Buying & Selling: Minnesota MLS Opens Its Doors

Yesterday I talked about efforts to diversify the real estate information flow, but it turned out that this was already happening in a few places. On Monday, the Inman News bloggers reported that Minnesota's MLSs were agreeing to share the wealth:

A group of 14 Realtor associations, which represent 10 regional multiple listing service providers and the majority of for-sale property listings in the state, have created a data-sharing system (see Inman News article). The sharing agreement will reduce the need for real estate professionals working in the area to join several MLSs to serve their clients.

As far as I know, this extension of data sharing is only for realtors and not for FSBOs and other competitors, so it's not much in the way of progress--but progress it is. Property Hype wonders if this may portend bigger changes on the horizon:

With a Justice Department suit against NAR for its MLS policy, changes may be forced. Customers and many real estate business entrepreneurs alike want more access to home listing data, and MLS listings changes may provide that.

Indeed. Rather than risk embarrassing details about shady, hierarchical, self-serving business practices coming to light, the industry is diversifying and standardizing to preempt oversight. Dalton's Arizona Homes also points out that this change benefits realtors who often suffer from the same lack of information buyers do:

In truth, the MLS is a parochial being... If I want to see listings in any of these areas, I have to search as the public does - through agents’ sites or, if possible, through a public portal provided by the individual MLS.There also is Realtor.com which, as one my sellers discovered yesterday, provides just enough information to be remarkably useless to someone seriously searching for homes.

'Nuff said. :)

Posted at January 17, 2007 06:35 PM

digg this story

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://weblog.housing.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/309

Yesterday I talked about efforts to diversify the real estate information flow, but it turned out that this was already happening in a few places. On Monday, the Inman News bloggers reported that Minnesota's MLSs were agreeing to share the wealth: A group of 14 Realtor associations, which represent 10 regional multiple listing service providers and the majority of for-sale property listings in the state, have created a data-sharing system (see Inman News article). The sharing agreement will reduce the need for real estate professionals working in the area to join several MLSs to serve their clients. As far as I know, this extension of data sharing is only for realtors and not for FSBOs and other competitors, so it's not much in the way of progress--but progress it is. Property Hype wonders if this may portend bigger changes on the horizon: With a Justice Department suit against NAR for its MLS policy, changes may be forced. Customers and many real estate business entrepreneurs alike want more access to home listing data, and MLS listings changes may provide that. Indeed. Rather than risk embarrassing details about shady, hierarchical, self-serving business practices coming to light, the industry is diversifying and standardizing to preempt oversight. Dalton's Arizona Homes also points out that this change benefits realtors who often suffer from the same lack of information buyers do: In truth, the MLS is a parochial being... If I want to see listings in any of these areas, I have to search as the public does - through agents’ sites or, if possible, through a public portal provided by the individual MLS.There also is Realtor.com which, as one my sellers discovered yesterday, provides just enough information to be remarkably useless to someone seriously searching for homes. 'Nuff said. :)