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The issue here, and the reason for DOJ interest, is whether or not the MLS is impeding competition by it's rules and regulations. Columbia MLS rules are constructed to keep competition and new models from entering the marketplace in Columbia. For instance, a rule that your licensed real estate, Realtor member company cannot join an MLS because the company's ofice location is not within 50 miles of the city is clearly designed to keep out newer models. The 'old boy' system there actually hurts consumers by not allowing choices in real estate services. The proper way to handle issues like whether or not the seller mistakenly believes that they should get assistance from buyer's agents is through informed consent and disclosure, not imposition of rules designed to protect one class of Realtor or business model over another. Limiting consumer choice by effecting rules that favor one type of model over another isn't allowed in any other professional industry and shouldn't be tolerated in our profession either.
Perhaps the reason agents are seen as untrustworthy is because the traditional, commissioned based model is set up in such a way as to make the incentives for agents and clients at odds with one another. I believe Inman reported on a study of Chicago real estate agents that showed that real estate agents hold out for better offers and get higher sales prices when selling their own homes than they do when they sell the homes of their clients. The reason is fairly obvious. Under the traditional commission based model, an agent's incentive is to sell homes quickly. A fast sale cuts down on advertising costs and work hours utilized by the agent and their staff. Holding out for a higher price for their clients only marginally increases the agents's bottom line and, when ad costs and time are factored in, can actually make for a wash or loss in terms of additional compensation. From an objective viewpoint, you'd have to agree that there's a lot that doesn't make sense with the traditional model. I mean, where else can a professional earn the same amount of compensation for a job that takes 6 days to complete as they can for a job that takes 6 months? Apparently the amount of time involved in the job has no relation to value. Where else can a professional who has 1 month of experience charge the same rate as one with 10 years of experience? Apparently experience has no relation to value. And, where else can someone perform approximately the same amount of work on a $200,000 property as they do on a $1,000,000 property and yet receive a difference in compensation of $48,000?!!! Apparently the amount of work involved has no relation to value either. If agents want to improve their image, they should devise methods or models for doing business that provide for them to be compensated in ways that are commensurate with the with the actual service provided, the amount of work involved and the time spent providing the service. Then we can begin to again build confidence and trust with consumers.