<HTML> <HEAD> <title>WebForm1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1"> <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1"> <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"> <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'> </HEAD> <body > <TABLE id="Table1" cellSpacing="1" cellPadding="1" width="100%" border="0"> <TR> <TD><b>Comment Number:</b></TD> <TD>518795-00082</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>10/20/2005 12:06:57 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD>Assist2Sell Buyers &amp; Sellers Realty Team, Inc.</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Durham, Diana</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>CA</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Agency:</b></TD> <TD>Federal Trade Commission</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Rule:</b></TD> <TD>Competition Policy and the Real Estate Industry</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Docket ID:</b></TD> <TD>To Be Added</TD> </TR> <TR> <td colspan='2'>No Attachments</td> </TR> </TABLE> <hr/> <b>Comments:</b><br/><br/> Our experience as an alternative real estate brokerage company in Bakersfield, California has been frought with difficulties from our competitors. They have done everything possible to discourage the existence of our business, and have violated many anti-trust laws doing so. The main problem is they communicate to the public we are not professionals, we don't know what we're doing, and they will not work with us. I have had agents tell me personally they have been instructed by their broker not to show our properties. They have formed their own listing service (leaving the multiple listing service that is run under the Board of Realtors umbrella) because they do not acknowledge or believe there should be equal compensation paid regardless of the cooperating broker, in other words, they want to make a tiered system for commissions. Their new multiple listing service does not require equal compensation. (Example: A 2% commission is being offered out as compensation to a cooperating broker. When the cooperating broker is our company, they can unilaterally change this 2% commission to anything of their choice.) There is one brokerage in Bakersfield that has written us a letter stating, regardless of the commission offered to any other broker on their listings, they will only pay us a $200 commission! So NO, I don't believe the real estate industry is competitive. Respectfully submitted, Diana Durham Assist2Sell Buyers &amp; Sellers Realty Team, Inc. Bakersfield, California&nbsp;&nbsp;<A name=RDACT1></A> </body> </HTML>