<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>518795-00094</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>10/20/2005 2:43:58 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD>Real Estate Broker</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Felker, Patricia</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>CA</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/> Dear Sir or Madame, I have been a licensed realtor in California for over 22 years and have been an independent broker, not affiliated with any real estate office chain since 1992. The following represent some of my first hand experiences with the large chain brokerage firms from a historical perspective up to today: 1. Agents within the large offices in our area do not allow representatives from non affiliated title companies and escrow offices to present their company services to the real estate agents for their customers to consider. The agents must seek out the information on their own. The non affiliated title and escrow people are not allowed in the real estate offices. 2. Agents will often keep the listings as Office Exclusives and not enter them into the local MLS data base. The MLS companies in our area fine the agent $100 per occurance, however, when the agents are collecting thousands of dollars in commissions so a $100 fine is not a big deal at all. Some of the agents do it without the Seller's consent. In House commission splits for agents selling their own listings is considerably higher than if an agent outside their organization sells the listings. The office exclusive individual office listing is easy to verify, just contact any of the MLS Companys in this area: Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors, Conejo Valley Association of Realtors or the San Fernando Valley Association of Realtors, they have a record of the agents and their offices that have been fined for MLS violations and what they are for. You will find many violations. The real estate business has become very competitive, especially over the past 4 years. There are more agents than ever before and not enough properties to sell, due to the lack of home building (barriers to building are extremely high in this area). There are many good real estate companys and good real estate agents putting their clients ahead of their own interests, however over there are many that are not. I hope the playing field will be leveled for the benefit of the consumer without totally destroying the business of the agents that provide good service. This is a complicated and difficult business, but it is a service business for the benefit of the customer first. Sincerely, Patti Felker Newbury Park, California </body> </HTML>