[Rets-dev] The MLS Transaction Set

[Dave Sullivan]

The point I was trying to make is:

We could allow the Googles, Yahoos, and MSNs of the world to have the 
greatest and most comprehensive set of descriptions for real estate 
anywhere in the world -- full video of interiors and exteriors 
included ... but they still wouldn't have what we have in the 
MLS:  the contractual right to sell the property ... and to offer 
sub-agency in the process!  This is not a small matter.

Would owners sign a listing agreement with a REALTOR if they thought 
they could sell it on their own using Google or Yahoo?  Boy!  That IS 
the question, isn't it!  What keeps them coming to the REALTOR?  That 
is the question NAR and all the state and local associations really 
need to wrestle with.  Will the "Gateway" assure that sellers will 
keep coming to the REALTOR?  I haven't seen the dots connected.

Meanwhile, RETS is a couple of layers down trying to define how to 
exchange the arbitrary content in one MLS with the arbitrary content 
in another; or satisfy the arbitrary content needed by a 3rd-party 
package.  The only thing that can't be arbitrary is the offer to sell 
and its agency agreement - that's what keeps the REALTOR in business.

So maybe defining a transaction set for this aspect of the MLS isn't 
exciting; but I suggest it is one of the few sets of data that can't 
be arbitrary.  It is also one of the few amenable to a national 
standard.  Such a standard would allow broker cooperation at any 
level supported by a business understanding that will hold together 
anywhere.  Why not do it?