Is The MLS Public Property?
The Competition Bureau is at it again.. They say the time has come to break down the MLS system.. But what is it that they really want? Are they wrong in thinking that the MLS is public property and the consumer doesn't have choices?
Is The MLS Public Property? Blog Transcription
Rob Reynar checking in, just wanna talk about the latest volley from the Competition Bureau towards the real estate industry. This is getting a lot of publicity right now and frankly it's got a lot of people scratching their head including myself. I'm gonna be doing a series of blogs on this in the next little while because it's hard to capsulize each individual issue in one blog. So, at first I wanna say this, what is the Competition Bureau really after? because they say it's about accessibility to the market place and they say that MLS is basically a private club and you gotta have a membership to be in the private club and the public doesn't benefit from that. So that's the one issue but they also spin it on commissions. They say that if they break down the MLS that it'll allow for innovative products, they like to call it "innovative" and lower cost option. So, that's what they say is all about but really in my mind there's lots of low cost options out there for home sellers. If you wanna list your house yourself, you can. There's about a hundred websites you can do that on. If you wanna get your house on MLS and not have an agent involved there's companies like Seller Direct frankly who will do it for a nominal fee and it's up to you. You print your own feature sheets, you book your own showings, you count, you show people through the house everything you do, everything yourself for a very low fee. Those things are out there now. So the consumer has access to the MLS at a low fee, I just don't really know what it is they want. What do they want us to do? and I think they forget that the MLS is not public. The MLS was created by the Canadian Real Estate Association and it is for Realtors. It's not a public system and I think they forget that and to me the reason the forget that is the internet. If the internet hadn't have come along and the MLS data didn't end up in the internet. I don't even think we'd be having this fight. So the question I have for you is, what do you think the Competition Bureau is really on about? I'd love to hear your comments on this, info@robreynar.com. R-E-Y-N-A-R, info@robreynar.com. Talk to you soon, buh bye!
This is a transcription of the latest Video Blog from MorrisReynar.com . If for any reason there is a discrepancy between this text and the Video Blog, the Blog is deemed accurate.
