Letter to the New York Times defending competition

June 21, 2006

Letters to the Editor
The New York Times

Dear Editor:

Robert Litan ("Commission Accomplished" June 17) would like to burden the real estate industry with a new layer of federal level regulation, even as we have deregulated other industries to lower costs and foster innovation.

Marketplace competition, coupled with the protection of federal antitrust law and regulation by states closer to consumers, is a better way to go.

The Multiple Listing Service system is one of the great success stories of American enterprise. In nearly 900 local markets, real estate agents share their listings with their competitors and create a level playing field so small brokerages and new entrants can have the same access to this information as large and established ones. By investing millions to put more than two million MLS listings online, America's real estate industry created the world's first true on-line real estate marketplace. The system is so successful that foreign countries are now establishing MLSs on the U.S. model.

Brokers run MLSs for the same reason that Sotheby's sets the rules for its art sales or eBay calls the shots for buyer and selling. Brokers created, operate, and own MLSs. They are not markets, as Litan asserts, or public utilities, as some would like. They are private exchanges and platforms for industry collaboration to facilitate cooperation among real estate practitioners representing buyers and sellers.

Private ownership and management of a vital industry function that has brought so much benefit to consumers is not a "problem." Our real problems begin the day we put Washington regulators in charge of finding homes for families.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Stevens
President, National Association of REALTORS®