Unbeknownst to most folks, when the NAR and DOJ settled their lawsuit, home sellers came out the winners. It was recognized by both parties that homeowners have certain rights with respect to how and where their homes are listed, or not listed, for sale on the internet and MLS. See NAR-DOJ Settlement Gives Sellers Power to Control Internet Display of Their Listings.
As In Real Life, So To On the Web
Whereas homeowners could always choose NOT to have a For Sale sign sticking out of their lawn (the house I bought didn’t have one), the internet did not give websites or media companies like Z.low the right to stick a virtual lawn sign on the property. Interestingly, Z recently chose to disable their listing feature which let any Tom, Dick or Brady pee on your home, i.e., list it for sale, even though they had no consent from the homeowner or listing agent. They were doing it to catch clients, using your house as bait. (Don’t they know it’s against the law to pee in public?)
OK, Joe, so we have these rights, but how to we assert them? Good question. Download and print this sample Seller’s Instructions, sent to me byLaurie Manny, a whiz bang Realtor in Long Beach, CA and give it to your agent. It was prepared by a law firm in CA. It gives you back the power to control your homes’ marketing.
These homeowner rights include the power to:
- opt-out of automated computer valuation attached to your home [the rationale: The valuation information may not take into consideration all the positive and negative features of the property, the location, the current market or other factors. This valuation information could be positive or negative, and might encourage or discourage a potential buyer or a broker or agent from bringing a potential buyer to the Property. Funny we've been saying that for years.]
- opt-out of listing your home in the MLS AND the Internet [a homeowner has the right to privately market their home without the neighbors or the world wide web knowing about it. Duh.]
- opt-out of Q&A and reviews of your home [a homeowner need not police the Q&A and commentary concerning their homes from third party interlopers and ne're-do-wells. How can a homeowner trust media companies to police the Q&A on their websites when they don't have the resources or have the foggiest idea about what is misleading or dead wrong? Heck, they haven't even seen your home. Duh again.]
- remove inaccurate information about your home
- leave off your home address from the listing
Now, these media companies might argue: “Hey, this settlement only applies to the VOWS, IDX, MLS, NAR . We can ignore what the homeowner wants. Heck, the homeowner isn’t our target customer– we owe our allegiance to our advertisers (or our investors will not pay for our granola and cola)– BTW, don’t look at that home for sale listing, follow this ad to see foreclosures.”
Now, theirs is an apparently good argument BUT… the acknowledgement by Justice that there are such things as Home Seller Rights will give a judge plenty of justification for throwing a Kelley Blue Book at an AVM site sticking a grossly inaccurate valuation on a home for sale when the seller has said they do not want a computer sticking its hard drive in their business.
A Sellsius Prediction:
A fed up homeowner will sue an AVM real estate site to remove a grossly inaccurate computer valuation. The site will be forced to remove it (or pay lawyers gobs of money they don’t have and lose a case that would confirm they didn’t know, or care, diddley-squat about individual rights in their chase for an ad buck). The news will leak out (despite the site having the homeowner sign a non-disclosure statement) and other homeowners will demand the same accommodation. AVMs will wander the streets in disgrace, along side the sub-prime loan products.
Power to the Seller!!
Technorati Tags: NAR, DOJ, MLS, AVM
