Every new calendar year seemingly gives birth to a host of soothsayers in the real estate industry and elsewhere. Although I have read many future casts regarding the MLS, I have yet to read similar thoughtful prognostications about the future of the Realtor association. I find this to be very intriguing for a number of reasons, but especially as it relates to the association’s ability to stand on its own as a viable entity without being directly coupled with an MLS. As I travel the country working with associations, it’s become abundantly clear that one of, if not the greatest, impediment to MLS innovation/consolidation is the predominance of the association ownership structure and an over reliance on the MLS as the sole determinant of their value proposition. Where does the association’s value lie? There’s an almost unilateral belief that to decouple the MLS from the association would be the equivalent of the association’s death nell, due to an utter loss of perceived…
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