Is the Real Estate Industry Resisting eCommerce?
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eRealty.com CEO testifies on anti-competitive practices in real estate “The FTC was aware that eRealty has ‘real world’ experience dealing with MLS rule changes aimed right at our way of doing business,” said Russell Capper, president and CEO of eRealty. “They were interested in our story. As members of the local, state, and national Realtor Associations, we are active proponents of Realtor ethics and principles and guardians of the MLS guidelines. We built a Web-based process that effectively delivers appropriate MLS information to our customers and clients within the rules and regulations of the MLS Associations. Now that significant numbers of today’s home buyers are embracing our new way of doing business, it is very disturbing that the Associations are considering a very anti-competitive revision to their rules.” Currently, eRealty is leading the battle to keep eCommerce alive in real estate and MLS listings on the Web. The National Association of Realtors is considering a policy that would allow brokers to withdraw their clients’ listings from the Internet, making the data incomplete for prospective home buyers using Realtors who utilize the efficiencies of Internet technology. eRealty originally experienced Realtor Association rule-changing in early 2000 in Austin, Texas. The Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) contended that eRealty’s Web site violated a newly adopted rule prohibiting the Internet display of Austin-area MLS data except on ABoR-approved sites. The U.S. District Court ruled in favor of eRealty in a significant injunction hearing saying that there was no material difference between the way eRealty delivers MLS information?via its Web site?and the way traditional Realtors deliver the same information-via fax, email, or photocopy. “Consumers are losing because competition is being challenged-not just within residential real estate Associations, but from lawmakers too,” Capper said. “Real estate laws in 13 states make it illegal to rebate commission to home buyers in real estate transactions. We can build incredible efficiencies into our process through technology; it doesn’t seem right not being able to pass that savings on to our clients.” According to a study conducted by NetChoice ( www.netchoice.org ), a coalition of eCommerce companies lead by eBay, Orbitz, and eRealty, this combination of proposed anti-competitive MLS rules and regulations and the state laws that do not allow rebates, will cost consumers more than $45 billion in higher real estate commissions over the next five years based upon the nearly $1 trillion traded in real estate each year in the U.S. “We live in an eCommerce-enabled society where consumers have spoken loudly and clearly that they want the value and savings eCommerce brings to their lives-especially with a transaction as expensive as buying or selling a home,” Capper said. “The MLS System created by the National Association of Realtors over 50 years ago has been a very successful, progressive market exchange that has served the consumer and the industry very well. We want it to stay that way.” More : rismedia.com |