Flight to Safety?
Happy (?) Bloody Monday. Seems that as of this writing, the Dow is down over 630 points, NASDAQ down 273 points, and the S&P500 is
Happy (?) Bloody Monday. Seems that as of this writing, the Dow is down over 630 points, NASDAQ down 273 points, and the S&P500 is
Musings is a solo version of the Notorious POD in which I think out loud about issues in the economy, technology, and real estate industry.
I truly thought that one of the most significant yet mostly overlooked events of 2021 was the controversy that arose in Missoula, Montana when Brandon
Got a phone call first thing this morning from a good friend of mine, who is one of the smartest people in the industry, who
Happy 2022! May it be infinitely better than 2021 was! I thought to kick this year off with a podcast making predictions… or more accurately,
Welcome to another installment of an annual tradition around here: the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate in 2021. I look forward to this
I often get accused of being a doom-monger. It’s probably because I kind of am. I mean, I find doomporn fascinating (and clearly, I’m not
The busy season continues, as I just got off the road and am getting back on it come Monday. But I did find time to
In Part 1, I speculated on the obvious first-order regulations headed our way as an industry, as well as the need for further regulation and enforcement mechanisms that those top-level regulations will create. In particular, I thought that the government (whether FTC or someone else) will need to figure out how to get information and data from the industry and provide oversight:
However I think these things through, I can’t escape the fact that any government regulation of these rules and policies requires if not regulation of the MLS, at least direct oversight of the MLS. At a minimum, it requires data collection and/or reporting from the MLS to whatever enforcement agency to make sure that the rules and regulations are being followed appropriately.
Just like mortgage banks and health insurance companies are required to submit information and reports to regulators, the MLS will have to be required to submit information and reports to regulators. And that’s at a minimum. At the maximum is total government control, a government-operated listings exchange.
The reality, I thought, was somewhere in between minimal reporting requirements and government-operated listing exchanges.
Turns out, there is a model already existing, already successful, and already operating that fits rather perfectly: FINRA, or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. A RINRA, or the Realty Industry Regulatory Authority, would accomplish almost everything the government wants to accomplish, win support from huge segments of the industry, as well as garner support from the think tanks, media, influencers and the various nonprofits that want to see the real estate industry change.
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