<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>518795-00091</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>10/20/2005 1:00:51 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD>national association of realtors</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>lazier, danielle</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/> To Whom It May Concern: Real Estate is the most competitive industry I have known. Unlike most sectors that are dominated by large, national &amp; multi-national coporations, like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, GMAC, Citigroup, etc, real estate is made of individual entrepreneurs and small business owners. It the most "American" of professions as it is one based on self-disclipline, motivation, and tenacity rather than expensive education and family connections. In real estate, you will sink or swim, based on your own abilities and work ethic. Those of us who do succeed have done so with "our own boot straps." My understanding of this anti-competitive and anti-trust inquiries are that if they go through will lead to large banks and coporations entering the field. This will absolutely change real estate from being an independent, highly competitive profession to a stagnant corporate culture where the consumer will be most adversely affected. We work 100% on commission so our clients' happiness must be forefront or we won't get more business in the future! All of us serve localized markets where we compete for business every day. Fierce competition is fueled largely by the uniquely intense and personalized nature of the service we provide to our clients -- which, in turn, determines our future success through referrals and return business Nothing encourages a competitive business environment more than providing consumers with choice. In the residential real estate marketplace, consumers not only are able to choose from more than 76,000 brokerage firms and more than 1.2 million REALTORS, but also from a variety of business models. Thank you for your time! </body> </HTML>