A Down Market Provides Just The Excuse To Justify Realtor Parochialism

Parochial: very limited or narrow in scope or outlook; provincial: parochial views; a parochial mentality. (Websters)

I guess somebody has to speak out about what is happening in our local marketplace..and it might as well be me. As hard as I have tried to figure out the logic behind the recent decisions and actions of our Board of Realtors (also known as MIBOR) I can only come up with one common thread. The market downturn has caused staff to worry as the organization is built on per member dues, and the volunteers to have way to much time ontheir hands to tinker with what seems to be working. I can even go one step further and say the unthinkable, the volunteers who are a part of this Board seem to me to be making decisions that are self-serving instead of for the good of the whole organization.

Somewhere, somebody, will probably decide it is time to figure out how to get me out of this industry because the truth is hard to deal with. Fortunately for me, I know enough folks who agree with me that I am feeling secure making the following series of posts. Like the utilities and cable TV providers, when you are the only game in town you can pretty much do whatever you choose (legally). The difference for utilities and cable companies are that they are regulated. Realtor boards are at best self governing organizations with a national organization that loosely provides guidance as to how they should be run. Lately, the national organization has had some issues with the Department of Justice regarding the ideas of parochialism and protection of information. Most of what I have to say is geared toward the simple fact that Realtors are no longer making business decisions to serve their clients (the home buying/selling public) but so as to protect their business and the established models of operating.

Some quick background/disclosure for those who do not know. My company is one of the largest brokerages in Indiana, and frankly the USA, for handling bank foreclosures. We are hired by corporations responsible for the disposition of these properties to manage, market, and sell these assets. To perform this service requires a real estate license and membership in local Boards..primarily so that we can list properties in what are known as the MLS (except in Central Indiana where it is now the BLC-more on that later). What is interesting is that while our owner clients may represent some of America's largest corporations, our buyers are mostly local individuals and small businesses. So, it is in everybody's best interest to provide the best and most comprehensive exposure to these properties as is possible.

In September I attended a meeting at our local Board (MIBOR). At this meeting we were provided a chart indicating that almost 23% of all listings-ytd thru August were bank owned properties (also known as REO). Now, I understand that these properties will not always be this significant in this market, but chances are they will be for the next two years and should stay in the 10-15% range thereafter. Now the interesting part...in a board with over 7000 members, there are at most 20 members listing these properties. Forget 80/20 rules! This is a 97%/3% (or something like that) rule. The 3% are running the show though and they are not too happy!

On a national scale, it is more about the Internet and all the new companies offering information and consumer choices for selling their homes. Realtors in general are composed of older people (the average age is somewhere in their 50's-btw I am 48 so this is not a slap at the age issue). It is a slap at the fact that it is a group that does not welcome a lot of change to the home buying and selling models and have yet to really figure out that the consumer does not care "who owns the listing".

So, the following series of posts are going to focus what this environment has brought in our local market. It is a little bit of a rant for me as these issues have created a lot of headaches and lost productivity for me. In addition, I have sellers all over the country telling me they are not having the same issues with their Brokers in other locations. So, I do not know what is to be concluded about our Board, but hopefuly somebody will read this and enough folks will pay attention the next time the Board chooses to ram some initiative down our throats.