Transparency is an Over Used Term on the East End of Long Island

June 12th, 2009 category: Real Estate News

I read recently of the introduction of www.Streeteasy.com to the East end real estate venue.

The definition of “transparency” is as follows:

Lack of hidden agendas and conditions accompanied by the availability of full information required for collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making.

StreetEasy, much like Zillow or Trulia, offers additional exposure for properties; a very good thing.

What it does NOT OFFER is oversight of its participants. Data input is arbitrary.

The only entity currently available to consumers that insists, as part of membership, that ALL properties for sale be entered; ALL properties under contract be immediately reported; and ALL closed properties be entered, is the MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE (MLS). In our case, MLSli (Long Island). This data is immediately available.

This is considered valuable data by all areas in the country, it seems, but the Hamptons and NYC.

We don’t have to wait for quarterly reports from an outside entity to provide true market data to consumers- at least, on the North fork.

For reasons unknown to this person, the larger companies in targeted areas of the Hamptons REFUSE to offer full MLSLI participation, despite being members in other areas and complying with the requirements.

Absent under contract and closed data, the rest is pretend transparency. Unless forced to enter this data, the Hamptons will remain (much like NYC) a real estate venue deeply mistrusted by the sellers and buyers of real estate out this way. Is that a worthy aspiration?

I think not.

If another vehicle for “true transparency” enters the picture (it will clearly have to force participation from certain real estate companies in order to be acceptable) we’re on board. Until then, it’s just more of the same drivel from the companies seeking to keep under contract and sold data from a buying and selling public for reasons unknown to most of us.

I’ll say it again: an MLS is the only venue currently available to consumers that insists that members provide data intrinsic to “collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making”, due to rules put in place to insure that outcome.

That’s why it’s the most used vehicle elsewhere by real estate companies- they welcome compliance that benefits those that write our paychecks: buyers and sellers of real estate.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12th, 2009 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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