Why Regional MLS Boards are a Royal Pain
I recently read an interesting story written by Chris Smith over at EquityScout.com about how Google is getting into the real estate business.
Basically it seems that Google is making agreements with larger regional Realtor boards, who usually control the data contained in their regional MLS system, to use and display the property data in their search results.
Personally, I would welcome a setup like this in my regional MLS. My area (Brevard County, Florida) is home to a strange Realtor Board arrangement. There are actually two Realtor boards, Melbourne Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) and Space Coast Association of Realtors (SCAR), operating here and agents can choose which one they want to belong to. I can’t think of a reason for this because the county is not that big.
I found out by talking to some local Realtors that dealing with the Realtor boards is actually a hindrance to doing business because they are such a royal pain to deal with and usually politically motivated. They’re also not very forward thinking. I don’t know if it’s like this everywhere? Maybe someone can comment and let me know.
As far as the MLS system goes, they refuse to do things like expose information like property and sales data using an XML feed, for instance, so that brokers can build web sites that automatically update when changes are made in the MLS. The funny thing is that both boards use the MLS and are constantly fighting over it.
Personally, I don’t see how doing something like this would do anything but help their members. It could be that there is a fear of technology in the powers that be because there are some members of the board who are so old-school that they refuse to use a computer and view an electronic MLS as a necessary evil in modern times.
This situation reminds me of a book I read back-in-the-day called Dinosaur Brains.
