By Lee Cooley, Scottsdale REALTORS®
At the Dec. 19 Fountain Hills RMS meeting, Rob Cannon introduced guest speaker Arizona REALTORS® CEO Scott Drucker who started by inviting questions from attendees.
MCO Realty Designated Broker Michael Gant asked about the Phoenix Association of REALTORS® MLS Choice option and Drucker responded in part as follows.
“We know that with ARMLS you do not have to be a REALTOR® to access the multiple listing service. You must have a real estate license, but you do not have to be a REALTOR®. What the Phoenix Association has done is they’ve created what NAR has deemed to be a secondary form of membership which purports to allow real estate licensees to become members of PAR without becoming a member of the Arizona Association of REALTORS® or NAR.
“Even if PAR is allowed to create this membership, individuals who opt for MLS Choice would be deciding, “I’m not going to be a REALTOR®” — meaning they have no right to use the term REALTOR® or any REALTOR® designations. So, those individuals would have to redo their marketing, their branding, their signs, their advertising, their website. They couldn’t stay with their current brokerage if that designated broker is a REALTOR®. They would have to move to whatever spinoff brokerage has been created.
“They would not have access to AAR benefits, including TransactionDesk®, Authentisign, Breeze for fillable disclosures, the AAR Legal Hotline or Tech Helpline™. And if they get into a commission dispute but are not a REALTOR®, they can’t come to the state association to mediate and arbitrate it. They may instead end up in court.
“To my knowledge, (MLS Choice) provides access to eight or so different standard transaction forms. At Arizona REALTORS®, we have more than 70 forms and advisories, and we protect our copyrighted material. A couple of years ago, there was a non-REALTOR® real estate licensee who used our Purchase Contract. We sent her a cease-and-desist letter and she agreed to stop. A couple months later, she submitted another offer using an Arizona REALTORS® form. We sued her and ultimately secured a judgment in the amount of $70,000.
“If someone makes the decision to join the MLS Choice program, they won’t have access to any REALTOR® benefits. It’s not that we’re trying to exclude anyone, it’s that we’re a trade association. We offer benefits and services to our members like any other trade association.
“Yesterday, the National Association of REALTORS® sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Phoenix Association of REALTORS® to protect and enforce the NAR Constitution and bylaws and defend the Three-Way Agreement. They were instructed to abandon the program or potentially lose their charter.”
“I support competition and NAR does not require that real estate professionals be members of a REALTOR® association to access an MLS, but is it the role of a REALTOR® association to compete against REALTORS®?
“Think of it this way, say you’re a McDonald’s franchise. Can you suddenly make the decision that you’re going to sell Burger King Whoppers in your McDonald’s? No. Are you saying that Burger King shouldn’t exist? No, but you shouldn’t be able to buy Burger King in McDonald’s. That’s what the National Association of REALTORS® is saying. REALTOR® associations are there to support REALTORS®, not try to incentivize them to give up their membership to save roughly two hundred dollars a year.
“Our job at the State Association is to continue to provide you with as many benefits and services as we can. If you’ve got ideas for member benefits, give us the ideas. Tell us what you’re looking for — what do you need that we’re not providing?”