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Mr. Thompson Goes to Washington

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Mr Smith goes to Washington BW

If you look very closely at the photo above, you may notice that it has been slightly altered. This subtle change to a classic movie still shot, and the clever play on words of this post’s title, both provide clues as to where I’ll be this week.

That’s right kids, I’m headed off to Washington, D.C. to attend the National Association of Realtor’s (NAR) Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.

Why in the world would I do that?

Well, I’m not real sure what happened here. A post last week on Agent Genius set off quite the shitstorm brouhaha controversy when it reported that the Indianapolis Metropolitan Board of Realtors (MIBOR), with input from the NAR, ruled that Google was a “scraper” site and so sent a Realtor a Cease & Desist notice to change her web sites home search.

Now this is so utterly ridiculous that yours truly had to chime in on the discussion (which currently stands at 349 comments on the Agent Genius post and more on the dozen or so other posts that have sprung up across the real estate blogiverse).

Apparently my “passion” on the subject (some would say my big mouth) got the attention of some in the NAR and they were gracious enough (and I say that without sarcasm) to invite me to come give my concerns directly to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) Committee at their meeting in Washington.

So off I go. I’ll be back on Friday. It should be interesting.

Anyone remotely interested in why it’s not good when local and national trade organizations stomp all over a dues paying member should go read the AG post. And if you are a Realtor and are concerned about this (and you should be) then please take action as noted in the post and comments.

Below is the update from what occurred in the MLS meeting:

The meeting went very well. 75 or so MLS committee members were there and I don’t know how many in the audience — three hundred? It was crowded. Paula Henry, who’s original post on Agent Genius brought this to a LOT of people’s attention spoke first and did great, I followed with my thoughts. We spoke in the open forum portion of the meeting.

During the forum, Cliff Niersbach, NAR’s Vice President of Board Policy & Programs, put up some proposed changes to the language of the IDX policy that addressed the search engine indexing issue. A couple more people spoke, and the open forum portion of the meeting ended shortly after that.

At that point, the Committee entered into the portion of the meeting where they discuss and vote on motions.

The proposed changes to the search indexing language were formally proposed and voted on.

And the changes passed!

So the policy that said this:

2. Participants must protect IDX information from misappropriation by employing reasonable efforts to monitor and prevent “scraping” or other unauthorized accessing, reproduction or use of the MLS database. (with clarification from NAR that read: “Consequently, NAR staff responded to questioners that the requirement to prevent scraping includes indexing.)

Was changed to this:

Participants must protect IDX information from unauthorized uses. This requirement does not prohibit indexing of IDX sites by search engines.

This change still has to be voted on by the NAR Board of Directors on Saturday, but people I talked to expect it will pass.

Personally, I’d like to thank Todd Carpenter, and everyone at NAR that made it possible for Paula and I to fly to Washington and address the Committee, and a very special thanks to Cliff Niersbach. Trust me, without his support in the forum and MLS Committee meeting, this change would not have happened.

Here is Paula Henry’s take on today’s activities.

I’ll have more later. My head hurts, my feet hurt, and I need an adult beverage or three.

Update #2 – Well, the proposed change was NOT passed by the NAR Board of Directors. Apparently the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of REALTORS® (MIBOR), the archaic board in Indianapolis that started this whole mess, proposed an amendment to refer the changes back to the MLS Committee for further discussion, and that’s what the NAR BOD voted to do. My understanding (and I could be wrong on this) is that it won’t be discussed until the NAR convention in November. Very disappointing that a 100+ member committee can pass something and one disgruntled and clueless local board can shove it back down again. I won’t stop fighting!

About Jay Thompson

I'm a former real estate broker in Phoenix, Arizona, currently work for Zillow Group and am the founder of the Phoenix Real Estate Guy blog. I tend to drive too fast and scream at the University of Texas and Denver Broncos football teams. My two kids are smarter than most adults I know and my wife is simply amazing.

