Comments by Alisha Chen
Key Points:
1. Zillow’s wealth and earnings count on Brokers’ and Agents’ advertising fees as buyer agents for potential clients to use them. As a result, Zillow’s loud and strong stand, like MLS’ is to lessen listing agent branding and visibility while promoting buyer agent opportunities. The stronger a listing agent’s presence, the less monetary opportunity for Zillow, Redfin and MLS. Do you think this is a healthy model to promote professional, ethical standards?
2. According to this video and my own experiences, MLS Price Gauging Penalty Charges for years are very true. Their own guidelines are written so that if you use your right hand only, your left hand gets penalized. If you use your left hand only, your right hand gets penalized. If you use both hands, both of your hands get penalized. If you use neither of your hands, you also get penalized. The only difference is that the reasons and excuses are different, and they never make sense. Even if they are the ones who made the mistakes, we are still the ones getting penalized. This has been going on for years now. MLS is the monopoly of the entire real estate industry. If you understand communist mentality and tactics, this is how MLS is run nowadays.
3. Careless/Monopolization – Like this video states, MLS creates so many self-conflicting rules and regulations that it is almost impossible not to violate if Brokers and Agents seek his/her clients’ best interest. Even with hearing the present problem arising from MLS itself, which is hurting the sellers, their response is summarized as “you abide by our rules regardless”. It does not matter if they themselves violate professional standards, cause issues, or conduct themselves unethically, etc. If it is their written rule, no matter how bizarre and self-contradicting, Brokers, Agents, and Clients all have to abide. Hearing basically is just a formality that wastes time while having more opportunities to charge outrageous fees just to be heard, whether or not it is the fault of MLS itself. As long as you want to be heard, $500.00 is charged and another administrative fee of $250.00 is charged. How is that legal or ethical? But the MLS has been doing this for years to its own Broker and Agent members! We cannot get out of their system because they have monopolized the industry, and now, even Zillow is following the ways of the MLS! Who are the ones hurting? The sellers!
