Limiting Consumers' Choice In Real Estate Services
The Federal Trade Commission today charged two real estate groups operating multiple listing services in the Detroit, Michigan, area with illegally restraining competition by limiting consumers’ ability to obtain low-cost real estate brokerage services. The Commission also announced consent agreements with five other groups operating multiple listing services in parts of Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia, and Wisconsin, that have discontinued the challenged conduct.
According to the FTC, all seven groups adopted rules that withheld valuable benefits of the Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) they control from consumers who chose to enter into non-traditional listing contracts with real estate brokers. Six of the seven blocked non-traditional, less-than-full-service listings from being transmitted by the MLS to popular Internet Web sites. The seventh went further, adopting policies that include blocking such non-traditional brokerage contracts from the MLS entirely. Such policies limit home sellers’ ability to choose a listing type that best serves their specific needs. While five of the groups have entered into consent orders barring such conduct in the future, the two in Michigan have not, and the FTC has issued administrative complaints against them. “Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial transactions most consumers will ever make,” said Jeffrey Schmidt, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
The FTC today announced seven law enforcement actions against real estate groups in various places across the nation. Two were administrative complaints issued against the following: 1) Realcomp II, Ltd., a corporation owned by several realtor boards and associations, which provides services to more than 2,100 real estate brokerage offices in southeastern Michigan, and has more than 14,800 members; and 2) MIRealSource, Inc., which is owned by the real estate professionals it serves, and provides services to more than 840 real estate brokerage offices in southeastern Michigan and has more than 7,000 members.
The Commission also announced complaints and consent orders against the following five groups: Information and Real Estate Services, LLC, based in Loveland, Colorado, which operates a regional MLS for northern Colorado, that is used by more than 5,000 real estate professionals;
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