Comments

  2. Matthew Hardy says

    Jimmy Stewart needs a shave. 😉

    I used to live in the D.C area – wunnerful city. In case you find yourself bored (!) make sure you check out the Library of Congress – one of my personal faves.

    Knock 'em dead, Mr. Guy.

  3. Portland Real Estate says

    Enjoy your vaca with your family. It will be good to bring this to their attention, I understand that people do not want their data scraped, but that is often the best way to get the data of the listings into the hands of the potential clients. Google may seem like a pain sometimes, but for the most part they are a really really good driving force on the internet that helps me gather clients because of the information on my site.

    **Portland Real Estate´s last blog post..El Gaucho Steakhouse</abbr></abbr>

  17. Toby Barnett says

    Hey Jay, what a great opportunity to be able to speak and voice concerns on a very critical topic to us Realtors. I do agree with you and the AG post and with retrospect to my MLS there is a difference but I could the MLS here try to do similar items. Currently we are prohibited from using certain verbiage but that could all change to include much more. Now that there has been a precedent started it will help protect some of our rights. I read your post this morning and then came back to the office to my surprise to an update. Thanks!

    **Toby Barnett´s last blog post..Snohomish County Sale Tax increases to 9.5% in 2009</abbr></abbr>

  18. [email protected] GA Homes says

    Jay,

    God Bless you and Paula for fighting the good fight. I'll be singing your praises throughout the halls of eastern Georgia for months to come. Although it may take our board about six years ….uh, I mean months, to understand the significance of you and Paula's actions.

    Navy Chief, Navy Pride

  20. [email protected] says

    Thanks Jay,

    What is amazing is that they had to have a meeting to figure this out. The NAR leadership couldn't figure something this simple out on their own?

    >why it’s not good when local and national trade organizations stomp all over a dues paying member

    Exactly, they exist for us. But the attitude of the NAR is we exist for them.

    **Ned´s last blog post..Help! My Home is going to tax sale.</abbr></abbr>

  22. Justin McHood says

    Nice work.

    Next up, we are going to need you to please go visit the HUD offices and speak with them about their rollout of the 8000 tax credit being able to be used for a bridge loan/down payment/whatever.

    Don't forget – you are our only hope to figure this out.

    Justin

    **Justin McHood´s last blog post..8000 Tax Credit Bridge Loan: Bridge To Where?</abbr></abbr>

  29. Jay Thompson says

    Well, see Update #2 in the post. The NAR Board of Directors did NOT pass the new language. MIBOR proposed an amendment to refer it back to the MLS Committee for further discussion…. <<<sigh>>>

    • Jay Thompson says

      Joe –

      MIBOR didn't propose a change. They proposed that the change the committee voted for (to add in that indexing is OK) be sent back to the committee for more discussion.

      In other words, MIBOR effectively delayed the change the committee approved (unanimously I might add) for at least six months. (The committee doesn't meet again until November).

  35. James Boyer Randolph says

    The Indianapolis Metropolitan Board of Realtors (MIBOR), spokes person or board member, who did this should be ashamed of himself. Once NAR finally figures this all out, and I am not totally convinced they will, this MIBOR member should be asked to step down due to extreme ignorance in this matter.

  37. JoePryor.com Oklahom says

    Started following this on Active Rain. Thank you for taking the time on everybodies behalf. I served on the MLS Board of Oklahoma City for 3 years, and when I got on we had a CEO and former Board members that would fit in at Indy. They are now gone greatfully. I have emailed this to the current CEO who does get it, and other MLS Board members.

    **JoePryor.com Oklahoma Investment Realtor´s last blog post..Great Short Sale Investment in Oklahoma City</abbr></abbr>

  38. Leon Belenky-Apogee says

    Just read your update and can't believe it didn't pass-dang! Thanks for fighting the good fight though. If enough of us keep speaking out against it surely they will have to listen….

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