<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>518795-00321</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>11/3/2005 7:27:21 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD>Allen Realty</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Allen, Michael</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/> Real estate is very competetive, and the sellers best interests are not always served by the cheapest commissions. In fact that's often NOT the best but the worst thing for the average seller. Sure having "ala cart" options can help the sophisticated client but when a business model makes money selling only that partial service product guess what they always try and sell? What's right or profitable? Exactly. Cheapest is not always best, especialy if the deal doesn'tclose, this job is not easy. This would never even be a question if the topic was commercial real estate, but because the MLS is now available online some folks feel entitled to it even though they aren't paying members. It's not a public utility, no one would ever try and say It started out as, and still is, a blanket offer of cooperation in commissions between members, and if you're not a member who helps input and pay for the compilation of the data you have no right to it. It's not a public utility but it is in the best interests of the sellers and brokers who own the data to make it publicly available. None of the critical positions tend to talk about the very basic nature of the offer of compensation, rather they act like anything that can be put online must be made available for free? Listing cost a lot of money to get, and making a profit from them is never guarenteed. It takes a very nieve person to say that a commission only, project by project business like this is uncompetitive, or of course someone who will profit from that fairy tale if they can mislead the public (and public officials) enough. Stay out of it, you're basicly clueless and more trouble than you're worth. Thanks Mike </body> </HTML>