New member joins bid for '.MLS' domain
16 MLSs backing effort to obtain ICANN approval
By Inman News, Monday, May 24, 2010.The Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service is the newest member of the MLS Domains Association, a nonprofit company formed in March to create and manage a new "generic" top-level Internet domain: .MLS.
A total of 16 MLSs have signed up to date as founding members of the MLS Domains Association, each paying more than $13,000 in fees that could be lost if the effort does not succeed.
The group has estimated it will need to raise about $185,000 in order file an application to obtain and manage the .MLS domain with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Backers of the effort hope that at least 175 of the nation's roughly 900 MLSs will sign up by the fourth quarter of 2010, not only to cover the cost of the application process but to demonstrate that the MLS Domains Association represents the industry.
The group wants to make the .MLS top-level domain available only to multiple listing services, so that consumers can distinguish them from third-party listing sites. U.S. trademark law doesn't allow MLSs to claim exclusive use to the term "multiple listing service," and third-party companies that are not MLSs have claimed .COM or .NET domain names that include the term MLS.
If the effort succeeds, Cameron Paine, CEO of the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc., questions in a recent white paper whether the public will know -- or care -- that the .MLS domain has been reserved for multiple listings services.
Third-party websites that don't remove outdated listings are sometimes incorrectly perceived by the public as more comprehensive than MLS sites, he noted.
"If we have not been able to educate the public on this single core difference between MLS and non-MLS sites, how can we possibly expect them to care about the .MLS domain?" Paine writes. "The simple fact is that if we move to the .MLS, the public will continue to search in the .com environment for listings -- just not on our MLS websites."
Creating a .MLS domain will not stop third parties from using ".com" domains that include MLS, Paine concludes. "As a result, we end up spending time, money, and resources on something that will not correct the problem."
The MLS Domains Association recently published details on the fees and benefits it's offering founding members. According to the group's website:
- The cost for founder status is a one-time fee of $13,333
- The entire amount of the fee is "at-risk." If there's not enough industry support to apply to ICANN for the .MLS top-level domain, or if the Association's application is rejected, founding members will not receive their money back.
- Founders can claim up to 10 domains during "founders sunrise," from June 15-July 29.
- Claim fees are $800 per domain, and founders receive $10,000 in credits. In other words, founders that claim 13 domains will recover $10,000 of their $13,333 fee.
The 15 previously announced founding members of the MLS Domains Association are: Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc., Austin Board of Realtors/ACTRIS, Carolina Multiple Listing Services Inc., First Multiple Listing Service Inc., Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc., Midwest Real Estate Data LLC, Multi Regional Multiple Listing Service, Multiple Listing Service Inc., My Florida Regional MLS, Realcomp II Ltd., Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale, Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota Inc., Southern California Multiple Listing Service, TREND MLS, and Triangle Multiple Listing Service.
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Submitted by Bruce Hahn on May 24, 2010 - 5:27am.
American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance
The term "multiple listing service" is a generic phrase that by its nature could just as easily apply to a multiple listing service for cars as one for homes. Creating a .MLS domain would therefor be confusing and unfair because it would preclude the creation of a .MLS domain by auto dealers or other business sectors. If the MLS Domains Association wants their own domain that's fine, but they should add some additional information that makes it clear that this domain is related to a real estate multiple listing service. A domain name such as .HOMESMLS would solve that problem and would also be more recognizable to home buyers and sellers. If Realcomp II Ltd. wins its legal appeal against the Federal Trade Commission, it might want to suggest that the MLS Domains Association recognize their contribution and call it the .6%HOMESMLS.
Submitted by randye britt on May 24, 2010 - 6:14am.
ok before these folks get your mls money lets see if we can find some group that might fight this in court and possibly win, next time you are watching tv go to the sports scroll and watch MLS games dates,times etc scroll by, Major League Soccer MLS hmm i dont personally watch soccer but with the world focusing on the upcoming world soccer or football games i would believe Major League Soccer lawyers might want to weigh in and since it is a feature on both Dish and Direct and hundreds of other cable or cat providers it might reach class action against the listing folks. also go to yahoo and type in mls you will get MLS.COM and major league soccer on the first page of your search. what will you do about this as my Google page rank gives 4 of 10 to major league soccer and 5 of 10 to MLS.COM, good speed, and May God Bless us all.
