Breaking up the Real Estate Cartel, Then & Now

Not sure if the article below entitled, "Breaking the Brokers," was published in Newsweek in April 2004, or on MSNBC in February 2005, when it was forwarded to me, or both. Regardless, the title reminds me of some heated debate at the Mass. Homebuyers Club’s two-day conference at the World Trade Center twelve years ago, April 2-3, 1993.

That event was called "The Consumer Revolution in Real Estate" and featured over 30 panelists from the public & private sectors (click on show program for partial list), plus keynote speakers Ralph Nader and Stephen Brobeck of the Consumer Federation of America.  One of the most controversial panels was called "Breaking up the Real Estate Cartel" and it drew sharp comments from the then president of the Mass. Association of Realtors.  Ironically, the executive director of the National association of Realtors did not deny being a cartel; instead, he told Business Week the Realtors were a "good cartel."

More than a decade later, the mainstream press, Newsweek and MSNBC omitted reference to a cartel but clearly captured the resentment consumers have for bloated real estate commissions in this article.

Breaking the Brokers

As housing prices keep heading through the roof, more sellers are balking at paying full commissions. Some agents are even joining in this homegrown rebellion

By Daniel McGinn
Newsweek
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4615817

For information on a full menu of money-savings options available to cost-conscious home buyers and sellers today, call The Real Estate Cafe at 617-661-4046 for information about our "sneak preview" February 26th and 27th at the New England Home Show at Boston's World Trade Center... the same location as the Consumer Revolution in 1993.  (Two years later, the Mass. Homebuyers Club spawned The Real Estate Cafe, one of the first fee-for-service real estate concepts in the country.)