{"id":1310,"date":"2007-04-16T23:15:26","date_gmt":"2007-04-17T06:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=1310"},"modified":"2007-04-16T23:30:50","modified_gmt":"2007-04-17T06:30:50","slug":"open-letter-to-minneapolis-area-association-of-realtors-regards-rmls-ruling-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1310\/open-letter-to-minneapolis-area-association-of-realtors-regards-rmls-ruling-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors Regards RMLS Ruling 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following was sent to me by Steve Westmark<\/a>. He was the very first agent interviewed<\/a> by Howard Brinton for what is now known as Starpower<\/a>. He is a very nice man, who spends a great deal of his time (and money) working for Habitat For Humanity<\/a>. He and the other agents using the term “MLS” in their URL got a very<\/u> raw deal from the shortsighted people who sit on the Board of Governors for the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Open Letter to Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors<\/p>\n

Regards RMLS Ruling 13<\/p>\n

My name is Steve Westmark, a long-time agent with Counselor Realty and prior to my resignation September 2006 a long-time member of the Board of Governors at the RMLS of MN (the “Board”). Because I am, and have always made my living as a practicing Realtor, I can say that my goal while serving on the board has been to protect the interests of “practicing Realtors” as my 1st<\/sup> priority (not necessarily for brokerage “owners and operators”). In July of 2006 I made a very difficult decision to resign my position on the Board in a last resort protest of Rule 13 because I believe the Rule is not in the best interest of Realtors.<\/p>\n

I have spoken with many of you (my fellow members), there seems to be a number of misconceptions for my resigning from the Regional Board of Governors of the RMLS, and the ensuing lawsuit protesting Rule 13. I am writing the open letter in hopes that you will better understand why I believe Rule 13 is a detriment for all Realtors.<\/p>\n

My History<\/p>\n

I served and was Chairman of the MAAR MLS Committee for nearly a decade. I was involved with the task force to bring the Regional MLS into existence. As a Governor for RMLS I have served on the Technology Sub Committee, Executive Board, been involved with vendor selections, task force for bringing on new executive, but most of all wanting to be a representative for the real estate practitioner whose day-to-day use of the term “MLS” is vital and the main source for information for Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following was sent to me by Steve Westmark. He was the very first agent interviewed by Howard Brinton for what is now known as Starpower. He is a very nice man, who spends a great deal of his time (and money) working for Habitat For Humanity. He and the other agents using the term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-disintermediation","7":"category-realty-reality","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2207,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2207\/agents-using-the-term-mls-in-their-url\/","url_meta":{"origin":1310,"position":0},"title":"Agents Using the term “MLS” in Their URL","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"November 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The following email was sent to me by Steve Westmark. I posted about Steve and the Minneapolis MLS back in April. Seems the Chicago MLS got the same idea but has now changed their mind. Or should that be \"minds\"? Or \"numb skulls\"? I really do not understand how any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stupid Factory","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Stupid%20Factory.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2746,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2746\/nar-and-the-use-of-mls-in-a-url\/","url_meta":{"origin":1310,"position":1},"title":"NAR and the Use of MLS in a URL","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"March 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I've written about this before. This is an issue that just isn't going to go away. Like most oppressive rules and laws this bad rule (at least as it is currently interpreted and practiced) was a sincere attempt to solve a problem. Unfortunately, the current rule creates a whole new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MLS Stop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/mls-stop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":980,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/980\/980\/","url_meta":{"origin":1310,"position":2},"title":"If there is no Realtor monopoly — then what explains the commission structure?","author":"Cooksquared","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I asked people to humor me, I have been getting a lot of comments on the issue of monopoly. Brian Brady mentions: \"I think you're losing me a bit Michael. How are 3 million licensees in a nation of 300 million a monopoly?\" The issue is how 3\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Enduring Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Enduring Interest","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/enduring-interest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":73,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/73\/lets-go-get-sued-some-more\/","url_meta":{"origin":1310,"position":3},"title":"Let’s go get sued some more…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"At 360 Digest, an exceptionally fine real estate weblog, Marlow Harris weighs in with this idea about an incipient on-line real estate start-up:Blue Roof, like Redfin and Zip Realty, misrepresents their status as \"Realtor\" and claims to be a member of the National Association of Realtors and adhere to its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":594,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/594\/what-word-needs-to-get-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":1310,"position":4},"title":"What word needs to get out?","author":"Russell Shaw","date":"November 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Thank you, Greg! That was such a flattering (and nice) introduction - now I have to eventually write something useful or at least interesting or I've let you down. I really appreciate you making room for me like this here on your blog - that is very generous of you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16301,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16301\/whats-big-dumb-sclerotic-and-panics-on-command-a-california-association-of-realtors-member-apparently\/","url_meta":{"origin":1310,"position":5},"title":"What’s big, dumb, sclerotic and panics on command? A California Association of Realtors member, apparently.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"So this big dumb robot shows up on the front porch this morning: Believe it or not, it's from the California Association of Realtors. The robot exists to support this video: Get it? There's a meet-cute featuring pre-tween pretend robots, and this clunky piece of junk communicates... what...? My reaction?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fun With Vendorsluts"","block_context":{"text":"Fun With Vendorsluts","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/fun-with-vendorsluts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}