Submitted by Jim Hodson on May 24, 2010 - 6:18am.
As an industry driven initiative to address a non existent problem as perceived by the consumer, the technology costs are going to be nothing compared to the educational cost of convincing the consumer they should care. Based on this fact alone, it seems doomed from the start.
Seems like a last ditch effort to address a competitive barrier whose walls have already been breached.
As a buyer of a number of houses, I found the house first, looked at a few sites to gather data and used my agent as sounding board. I would not have cared whether it was a .com or a .net or a .mls.
Submitted by Paul Howard on May 24, 2010 - 6:31am.
They are going for a sponsored TLD. Info here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponsored_top-level_domain
-- Given that currently the public does not always have the access required to search 'the' relevant MLS I don't see that convincing the public is necessary or useful. They still may have to go to a non-MLS source. Give the public access and they will find the 'relevant' MLS -- .MLS or not. Given that (I could be mistaken too) I don't see the advantage of .MLS.
-- So after the entire country is one MLS, the membership will consist of one Class 2 member? I wonder how they are going to handle international membership. Country subdomains?
-- I don't like that the Bylaws include in the definition of an MLS that they support "offers of compensation among brokers." I think the DOJ should nix that. Buyer's agents and seller's agents should independently determine their own fees by negotiating with the client they seek to represent. Having the listing office 'offer' the buyer's agent a fee (which is often accepted) is out dated and anti-competitive.
Paul Howard, Broker
www.FaceBook.com/HomeBuyers
NJHomeBuyer.com Realty
Cherry Hill NJ 08002
Submitted by Victor Lund on May 24, 2010 - 7:32am.
With all due respect - there are many non-agent, non-broker websites on .com with inaccurate and corruptly obtained listing data. The data is sometimes used as bait to mislead consumers into entering their contact information - the consumer information is then resold.
There is little legal remedy under the .com domain that allows listing data owners to protect their data rights and/or enforce their data rights.
The concept of .MLS is that consumers would be educated to know that the listing data appearing on any .MLS domain is valid - and backed by a commitment under the domain registration rules to abide by the policies or have your domain name turned off.
If the .MLS strategy is effective, it could wrangle consumers away from shopping for properties on non-agent/broker websites - serving consumers and agent/brokers in the best possible way.
Victor Lund
Partner
WAV Group
http://waves.wavgroup.com
http://www.wavgroup.com
Submitted by Fielding Lamason on May 24, 2010 - 8:56am.
This is a fascinating issue. Several questions come to mind with this initiative. Does a consumer normally type in the domain suffix ".com" when researching the internet? Are consumers familiar with "MLS" as an acronym and using the term freely in commerce? Isn't the MLS "system" a broker and agent-facing service? What are the metrics on business that is being pulled away from MLSs by non-MLS websites? Would the money spent on establishing the new top level domain be better spent on marketing the brand of existing MLS? Is the exclusivity caused by the scarce number of MLSs made available by the organization going to divide the MLS community?
Fielding E. Lamason, Jr., Founder and President
Synergy Real Estate Conultants, LLC
www.synergyseattle.com
Submitted by Paul Howard on May 24, 2010 - 11:33am.
I still don't get the advantage. IDX and VOW sites which get their content from MLS data feeds are supposedly accurate (at least if the feed is accurate) yet they are not going to be .MLS .
MLS systems are generally (as mentioned) broker/agent facing. If there is a plan to change that then IDX and VOW sites will be competing with them and any implication that to be accurate the site must me .MLS will hurt brokers and agents using them. If this has to do with search engine rankings it is apparent that it is not about broker facing sites.
Based on the definition in the bylaws (This is a 501c(6) non profit trade organization)quote " "MLS" or "Multiple Listing Service" means a legal entity that aggregates, maintains and distributes listing data among real estate brokers and appraisers and supports offers of compensation among brokers; that is operated for the benefit of participating brokers; and that is representative of at least one geographic market. The Board of Directors of the Association shall have sole authority to interpret this definition." - end quote
(I guess Inman took down the hot link to the bylaws.)
More info here: http://mlsdomains.org/
There may be an agenda here that is not yet apparent.
Paul Howard, Broker
www.FaceBook.com/HomeBuyers
NJHomeBuyer.com Realty
Cherry Hill NJ 08002
Submitted by Brian Larson on May 25, 2010 - 6:33pm.
