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"Are the votes publicly available? I absolutely would not choose a Realtor I knew voted against showing the addresses."
I could only wish! The vote that I brought up was voted down by a majority of the MLS committee members. Now, you can view a list of the committee members at the Huntsville Association of Realtors website under About HAAR -> HAAR Board. Then, look under NALMLS Officers 2009. You can look and figure that at least 50% of the people on that list decided to table the address motion.
Don't get me wrong, there are some good people on that list that are in favor of addresses. There just weren't enough of them.
The biggest opponent (well, really 2nd) of addresses in our area is also on that list. He has spoken many times against them.
Seth can you provide any additional insight as to the reasons behind the votes against?
My (admitedly limited) awareness of the resistance, is not so much for agent "gate keeping", as alluded to in this string, as it is a common seller preference. I suppose to minimize excessive drive bys, perhaps even knocks or calls from unrepresented and unqualified buyers,.... It is my understanding (again limited) that if addresses are included in Valley MLS, the current technology is such that the only way to keep it from being made public, if a seller requests, would be to also keep it out of the regular MLS, and that is largely why there remains so much resistance. (if true, better technology is needed)
Trust me. I WANT addresses displayed. I have had THREE calls today off of my website, wanting addresses. When asked if they had an agent, all 3 do.
I'm nice enough to provide them what they need...wish everyone had the same attitude.
I was not able to attend the meeting this week. (Not that it would have mattered). I won't miss the next one!
Seth and I both catch a good deal of grief, trust me. (As some of you have witnessed right here on City Data). It isn't pretty going against the norm....but we can take it
Seth can you provide any additional insight as to the reasons behind the votes against?
My (admitedly limited) awareness of the resistance, is not so much for agent "gate keeping", as alluded to in this string, as it is a common seller preference. I suppose to minimize excessive drive bys, perhaps even knocks or calls from unrepresented and unqualified buyers,.... It is my understanding (again limited) that if addresses are included in Valley MLS, the current technology is such that the only way to keep it from being made public, if a seller requests, would be to also keep it out of the regular MLS, and that is largely why there remains so much resistance. (if true, better technology is needed)
Well, to be honest, it is entirely agent "gate keeping". Every seller I have ever talked to wants the addresses displayed because it helps minimize wasted time. Of course, there will always be people that don't want their home's address available to the public. That's ok. They should have that choice.
Buyers can do their own research and it actually helps to provide a more serious buyer. By the time they contact their agent, they've more than likely already driven by the property and are satisfied with what they've seen to this point. Why schedule a showing on a house that could have easily been eliminated by the buyer had they known the address?
Truth be told, of all the reasons that Realtors have argued to me over the years, seller preference has never been one of them. The technology for a seller requested "black out" of address is alive and well and easy to implement. It would only take an additional checkbox within the form that we already fill out to enter the listing in to the MLS.
I really wish that the reason we didn't have addresses were because sellers didn't want them. Would I be happy? No, but I could live with it because it would be their choice and not ours.
It is my understanding (again limited) that if addresses are included in Valley MLS, the current technology is such that the only way to keep it from being made public, if a seller requests, would be to also keep it out of the regular MLS, and that is largely why there remains so much resistance. (if true, better technology is needed)
Its not a technology issue at all. Actually it would be quite simple to abide by a sellers request not to have their address displayed publicly on Valley MLS and still have agents access their location information on NALMS. They are two different websites one private the other public.
If there is a problem it is likely procedural or legal, its certainly not technological. Besides most of the rest of the country is already displaying addresses publicly.
Portland OR was the last major metro area to give up on not showing them, so this trail has been blazed and I truly suspect a majority of sellers would want their homes location known for the drive-bys
hey some of them would likely be smart enough to list their home with an Exclusive Agency Contract instead of an Exclusive Right to Sell contract ...um this type of seller would really like all the drive-bys then.
Well, to be honest, it is entirely agent "gate keeping". Every seller I have ever talked to wants the addresses displayed because it helps minimize wasted time. Of course, there will always be people that don't want their home's address available to the public. That's ok. They should have that choice.
Buyers can do their own research and it actually helps to provide a more serious buyer. By the time they contact their agent, they've more than likely already driven by the property and are satisfied with what they've seen to this point. Why schedule a showing on a house that could have easily been eliminated by the buyer had they known the address?
