Premium
Using Antitrust Law to Control Anticompetitive Real Estate Industry Practices
Author(s) -
TROMBETTA WILLIAM L.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.1980.tb00658.x
Subject(s) - commission , listing (finance) , real estate , enforcement , business , work (physics) , state (computer science) , estate , control (management) , consent decree , law , economics , law and economics , finance , political science , management , engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , algorithm
The structure of the real estate industry may work against the consumer's interest by maintaining artificially high commission rates and restricting access to the Multiple Listing Service. This article examines a significant antitrust problem that affects the consumer directly at the local level and suggests some alternative remedies such as making the public aware that commissions are negotiable and doing away with the limitation of access to Multiple Listing Services to members of local boards of Realtors. The article also suggests that in addition to strengthening state real estate commissions as regulatory bodies, state antitrust units can provide effective enforcement mechanisms.