<HTML> <HEAD> <title>WebForm1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1"> <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1"> <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"> <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'> </HEAD> <body > <TABLE id="Table1" cellSpacing="1" cellPadding="1" width="100%" border="0"> <TR> <TD><b>Comment Number:</b></TD> <TD>518795-00005</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>9/16/2005 12:00:44 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Leizinger, Mary</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>MN</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Agency:</b></TD> <TD>Federal Trade Commission</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Rule:</b></TD> <TD>Competition Policy and the Real Estate Industry</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Docket ID:</b></TD> <TD>To Be Added</TD> </TR> <TR> <td colspan='2'>No Attachments</td> </TR> </TABLE> <hr/> <b>Comments:</b><br/><br/> The DOJ's alegations that the real estate industry is somehow harming consumers via the internet policy of the National Association of Realtors is laughable. In what other industry is a business required to provide their inventory to their competitor for the benefit of their competitor? If the DOJ is concerned that a consumer won't see every possible home that is for sale at any given web site it is an impossible task. An estimated 10-20% of all homes are never listed with a broker. There are legions of homeowners, who in this robust real estate market of the last decade, simply placed a sign on their lawn, ran an ad in a newspaper or other periodical or mentioned that they were thinking of selling their home to a friend, neighbor or colleague and a sale resulted -- in spite of all of the technology benefits available through the internet. The internet is an nothing but an advertising medium for brokers - plain and simple. Broker's own their listings. Brokers should be able to determine when, where and how their listings are advertisied. If brokers don't want to provide their inventory to compeitiors for public advertising on the internet in exchange for the the right to advertize their competitors inventory, they should be entitled to take that approach. Consumers should look at, (and they do), what any particular broker's marketing program will be for their home when interviewing agents before entering into a listing contract. The DOJ is going down a path that is wasting taxpayer dollars. Put your energy into Enron, illegal drugs, organized crime, Katrina fraud, internet email scammers, traffic enforcement, homeland security and the myriad of other things that aren't going well in this country, and quit trying to fix something that is not broken. The real estate market has been the jewel in the economy for the last decade. Don't screw it up. </body> </HTML>