Truth be told, of all the reasons that Realtors have argued to me over the years, seller preference has never been one of them. The technology for a seller requested "black out" of address is alive and well and easy to implement. It would only take an additional checkbox within the form that we already fill out to enter the listing in to the MLS.
I really wish that the reason we didn't have addresses were because sellers didn't want them. Would I be happy? No, but I could live with it because it would be their choice and not ours.
Sellers tell you they want addresses shown on Valley MLS because it minimizes wasted time? Interesting, surely it doesn't save the seller's time, and I doubt many sellers even think about, never mind care about the agent's time. Afterall, many think they're paying too high of commissions anyway, so why wouldn't they want more of their agent's time focussed on selling their house?
Perhaps some of the motivation against addresses is in fact "gate keeping", but it seems like motivation for including addresses is lazy or low/no service agents, like the old mentaility of "put a sign in the yard and they'll come", collect your commission and move on to the next victim who will loan their house for an agent to advertise from.
Sellers tell you they want addresses shown on Valley MLS because it minimizes wasted time? Interesting, surely it doesn't save the seller's time, and I doubt many sellers even think about, never mind care about the agent's time. Afterall, many think they're paying too high of commissions anyway, so why wouldn't they want more of their agent's time focussed on selling their house?
Perhaps some of the motivation against addresses is in fact "gate keeping", but it seems like motivation for including addresses is lazy or low/no service agents, like the old mentaility of "put a sign in the yard and they'll come", collect your commission and move on to the next victim who will loan their house for an agent to advertise from.
I'm not trying to turn this into an argument. I get enough of that from the agents that don't want addresses. Your above statement is pretty sad, though. I could give you every reason in the book why it is beneficial to sellers, their agents, and buyers to have addresses publicly displayed if the seller so chose, but it wouldn't matter. You are obviously looking to pick a fight and a bad one at that.
As for the rest of your comment, sorry, but "it seems like motivation for including addresses is lazy or low/no service agents" is probably the most ludicrous statement I've ever heard regarding the issue, and I've heard some damn stupid ones. So please, if you can't contribute anything productive to the conversation or at least make a cohesive argument as to why you disagree with people that want addresses, move along. You're better than that.
I'm not trying to turn this into an argument. I get enough of that from the agents that don't want addresses. Your above statement is pretty sad, though. I could give you every reason in the book why it is beneficial to sellers, their agents, and buyers to have addresses publicly displayed if the seller so chose, but it wouldn't matter. You are obviously looking to pick a fight and a bad one at that.
As for the rest of your comment, sorry, but "it seems like motivation for including addresses is lazy or low/no service agents" is probably the most ludicrous statement I've ever heard regarding the issue, and I've heard some damn stupid ones. So please, if you can't contribute anything productive to the conversation or at least make a cohesive argument as to why you disagree with people that want addresses, move along. You're better than that.
No argument here, I haven't taken a side from which to argue for or against public display of addresses. I am trying to understand the pros and cons. Since you are an agent with a strong opinion on the topic of addresses I thought you could inform those of us who are not as familiar with the issue. Isn't that the purpose of public forums, to share helpful information? I assume there are reasons for your strong feelings other than just wanting to go against the status quo.
Please do share reasons from "the book" or make a cohesive argument. If it truly is beneficial to buyers and sellers perhaps consumers can affect change if you can't and/or other agents will support your cause. But consumers and agents alike would need to understand how / why it is beneficial. I searched, but haven't found a consumer oriented reason productive to supporting your opinion. I have found only that listing agents are bothered by phone calls and that addresses are included in most other MLS services. Home buyers & sellers care only about what works best for them, not the agent's phone time nor how things are done somewhere else. All I've found from your posts and your web site is berating and putting down others. I'm sure it is true about some agents, there are incompetent people in every industry. However, none of it has led to any relevant facts.
Home buyers & sellers care only about what works best for them
Exactly!
One good analogy and fact, might be the number of home sellers that allow signs to be placed in their yard and yes a few choose not to. Why do home sellers place signs in their yard? ...um perhaps they want the people who are driving by, their neighbors, and anyone else to spread the word that their home is FOR SALE. Sure take a flyer or two and pass it along to your friends put it on the bulletin board at work - address displayed prominently.
Fact #2 Make a visit to for sale by owner .com and scan the Huntsville listings and see if you can find one home seller in that crowd who is not advertising their address. There may be a few but I could not find any. ...its their personal phone number and email they don't want to publicize and these sites provide this anonymity.
