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GPL the MLS!

By APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich   Follow   Mon, 11 Jun 2012, 2:54pm   459 views   5 comments
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What would it take?

Publish the spec?

Establish a protocol for issuing credentials to write to a database?

Issue a suit to break the used house salescum monopoly?

Three steps?

Worth airing on your next television interview, Pubah Pat?

What say you?

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1. YesYNot Follow Befriend (2) 15 threads 429 comments Reston, VA

   1   3:09pm Mon 11 Jun 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   The tech side is easy. Lobbying the gov would be the expensive part. You typically pay a tax to the county when you buy / sell. In our county, there is even a 'recording' tax, which could be used to have someone enter sales information into a public national database. I don't think you could force Realtors to put new data in it. But you could probably make anyone list a property on the service for a minimum of 3 weeks prior to a sale. Then, offers could be forwarded directly to the owner. That should prevent a lot of Realtor fraud. The listing agents could not withhold offers from sellers. The seller could choose to make the bidding open or closed. I don't know the auction terms, but they could make the bids secret like in the current system, or could make it open so that all buyers could see the other bids.

2. APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich Follow Befriend (28) 171 threads 4,206 comments Premium

   2   5:48pm Mon 11 Jun 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Basically, the seller should be the listing authority. Could be a place where a notary could play a role. Twenty-five bucks, they make sure the template is complete and check with the Registry of Deeds to make sure submitter is owner/noteholder of record and pop it into the MLS. Realtor®s would learn of the listing when everyone else does. Then seller could sit on a lawn chair in front of his house and take bids from Realtors, lawyers, etc. to represent him if he wants or to just enjoy being sucked off by random gangsters who want a piece of the transactional action. That is more like normal commerce, based on a level field of data access. Much more rational deal than the current 'We fist you bloody, fuckface, and make you lick our fucking fingers clean and pay a 6% commission for the privilege" deal that the Realtor®s currently enjoy.

3. Patrick Follow Befriend (54) 5,188 threads 6,157 comments 46 male Menlo Park, CA

   3   6:46pm Mon 11 Jun 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   I've been thinking about this for several years now, and trying various things. I'd love to do it! Here are the main problems: * Chicken-and-egg problem: why should anyone list here when no one is looking here for property? Why should anyone look here for property when no one is listing here? * Cost: you can already list your property for free on Craigslist. * Sellers do not want uncensored discussion of their property, and they want the ability to censor and edit their listing history to pretend it's a "new" listing when it really isn't. I wouldn't be able to allow that. * Buyers do not want to tip off any other buyer about their interest in a property. * The MLS's absolutely refuse to share large sets of listings and threaten to sue anyone who tries to scrape listings. How can I get around these problem? One idea is to just ask the public to enter every listing they see, like people enter prices with Gasbuddy.com. Works for Gasbuddy, but that's just entering a price and selection a gas station. Could I make it that easy for house listings?

4. YesYNot Follow Befriend (2) 15 threads 429 comments Reston, VA

   4   7:31pm Mon 11 Jun 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Gasbuddy is different. You don't lose out on your purchase by telling other people about a good deal. I wouldn't upload a good deal and essentially market someone else's house if I were interested in it. If there was proof of endemic fraud, there would be a good argument for forced participation. The courthouse steps auctions are there to prevent fraud. If banks were tired of being defrauded when selling reos & they listed enough properties on the system, it could break through the chicken and egg thing. Craigslist is great at some things. It sucks for real estate, b/c it is too simple & overrun with amateur realtors going for free advertising.

5. APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich Follow Befriend (28) 171 threads 4,206 comments Premium

   5   7:50pm Mon 11 Jun 2012   Share   Quote   Permalink   Like   Dislike   Patrick says How can I get around these problem? No. The whole idea is to just open the existing MLS by suing constantly under different theories of the anti-trust act until one works. Then introduce a non-monopoly system that gives the seller authority to list with or without a Realtor®