Congress listened to panelists plead their case of anti-competitve action by MLS’s and realtor associations
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are listening to surrounding conversation all the while thinking, “This person is so off base, he can’t be serious?” Welcome to room 2128 of the
Rayburn
House
Office
Building for the Congressional Hearing of “The Changing Real Estate Market” this past Tuesday. Panelists included representatives from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Federation or
America, limited service brokers and other business owners.
Congressmen and women moved in and out of the back door to claim their 5 minutes of face time with, what seemed to be a more nervous panel (overall), than a panel looking forward to making an impact on lawmakers that can actually aid the cause in offering consumers services based on need versus dollars. But in defense of the panelists, I was getting nervous, just listening to the outrageous and often times intellectually incriminating questions and outbursts of congress people completely unprepared and out of touch with what the actual issues were. (If I were Congresswoman Waters or Congressman Miller I would really hope there is no written record of what transpired, as I think, between those two everyone in the room got a little dumber, and lost a little faith in lawmakers having to absorb the incoherent jargon that kept coming from their mouth.)
Representatives from the DOJ and FTC “stuck to their guns” answering in true lawyer-like fashion most of the time repeating themselves with exactly what they felt were “anti-competitive” acts as handed down by local associations and state boards. On the other hand, business owners that sat on the panel were often times talked in circles until Congress heard what it wanted to hear. Their responses were often abruptly cut short by other unrelated questions and they were forced to cover the gambit when in reality there is only one primary issue – flat fee MLS and discount brokers are being “blackballed” by the very MLS’s and associations they pay to belong to because they business model strays from the “ordinary.”
Unfortunately, many of the business owners on the panel came from “Corporate America” and were unable to quickly and decisively respond to questions with any degree of industry experience and awareness. The best example came when Congressman Miller repeatedly backed the decision of the MLS to which Redfin belongs in their discriminatory decision that disallows Redfin from displaying the number of days a home has been on the market and Glenn Kelman, the CEO of Redfin, could render no compelling explanation. Well, every active buyer agent (which is what Redfin is) with a license and MLS access knows they can perform searches all day based solely on the number of days a home has been actively for sale in order to find “the best deal” for their clients. This was Kelman’s first of two opportunities to make a compelling argument for exactly why federal intervention is needed in the industry and just could not do it. Miller ignorantly argued that it would not be fair to any seller if that information was available, any agent in the field would have shut that argument down before it ever got started.
In Glen Kelman’s defense his opening remarks and written deposition hit industry discrepancies square on the head. In fact he had an opportunity to answer the headlining question with an example he cited in his opening remarks. Congressman Artur Davis – who was one of maybe two Congressman that seemed to be able to comprehend the issues at hand – essentially opened the floor and the microphone to Kelman when he asked “Why does the federal government need to get involved? Why can’t this be regulated at the state level?” Again, sadly nothing! With a chance to put the record straight he neglected to mention the great example he used in opening remarks. The right answer: These issues cannot be regulated at the local (state) level because the associations that are implementing these anti-competitive regulations are the very individuals that comprise the state regulatory bodies and commissions. It is a glaring conflict of interest, and somehow state commissions are able to hide the truth from the federal government. Kelman said it best in his opening comments: “[The real estate industry] is like a Western where the cowboy promises to report the desperadoes to the sheriff, only to have the desperadoes whip out their badges. Clearly, this industry has failed to regulate itself.” That was all that was needed. For all the missed opportunities Kelman had, he was the only panelist on the second panel to speak for more than a total of 30 seconds. Everybody else had equal opportunity to step in and make their mark, and each let the moment slip…a bit unfortunate.
But in the end the most telling action was to conclude the hearing with an open forum from the President-Elect of the National Association of Realtors Pat Vredevoogd, from
Grand Rapids, Michigan. After not a word the entire time the second panel was questioned a Congressman declined his opportunity for questioning just to ask Pat Vredevoogd her thoughts on the issues. Her thoughts?? Is this guy crazy?? Did he do any homework in preparing for this hearing?? Instead her thoughts, why not ask her what cause Michigan had in passing state minimum service laws only last month? Is there any coincidence?? I would doubt it considering NAR Presidents have a history of getting such laws passed. Al Mansell, President of the NAR in 2004, successfully had the state laws in
Utah altered during his tenure.
Now let’s revisit a question by Congressman Artur Davis: “Why does the federal government need to get involved? Why can’t this be regulated at the state level?” The better question is: Why DOESN’T the federal government need to get involved?!
