MLS mess

SW Florida MLS dysfunction

In a world where customer-friendly graphical user interfaces and relational databases rule the day, the state of the SW Florida MLS systems are a disaster.

The various Realtor boards in the area remind me of medieval fiefdoms that seem to have forgotten their sense of purpose. They are in place to serve Realtors that fund them, not build empires at the expense of their members. The net-net is that members are forced to belong to multiple boards, enter data into multiple systems and learn how to use multiple systems.

Technology is going to fundamentally change this industry and significantly weaken the powers of these boards. Services like Trulia and Realtors like ZipRealty are coming to SW Florida. These services have slick interfaces that empower users to identify property on their own. As we have seen with self service gasoline, on-line shopping, on-line banking and many other industries, costs go down when consumers are empowered.

Maybe it is time for the big dogs of SW Florida real estate like Denny Grimes and Dave D'Alessandro to step up fix this mess.

Listings in Southwest Florida still out of sync, irking agents [Naples Daily News]

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