially in providing the information of companies funding this. It has nothing to do with providing more exposure, it has to do with companies looking to take a bunch of information and resources funded by somebody else (real estate agents) for their financial interests. There is absolutely nothing stopping them to create their own MLS and changing the world of real estate if that is their real intention but it would take far too long for them to turn a profit. The evolution of the MLS has taken years of time, money and ethics to build as a viable source of reliable information to be provided to the consumer by professionals. There is nothing stopping them to build their own "Open MLS" if that is truly their real intention. More exposure to sellers? I certainly have no problem finding real estate for sale in another state and no problem finding a "low fee" real estate broker if I need to sell it. Those are simply excuses for a shortcut to profits for companies funded by millions of dollars in venture capital.

Don't we live in a capitalist economy? ("excuses for a shortcut to profits for companies funded by millions of dollars in venture capital.")... Companies will only make profits if they truly provide something of value to the consumer. If at the same time a company makes a profit, they deservedly should. Big online real estate companies can never replace the real person buyers need to find, who are experts in their local area.

Great post Dennis, Yes another group trying to make lots of money for a very few people by putting thousands of hard working people out of business. David Barry and his Open MLS Institute should be the target of the DOJ as it is people like these who are the real crooks. Jim

Choice, Do you really think this will bring you more exposure for your listings. Type into a search engine your city real estate and there is plenty of exposure. That is why most of us are at REW, to become better at internet real estate marketing and marketing ourselves. Open MLS will NOT be better for anyone except Barry and his cronies. Every state has very different real estate laws and the MLS should each be done at the state level. One of the problems in our capitalist society and politics is that people like this twist things around to make uninformed citizens think their agenda is what is best for them. Barry would like you to think that Realtors® are untrustworthy crooks and that by voting in his Open MLS he will fix all the problems in the real estate industry. So then the uninformed voter supports a measure like the one they are trying to pass in Maine only to everyones detriment.

Of course we live in a capitalist economy and that's the beauty of them having the ability to start their own system to profit from. Nothing is stopping them from creating their own open MLS if that is REALLY their true intention. I've never seen anything that says somebody can not create a new system if they so choose. Let them invest their own time and money in creating that system and if it works, good for them. Their is nothing in the two states that I'm licensed in that says somebody can't create their own MLS system and I suspect no other state real estate laws do either. Loopnet and Propertyline created their own system for commercial real estate and it works just great and I love it. You don't have to be a member of the MLS or Association to use it and if you use the MLS for commercial real estate, then you are missing out big time. In fact, it's a secondary choice if you ask me Google certainly does not have to share their Algorithm. A new search engine has to come up with their own and if it's better, good for them. That's the true meaning of Capitalism. Socialism is when everybody has to share something no matter who put all the time, money work into it. More exposure for listings? Do I need to put ten for sale signs in front of a house for more exposure? Do you really think I can't find the necessary information about a house such as price that is for sale in another city? Current MLS systems are so effective because it's taken years of time, money and ethics to develop. It would take an incredible amount of time and money to create something better - something that the companies listed above KNOW. Their arguments are merely negotiation tactics to get what they want. If you can't realize that, you would never be my negotiator for a piece of real estate.

Perhaps Redfin, Trust MLS, Catalyst Homes, e-ListState.com, Voyager 360 and Artie Gilad should open up their private proprietary database of buyers that they will compile with their capital and labor to us Realtors for free to use as we want. Perhaps all private databases should be opened to the public. Maybe since they have no concept of ownership of the data these persons feel that there is no need for Trademarks and Copywrights either. Perhaps we should all feel free to utilize their proprietary data, Trademarks, and Copywrights - after all we are the public and it would be for the public good no matter the time, money, and effort invested by themselves in their livlihood. Maybe Google can be forced to open up their database of algos for the benefit of the public at large. Maybe all of the oil field service companies should open up their three dimensional databases of underground formations so we can all go about staking claims in the most promising areas - why should we have to compile our own data to find our own vast personal oilfield when these companies ultimately serve the public at large in the end. Isn't it a disservice to the general public for them to keep all of this valuable data to themselves. Hell, lets just take the profit incentive away from everyone and see if we can become as unproductive and inefficient as the old Soviet Commune models were when people were starving to death in the Bread Basket of Europe from lack of profit motive.

Good points 61. For those that have not done it yet, I suggest you read through the openmlsinstitute dot com website and if you support the views here please link to this blog, lets get it to outrank open mls. As of right now on Google for the search term open mls institute this blog ranks #7, open mls ranks #13 & 14 and open mls david barry #3. Ranking higher would help spread the word, in addition I would encourage others to blog about this as well. I believe all Realtors® should realize what this would do to our industry and what David Barry actually thinks of Realtors®. He likes to paint the picture of how unethical and dishonest we are, and how he will fix it all (while lining his pockets). Oh yea, he also sued NAR claiming that Realtor® is a generic word and that members of NAR should not be able to use it exclusively. This guy is off his rocker, on his website under "Why Ethics Matter" he has "Ethics Institute Quiz", #5 he asks: Do you agree to forward all of your listings (except those where the owner has directed you in writing not to do so) every 24 hours to an open MLS so that such open MLS may collate and republish the listings without restriction? I guess to him we are not being ethical if we don't add our listings to his Open MLS, I suppose that would also mean that it is unethical if we don't add our listings to Trulia, Zillow, Google Base and any other wanabe MLS outlet there is. Although it appears that he is only interested in making money and not protecting the public or standing up for real estate agents as he would have you believe since he doesn't mention adding your listings to these other outlets in his Ethics Quiz.