QUOTE (Cargren @ Feb 10 2010, 11:42 AM)
I am not a Realtor and dislike paying fees just as much as the next guy, but Brett is right. What some seem to think is that mls.ca is a public or government owned service/entity. IT IS NOT. It is privately owned and subject to the market. Sure is dominates the RE scene, but that was not always the case, and anyone is free to develop a rival system. We have the option of using it or not. If you don't think CREA realtors don't bring something to the table don't use them!
The key words in the CB allegations are "The CREA controls access to the MLS system in Canada." Let me put it to you this way, lets say a colored man and his family wish to rent your home you have listed as a rented property at the asking price and you reject or ignore the offer because of his color (you don't want colored people living in your home); you may find yourself in front of a court explaining your actions and possibly paying damages. This in a nut-shell is at the heart of the complaint ie., exclusion resulting in excessive commission fees. In another example, MS created the most prolific webrowser in IE and in some cases rigged their operating system such that NetScape/AOL and other webrowers didn't function well. After the Microsoft antitrust case found that Microsoft held and had abused monopoly power, AOL filed a suit against it for damages. This suit was settled in May 2003 when Microsoft paid $750 million US to AOL and agreed to share some technologies, including granting AOL a license to use and distribute Internet Explorer royalty-free for seven years. This is a similar case and the CB will point to the excessive commission fees paid by sellers, specific cases of abuse (3 year investigation of the CREA) and the near market monopoly imposed by the CREA to win its case - and it will win.
I am not a Realtor and dislike paying fees just as much as the next guy, but Brett is right. What some seem to think is that mls.ca is a public or government owned service/entity. IT IS NOT. It is privately owned and subject to the market. Sure is dominates the RE scene, but that was not always the case, and anyone is free to develop a rival system. We have the option of using it or not. If you don't think CREA realtors don't bring something to the table don't use them!
The key words in the CB allegations are "The CREA controls access to the MLS system in Canada." Let me put it to you this way, lets say a colored man and his family wish to rent your home you have listed as a rented property at the asking price and you reject or ignore the offer because of his color (you don't want colored people living in your home); you may find yourself in front of a court explaining your actions and possibly paying damages. This in a nut-shell is at the heart of the complaint ie., exclusion resulting in excessive commission fees. In another example, MS created the most prolific webrowser in IE and in some cases rigged their operating system such that NetScape/AOL and other webrowers didn't function well. After the Microsoft antitrust case found that Microsoft held and had abused monopoly power, AOL filed a suit against it for damages. This suit was settled in May 2003 when Microsoft paid $750 million US to AOL and agreed to share some technologies, including granting AOL a license to use and distribute Internet Explorer royalty-free for seven years. This is a similar case and the CB will point to the excessive commission fees paid by sellers, specific cases of abuse (3 year investigation of the CREA) and the near market monopoly imposed by the CREA to win its case - and it will win.