From realtyfreak.com :

Head In The Sand

It would appear that the member real estate agents and brokers of the MLSNI (Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois) feel they have very little value to offer the public other than being an information gatekeeper. Their newest edict:

All photos should pertain strictly to the subject property and may not include prominently display any names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, internet or other URL link information, comments, web-site addresses, logos, branding, for sale signs or persons.



NAR = National Association of Realtors Restricting information.

Thoughts? Lay it on me!

Freak,
Last time I checked the purposes of the photos in an MLS listing is to showcase the exterior and interior of the home and not show phone numbers, people or websites. All that other good information is found in the listing itself.

So tell us why this is such a terrible thing?

I don't understand what the problem is. The MLS is not an personal promotion tool for agents. It is a place to share listings.
If I want to e-mail your listing to my client, but your name and likeness is all over the pictures, your listing isn't getting e-mailed. I'll show it if it meets criteria, but I'm not e-mailing it or printing it out. That just fails to serve your seller.
If you want to promote yourself, use your own, or your company's, website.
--A

Why is there a fair housing word list?
Why can't you put HTML code in the Remarks Section?
Why is there a "Scrub List" of words you can't put in the MLS remarks?
Those are our MLS requirements, and should be for every MLS, obviously for good reasons.

Links removed, because our MLS made it a members only area.

WOW! Our Association doesn't have that scrub list. We are asked to refrain from the fair housing no-nos (but you still see "family home" all of the time).
BOM and Back on market is in our public remarks all of the time, as are closing costs if offered, disclosures if corporate relo disclosures required (usually this is in agent remarks but I see it in public remarks), immediate occupancy is very often seen, lease option, make offer, motivated seller, quick close, reduced, and the builder or architect are almost always mentioned if it's important to the property.

I know the public remarks section is supposed to describe the property but even still - every word that will get a showing is usually put in there.
--A

Missouri does not allow self promotion in the MLS listing information either. In fact, violation of this rule subjects an agent to some steep fines.

And they should. If I send your listing to one of my clients, I do not want your name, picture, and phone number all over it. That is like me taking the listing information, attatching your business card and passing it on to my client, or someone who may not yet offically be my client.

So if the for sale sign on the lawn can't be in the photo, why should it be allowed on the lawn at all? Your client might drive by the listing after you tell them about it.

If your clients value your expertise and don't see access to the MLS as the only value you bring to the table, why does it matter what the listing says or shows?

The amount of time that people in this industry put into information-restrictive and protectionist practices is amazing. It's attempts to bring the value of all practitioners to the lowest common denominator that hurts us all.

Freak, unfortunately there are too many on the other side. I might agree that placing ad stuff in photos is distracting and could be something we don't want, but not taking the photo with the sign in the yard is pretty silly, IMHO.

In the past, would put at the bottom of the photos OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY 1-4. Very good, inexpensive way of getting out the notice and did not imply anything else. That changed in 2006 when our MLS put restrictions on photos.

That's not the point. If you can't recognize the company on the sign, no one cares. But, if you are intentionally trying to advertise yourself, that’s not the place for it. It’s about marketing the property, not yourself or your company.

If by having our company name and phone number in the photo that will be displayed all over the Internet helps bring an unrepresented buyer to the property thus saving the seller half the commission, I would call that effective marketing.

I belong to two Multiple Listing Services that have overlapping coverage in my area. One of them strictly prohibits MLS 'photos having signs in view. I'd have to check the other but suspect that is the case there too; at least I don't see many 'photos with signs on their site.

The purpose of the MLS is co-operation between Realtors. You are trying to destroy that co-operation, and with that, doing more harm to all sellers. Why was the MLS established? To speed up sales of listings by having Realtors co-operate with each other. What a concept.

I don't understand how that is destroying co-operation. I am not excluding agents, in fact I am effectively letting every agent know about the property.

If you don't want to exlude other agents, why not place their sign on the property?
This is about fairness and co-op with other agents, not you wanting to market to buyers via the MLS or Realtor.com.
Do you know what your MLS rules say and why? What explanation have you had from your board?