Don't reinvent MLS 'wheel'

Re: 'CALMLS plans to acquire one or more MLSs' (Jan. 16)

Dear Editor:

As a longtime Realtor I have been an advocate of one statewide MLS for several decades now but it always amazes me how various groups come up with new ideas and seem to ignore work already done. In Southern California we saw the merger of the Long Beach board with the West Orange board in the 1980s. This gradually evolved into MLSAlliance. (CARETS has also sprung up.)

Today we have another group, CALMLS, with another "new" idea. Databases and the software to run them is expensive. Merging various boards is difficult in both legal and personal terms. Why not use MLSAlliance and CARETS as a growth platform to the Statewide MLS goal and stop reinventing the wheel?

How long can we afford to throw out all the good work that has been done in order to redo the same -- perhaps expanded -- program? As a Realtor paying my dues, I do not want the money invested in current systems squandered for a "new" wheel. Expand upon what we have. Make it better. Don't start all over and waste more money.

Just one Realtor's opinion.

James Taylor
Realtor
Long Beach, Calif.

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