On CCP and Housing on the Ballot — Voters Have Spoken

More than 145 million Americans voted in the presidential election last week. I was surprised at the crisp, timely decision. Sure, there were a few tight races, but America was decisive.

Voters decided twelve real estate related ballot initiatives across nine states – the initiatives impacted renters and homeowners. California, of course, had three and my home state of Wyoming had one. In Wyoming, we created a property tax class for residential properties – previously, all property types (e.g. land, agricultural, commercial and residential) were treated the same.

Here is a brief overview. 

I wonder: if the Clear Cooperation Policy went to a vote, would homeowners prefer the NAR-mandated path that forces marketing their home through the MLS, or would they prefer to make their own choice? How would they feel knowing that all real estate developers and homebuilders are carved out from Clear Cooperation, but individual homeowners are not?

Would homeowners prefer an innovative, bespoke, phased marketing program, like those embraced by auction houses, homebuilders, developers, technology firms, and luxury goods retailers, that may or may not include the local MLS, or the forced cooperation that NAR imposes on consumers?

NAR side-stepped and avoided a CCP decision in Boston last week. Sellers will continue to face the consequences of NAR’s indecision – more of the following:

✓    Forced into system of visible DOM and price drop history. 
✓    Inability to test pricing privately.
✓    Miss the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of phased/multi phased marketing.
✓    Only get to launch your listing once. 
✓    Inability to maintain your privacy & confidentiality.
✓    Inability to limit buyer inquiries to just the seller’s listing agent.
✓    Limited engagement insights from traffic on your own website before mass-marketing.

Of all the people debating CCP, where is the homeowners’ voice? In an industry striving for transparency, how many homeowners even know that Clear Cooperation makes it mandatory to market in the MLS after just one business day of public marketing.

Let’s stop the industry’s internal power trip and give real estate professionals and homeowners their choice.

The outcome would be very decisive, and the consumer would have a voice. Maybe the DOJ will knock some sense into NAR.

This is Where We Are Now!

Thanks!
Mark