Disclaimer: My company is acting as general agent for MLS Domains Association, so I'm definitely not unbiased with regard to it.
I just posted about this on my blog: http://bit.ly/dhqPyn.
Some notes:
1. Major League Soccer: It's possible they will apply for .MLS, but more likely they will seek something useful to them, like .SOCCER. Major League Soccer has no trademark or IP rights in "MLS" with regard to real estate multiple listing service.
2. Paul: Not a sponsored TLD, but a new generic top-level domain. See www.ICANN.org and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_top-level_domain for details.
3. Definition of MLS: To join the MLS Domains Association, an MLS must "support" offers of compensation, but it need not require them. This is MORE flexible than the current NAR definition of MLS, which REQUIRES brokers to make offers of comp (and should, if anything, make DOJ happier campers).
4. Victor: Right on!
5. .MLS vs IDX and VOW: Whether an MLS operates a public-facing listings web site will still be a local matter. MLS Domains Association is agnostic on the issue of public-facing MLS listings web sites. For example, some member MLSs are planning to use sites at .MLS domains as clearing-houses to link out to broker IDX sites.
I'm proud of this effort because of its vision and the great folks who have committed to it.
MLS Domains Association and I welcome your questions and comments at www.MLSDoains.org.
-Brian
Submitted by John Mosey on May 26, 2010 - 10:33am.
John W. Mosey, President
Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc.
As one of the founding MLS organizations behind the .MLS initiative, we found the proposition of doing "something" more responsible than watching events unfold around us.
This is particularly so when one acknowledges that MLS represents a "brand" with strong consumer (and professional) recognition of the effectiveness of its function and purpose.
We all see the examples of the misuse of the term MLS by businesses seeking uplift from tying their value proposition to the MLS identity. In Cameron Paine's submission, he observes that if the purpose of the MLS Domains Association "...is to overcome the problematic use of MLS in the .com environment by launching an entirely new .MLS domain, they are misguided in their expected results." His reasoning is, essentially, that the public neither knows or cares where they find listing data, nor do they care about its quality; therefore, why bother.
I believe that Cameron's reasoning is misguided and short-sighted. We already know that "MLS" communicates value. We also know that that value is too often debased by "the problematic use of MLS".
We can accept the posture that "Ye who enter here should give up all hope", or as the MLS Domains Association has so well articulated, begin a process for reclaiming the definition, understanding and expectation of what MLS is and does.
As is said, there are those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.
Cameron expressed concern that MLS's may be forced into making defensive buys of domain names. Possible, but not necessarily the case insofar as the MLS Domains Association has made it clear that it will not allow "poaching". As well, there is no requirement for anyone to buy any domain names.
Heck, as a founder, we get to reserve 10 names and I'm very hard-pressed to get up to 5.
It doesn't require much in terms of investment for any MLS to help create a better future by supporting the efforts of the MLS Domains Association. That "better future" will mean that any URL ending in the .MLS domain means that the content of that site is truly, unequivocally MLS.
Submitted by Cameron Paine on May 27, 2010 - 1:16pm.
I am as sympathetic to the goal of recapturing the definition and use of the term "MLS" as anyone could be. However, the MLS Domain Association is banking on their ability to change consumer habits on the internet which, with a mountain of evidence weighing against our ability to do so, will not happen.
As much as I would like to support the cause, as I described in my white paper on the subject, the path the MLS Domains Association has chosen is unworkable and unwinnable.
Cameron Paine
CEO
Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc.
Submitted by John Mosey on May 28, 2010 - 8:15am.
John W. Mosey, President
Regional MLS of Minnesota, Inc.
Consumer behavior changes all of the time. All that is necessary is making known a better way.
By way of evidence, look at how consumers run ahead of our industry in terms of what they want to know, how they want to know it and when.
Cameron observes with great certainty that "the path chosen by the MLS Domains Association is unworkable and unwinnable."
The only certainty that I can assure in this matter is that doing nothing is not an option if you believe that "MLS" as a brand has value and that value should benefit the professional real estate community.
Submitted by Matt Carter on May 28, 2010 - 10:47am.
MLS Domains Association reports two more new members -- Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors and Florida Gulf Coast Multiple Listing Service Inc. -- bringing total membership to 18.
http://twitter.com/DotMLS