No FSBOs on REALTOR Dot Com…
Where and why did that rule originate?
Text without context is pretext.
A listing is more than a future commission. It is also a marketing asset of the broker, who spends time and money before she/he earns and before they collect any fee. Initially, they “work for free.”
This is critical to understanding this issue… If it were not for this rule, we would have never convinced brokers, in 1995, to put their listing inventories on this new invention we called the World Wide Web.
That was my job in 1995, and I leaned on that rule I helped create and establish, and popularized. MLS listings create a critical mass of eyeballs.
Why let FSBOs benefit from those eyeballs, from that critical mass? The answer at the time was, they should not. I think the rule still makes business sense. Carol Weinrich (Helsel) and I were the creators of the first marketing pieces and created much of the initial language and conversation. Here is the first one (I kept EVERYTHING :-)) :
First REALTOR Dot Com Marketing Piece:
Below is the first marketing piece (I wrote the piece) for listings on REALTOR.com. Notice the piece was directed at REALTORS as they were the first audience that needed to be convinced that the Internet was a new and effective place to advertise and the www was just beginning to blossom.
How did one obtain this information…fax on demand of course 
What year? 1995
From the Archive…
>>
REALTOR® Property Ads-Get the Facts
Fact One: RIN/Internet Property Ads Provides these benefits:
• Exposure to 30 million potential buyers-local, state, national and worldwide
• No For Sale By Owner
• 24 hours a day/7 days a week advertising
• Customer access to your listings through AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe, etc.
• When and how many times your ads are viewed—use these figures in your listing presentations
• Customers who contact you directly by e-mail, phone or fax
• Updates weekly ads
• Customer can search listings by zip codes
• Internet advertising program that provides the critical mass! Consumers will know that RIN’s REALTOR® Property Ads is the place to go for tens of thousands of listings. No consumer wants to cruise through 500 Web sites when they can go to one convenient site.
Fact Two: REALTORS® can succeed on their strength in numbers
• Confusion reigns over the 599-plus real estate listing sites on the Internet
• REALTORS® have spent more then $4,000,000 on placing individual Internet ads
• REALTORS® must consolidate to STOP the fragmentation by advertising in REALTOR® Property Ads ONLY
• REALTORS® can guide their customers to RIN/Internet ad pages ONLY!
• RIN’s REALTORS® Property Ads will be the only place for serious property shoppers
• To place your listings on RIN’s Property Ads, call your Board/MLS today!
Fact Three: The Board/MLS must facilitate the success of the REALTOR® Property Ads
• MLS will provide predetermined listing data and color photo
• Ad will automatically be written for the property based on data downloaded by the MLS
• One time only set-up costs will be shared by the Board/MLS and RIN
• If you’re not already a RIN subscriber, contact RIN’s fax demand service (aaa) aaa-aaaa and request document #1 for details!
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