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I've been trying to figure this out as well. I'm not familiar with the real estate market but this smells of rent-seeking (e.g. regulatory capture) or a price-f
by brbsix 10y ago
I've been trying to figure this out as well. I'm not familiar with the real estate market but this smells of rent-seeking (e.g. regulatory capture) or a price-fixing cartel.
- michaelt 10y agoAssume there's some bullshit legislation that will take $10 off 10,000 people and give $1,000 to 100 people. And assume the cost of lobbying for or against some legislation is $20. A bit of your time, a letter or two, travel costs to lobby your representative or attend a demonstration, whatever. For the people who are going to get $1,000 it makes sense to spend $20 lobbying for the bullshit legislation. The people who are going to lose $10 barely bother lobbying against it. I figure this is the reason the home buying process involves so much bullshit compared to buying anything else.
- Spooky23 10y agoIt's a cartel. The local "Realtor" association operates the MLS.
- ZoeZoeBee 10y agoThe National Association Of Realtors is one of the largest spenders on lobbying every year in the US. They spend tens of millions of dollars every year lobbying members of congress. This is an industry prime for disruption. As Millenials begin to garner a larger share of the housing market I would not be surprised to see the involvement of realtors waining http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s&showYear=2016 http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s&showYea... http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000062&year=2016 http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000062...