What REALTORS® Need to Know
about the DOJ Lawsuit Against NAR
No doubt you have read the news about the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to sue NAR over its new policy governing the display of multiple listing service data on Internet Web sites.
NAR is disappointed that its multi-year attempt to develop a Web listings policy that's a win for consumers and also preserves the rights of real estate brokers will end up in court. We worked long and hard to understand and accommodate the government's demands. In the end, however, it proved impossible to do so without fatally compromising our members' interests. We know we stand on firm ground legally, and we are very confident the issue will be decided in our favor.
At stake is a principle that's vital to our members and central to the cause of organized real estate: We believe REALTORS® should be free to market their customers' properties as they see fit and that consumers who wish to have their property listed in the MLS should have the right to choose whether their homes are displayed on the Internet or not. After all, MLSs are not public utilities; they are private databases created for and maintained by real estate professionals for real estate professionals.
The government would have NAR restrict how our members do their business. They believe every property included in the MLS must also be available for display on hundreds of web sites, even if listing brokers, with the property owners' consent, choose not to do so.
Despite the points being presented as central in many news reports, this issue is not fundamentally about discount brokers or new business models. NAR supports ALL REALTORS® and we have led the way in innovation, including REALTOR.COM, which continues to set the standard for REALTORS® on line.
Unfortunately, this legal issue will likely take a long time - even years - to resolve. We are entirely confident we will prevail. We hope that the government will reconsider its position and save both NAR and the taxpayers a lot of time and money.