Fact #3 listing agents are allowed in Huntsville to publicly display the addresses of their own listings with their clients consent. ...seems like lots and lots of these clients are more than happy to get their addresses out to the public for drive-bys just take a look at craigslist, truila, and other national sites, along with any individual Realtor local sites and you'll find tons of Huntsville addresses spread all over the place.
Why not just make it easier for buyers to get addresses and sellers to publicize theirs if they want to? A Valley MLS with addresses would be an ideal solution for these buyers and sellers, which I feel make up a huge majority of consumers with only a few sellers not participating. These focus groups have been conducted and the result is in. Surely you don't think that every major metro area in the country would start a practice that a majority of their clients would not want. Sure some sellers, a very small minority, don't want this thus they can opt out. ...It's simple really.
As a home seller, I personally would want as much exposure to my home as possible ...internet, drive bys, mls, national sites, etc. I bet others potential home sellers on city data feel the same way.
...and although you have taken your profession off your profile and don't link to any website, when you first got here it was listed as Realtor ...guess you didn't vote since you don't have an opinion one way or the other or perhaps you are no longer a Realtor?
My wife Elizabeth_G is a Realtor (you'll note that little house next to her name) and thus I was fortunate enough to get to read the for and against arguments presented to members before the vote last fall. On local broker argued for addresses and the entirety of his argument was consumer based another local broker argued against addresses and his argument was simply 'don't give away the shop'.
One good analogy and fact, might be the number of home sellers that allow signs to be placed in their yard and yes a few choose not to. Why do home sellers place signs in their yard? ...um perhaps they want the people who are driving by, their neighbors, and anyone else to spread the word that their home is FOR SALE. Sure take a flyer or two and pass it along to your friends put it on the bulletin board at work - address displayed prominently.
Fact #2 Make a visit to for sale by owner .com and scan the Huntsville listings and see if you can find one home seller in that crowd who is not advertising their address. There may be a few but I could not find any. ...its their personal phone number and email they don't want to publicize and these sites provide this anonymity.
Fact #3 listing agents are allowed in Huntsville to publicly display the addresses of their own listings with their clients consent. ...seems like lots and lots of these clients are more than happy to get their addresses out to the public for drive-bys just take a look at craigslist, truila, and other national sites, along with any individual Realtor local sites and you'll find tons of Huntsville addresses spread all over the place.
Why not just make it easier for buyers to get addresses and sellers to publicize theirs if they want to? A Valley MLS with addresses would be an ideal solution for these buyers and sellers, which I feel make up a huge majority of consumers with only a few sellers not participating. These focus groups have been conducted and the result is in. Surely you don't think that every major metro area in the country would start a practice that a majority of their clients would not want. Sure some sellers, a very small minority, don't want this thus they can opt out. ...It's simple really.
As a home seller, I personally would want as much exposure to my home as possible ...internet, drive bys, mls, national sites, etc. I bet others potential home sellers on city data feel the same way.
...and although you have taken your profession off your profile and don't link to any website, when you first got here it was listed as Realtor ...guess you didn't vote since you don't have an opinion one way or the other or perhaps you are no longer a Realtor?
My wife Elizabeth_G is a Realtor (you'll note that little house next to her name) and thus I was fortunate enough to get to read the for and against arguments presented to members before the vote last fall. On local broker argued for addresses and the entirety of his argument was consumer based another local broker argued against addresses and his argument was simply 'don't give away the shop'.
Thank you Tim, those are helpful explanations.
I sure don't get the anti-address argument to "give away the shop". Seems to me that if a buyer drives by and likes the house it might mean the listing agent gets the full commission.
Thank you Tim, those are helpful explanations.
I sure don't get the anti-address argument to "give away the shop". Seems to me that if a buyer drives by and likes the house it might mean the listing agent gets the full commission.
Yes exactly ...I don't get it either on the listing side
One argument I have heard is that the more calls you get, the more leads you get, and since its a numbers game, one is surely to convert a percentage of these calls into new buyer clients even if they don't buy one of your listings.
This may especially be the case if you have a team and need to feed your buyer specialists a steady stream of leads to work. ...some suggest that all the email and phone calls generated just to request addresses is a nice supplement to sign calls and your referral network and can assist in keeping buyer specialists productive.
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