As other comments have stated, it is so much more than a simple technical problem. An entire web of "ethics" rules and well-funded politicians presents a formidable barrier to change. For true blood-boiling outrage, read the very sharp analysis of how the industry is rigged in this report submitted to the FTC a few years ago: http://www.savvybroker.com/Nine-Pillars-Citadel-aRealEstateC...
As technologists, try reading each of the points in this report as network partitions, and design a solution to route around the information block. There are various approaches available now to bypass some of these rules.
Alas, they can rewrite the rules, too, as necessary. For example, in Texas realtors were taking bulk listings from builders and investors for a flat fee of $150 and putting the data in the MLS, but nothing else. Since this was a direct attack on the semi-fixed price of 6% commissions, the Texas Association of Realtors got their politician lackeys to pass a new law, requiring "minimum professional services" from all Texas real estate license holders. This fixed price posting still goes on a bit, but not in bulk anymore. Any technical routing around of the MLS must expect the Borg to counterattack.
The realtor associations even violate their own rules, and/or keep their rules vague, so when the time comes they slap everyone around by giving them days to comply or they are cut off from MLS. (That cuts off an entire brokerage when one agent is out of compliance.) With that kind of career-ending leverage, they are quite effective in keeping the sharecroppers down on the farm, and paid up on their dues.
I have never been a realtor, but I did follow a carefully laid out plan to be licensed and still avoid the Borg, which the realtor association ignored completely. Feel free to contact me if you want to share stories and ideas.
As technologists, try reading each of the points in this report as network partitions, and design a solution to route around the information block. There are various approaches available now to bypass some of these rules.
Alas, they can rewrite the rules, too, as necessary. For example, in Texas realtors were taking bulk listings from builders and investors for a flat fee of $150 and putting the data in the MLS, but nothing else. Since this was a direct attack on the semi-fixed price of 6% commissions, the Texas Association of Realtors got their politician lackeys to pass a new law, requiring "minimum professional services" from all Texas real estate license holders. This fixed price posting still goes on a bit, but not in bulk anymore. Any technical routing around of the MLS must expect the Borg to counterattack.
The realtor associations even violate their own rules, and/or keep their rules vague, so when the time comes they slap everyone around by giving them days to comply or they are cut off from MLS. (That cuts off an entire brokerage when one agent is out of compliance.) With that kind of career-ending leverage, they are quite effective in keeping the sharecroppers down on the farm, and paid up on their dues.
I have never been a realtor, but I did follow a carefully laid out plan to be licensed and still avoid the Borg, which the realtor association ignored completely. Feel free to contact me if you want to share stories and ideas.