Eau Claire MLS Bans Phrase "Search MLS"
Recently the powers that be at the Realtors Association of Northwestern Wisconsin Multiple Listing Service (hereafter referred to as the Eau Claire MLS) headquarters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin decided that real estate agent websites can no longer contain the phrase Search the MLS.
MLS, of course, stands for Multiple Listing Service and refers to the practice of offering of commission to other real estate agents if they bring a buyer to a seller or seller's agent.
I believe that this change is hurting the general public immediately and will harm real estate agents and brokers in the long term.
The justification for this rule change was as follows:
Huh? Eau Claire real estate consumers DO have access to the Eau Claire MLS.
The so-called justification above even says so: they have access to a very limited amount of information in the MLS.
Most residents understand that when they want to view listings of properties for sale, they can just jump on any Eau Claire MLS - enabled real estate website and see listings from all cooperating companies via the Eau Claire MLS.
Saying that people "do not have access" to the Eau Claire MLS just because they don't have access to 100% of the data contained in it is ridiculous.
It's splitting semantic hairs and playing childish games with language.
To illustrate this lack of logic, let's make an analogy using television.
Let's say you don't have cable television, you just use rabbit ears.
What the board is telling you, using their own logic, is that you do not have access to ANY television stations because you don't have ALL the channels.
Or that you don't really have access to ANY library because your local library doesn't have EVERY book ever printed.
The logic is flawed.
Is MLS a Genericized Term? The reason the rule was enacted was to help prevent the term MLS from becoming a generic term such as like Xerox, Kleenex, or Frisbee.
The difference between these examples and Eau Claire MLS or Search MLS is that no organization of Realtors holds the trademark on the term MLS.
The trademark of the term MLS, in fact, is held by Major League Soccer.
So it could be argued that MLS is already a generic term, especially since there is no nationwide MLS.
When people talk about listing in the Eau Claire MLS, they mean the MLS of the general geographical area in which they reside.
To further complicate matters, sometimes these geographic areas overlap and sometimes properties are listed in more than one MLS.
Hurts Consumers I believe this decision is having an immediate negative impact on the general public around Eau Claire.
The general public already knows that the Eau Claire MLS is the database that holds a bunch of listings from many different agents and companies.
All other suggestions given ("Search Area Properties", "Search Local Listings", "Search Northwestern WI Properties") are all clunky by comparison.
Search MLS is succinct and accurate.
Hurts Real Estate Agents Perhaps the most amusing thing about this decision is that it will hurt real estate agents and brokers in the future.
How, you ask? Well, this rule only applies to Realtors.
Since the term MLS is not trademarked by any Multiple Listing Service, what will stop Zillow.
com or Trulia.
com from putting links on their site stating that people can Search the Eau Claire MLS? For that matter, what will stop ANY site not run by a Realtor from stuffing their site with MLS-related anchor text just so they outrank every local real estate website when people inevitably search for the Eau Claire MLS? I have no doubt sites will collect these sales leads and sell them back to Realtors.
The Realtors who, by virtue of this brilliant rule, are not allowed to compete with these parasitic sites.
To summarize: This new rule banning the phrase "Search the MLS" makes things more confusing for the consumer searching for homes.
It makes Realtor websites more clunky and verbose.
And it creates a giant loophole that will be exploited by websites that are out to eat Realtor's lunches.
MLS, of course, stands for Multiple Listing Service and refers to the practice of offering of commission to other real estate agents if they bring a buyer to a seller or seller's agent.
I believe that this change is hurting the general public immediately and will harm real estate agents and brokers in the long term.
The justification for this rule change was as follows:
Using the term MLS gives consumers the impression that they have access to the MLS, when in fact, they have access to a very limited amount of information in the MLS, which should prompt them to call a Realtor for assistance.First of all...
Huh? Eau Claire real estate consumers DO have access to the Eau Claire MLS.
The so-called justification above even says so: they have access to a very limited amount of information in the MLS.
Most residents understand that when they want to view listings of properties for sale, they can just jump on any Eau Claire MLS - enabled real estate website and see listings from all cooperating companies via the Eau Claire MLS.
Saying that people "do not have access" to the Eau Claire MLS just because they don't have access to 100% of the data contained in it is ridiculous.
It's splitting semantic hairs and playing childish games with language.
To illustrate this lack of logic, let's make an analogy using television.
Let's say you don't have cable television, you just use rabbit ears.
What the board is telling you, using their own logic, is that you do not have access to ANY television stations because you don't have ALL the channels.
Or that you don't really have access to ANY library because your local library doesn't have EVERY book ever printed.
The logic is flawed.
Is MLS a Genericized Term? The reason the rule was enacted was to help prevent the term MLS from becoming a generic term such as like Xerox, Kleenex, or Frisbee.
The difference between these examples and Eau Claire MLS or Search MLS is that no organization of Realtors holds the trademark on the term MLS.
The trademark of the term MLS, in fact, is held by Major League Soccer.
So it could be argued that MLS is already a generic term, especially since there is no nationwide MLS.
When people talk about listing in the Eau Claire MLS, they mean the MLS of the general geographical area in which they reside.
To further complicate matters, sometimes these geographic areas overlap and sometimes properties are listed in more than one MLS.
Hurts Consumers I believe this decision is having an immediate negative impact on the general public around Eau Claire.
The general public already knows that the Eau Claire MLS is the database that holds a bunch of listings from many different agents and companies.
All other suggestions given ("Search Area Properties", "Search Local Listings", "Search Northwestern WI Properties") are all clunky by comparison.
Search MLS is succinct and accurate.
Hurts Real Estate Agents Perhaps the most amusing thing about this decision is that it will hurt real estate agents and brokers in the future.
How, you ask? Well, this rule only applies to Realtors.
Since the term MLS is not trademarked by any Multiple Listing Service, what will stop Zillow.
com or Trulia.
com from putting links on their site stating that people can Search the Eau Claire MLS? For that matter, what will stop ANY site not run by a Realtor from stuffing their site with MLS-related anchor text just so they outrank every local real estate website when people inevitably search for the Eau Claire MLS? I have no doubt sites will collect these sales leads and sell them back to Realtors.
The Realtors who, by virtue of this brilliant rule, are not allowed to compete with these parasitic sites.
To summarize: This new rule banning the phrase "Search the MLS" makes things more confusing for the consumer searching for homes.
It makes Realtor websites more clunky and verbose.
And it creates a giant loophole that will be exploited by websites that are out to eat Realtor's lunches.
