I
believe in facts, and I'm about to share some with you. This article may be long, but it's full of them. As the CEO of CRMLS, I've carefully considered the pros and cons of the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) created by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). We at California Regional MLS (CRMLS) wholeheartedly support the CCP because it promotes cooperation, transparency, and trust – values we stand firmly behind.
Some brokerages have been pressuring us to change our stance on the CCP. They've asked us to:
* Terminate mandatory cooperation by revoking the NAR Clear Cooperation Policy
* Establish a new status that conceals relevant property information from buyers
* Create a private listing network that withholds available properties from unrepresented consumers, but makes those listings accessible only to CRMLS subscribers
We've rejected each of these demands. Here's why:
1. **CRMLS is not a listing platform; it's a broker cooperative**. As such, we have the right to develop business practices that support brokers and their clients, including implementing policies, rules, and processes that benefit buyers, buyer agents, sellers, and listing agents.
2. **Sellers who choose to hire a real estate agent and market their property without using the MLS are fully permitted to do so** under current CRMLS Rules. Any CRMLS subscriber who enters into a non-exclusive (aka Open) listing agreement with such a seller is not subject to the CCP rules mandating submission of the listing to the MLS for cooperation or dissemination.
3. **CRMLS will not be a participant in any agreement, plan, or scheme to intentionally misrepresent or withhold critical information about a property's listing history and number of days it has been available for sale**. This would likely result in misrepresentations of the actual number of days it took for a listing agent to sell a property.
4. **CRMLS will not support, nor participate in an agreement, plan or scheme to hide available properties that are for sale from potential buyers who choose not to hire a real estate agent**. The long-established rules governing the IDX policy were established as part of a settlement agreement reached between NAR and the Department of Justice, which emphasized the importance of ensuring consumers have the same access and knowledge to available property listings as subscribing agents have in the MLS.
5. **CRMLS will not establish a Private Listing Network that is only accessible to CRMLS subscribers**. Such a system would clearly disadvantage consumers who choose to not work with a real estate agent, as they would have no access to the listed inventory.
We're guided by the principles of fairness, equal access to accurate information, and the spirit of competition between brokerage firms. Brokers should compete for clients based on their skill, experience, pricing, services, and successful results in representing buyers and sellers. Buyers, and their agents, should not be forced to join only the largest brokerage firms simply because those firms withhold available properties from the general marketplace.
As we evaluate the attacks on Mandatory Cooperation, we should ask why certain brokerage firms are afraid to compete in an open marketplace where all consumers, and the brokers they choose to hire, have fair and full access to all properties?
