Guest (Miriam) from New York City says:
Laurie, you are right on. Hamptons real estate has nothing to do with the consumers but rather it is nothing more than the old way of doing real estate automated. If an agent from outside the area has a buyer and is working as a buyers agent that agent does not have access to listing information as they would with the free flow of access afforded by a true MLS system. They buyer's agent could have a buyer wiling to pay more and offer better terms to a seller but that buyer will never see the house because of the games that are played with commissions and other things. It is really shameful that anyone would try to convince anyone that there is no difference between a traditional MLS system and the system in the Hamptons.

Guest (Guest) from Sag Harbor says:
Everyone should keep in mind that many of these 3rd party sites like Streeteasy.com, Zillow.com, Trulia.com, Redfin.com and others don't keep updated and accurate information not like the current shared listing service in The Hamptons called OREX. There is true ownership when a licensed real estate professional manages a listing to keep all data current and accessibilty available to show and sell a property. Don't be fooled by folks saying Exclusives exclude agencies from access to sell because it's not true at least 99% of the time. There will always be that unethical agent just as there is an unethical salesman in another occupation and these agents should and will be dealt with. If more agents and brokers reported these individuals for violating the NYS license law (Article 12A) and made a formal complaints to the Department of State we would see full cooperation from everyone. By the way, it's not the big real estate firms that really don't share information it's the mom and pop agencies that are threatened of there existance and seem to be the biggest violater of Article 12A. Yes, I'm an agent out in Hamptons and I witness the abuse of some of these agents. Don't let a few rotten apples spoil the bunch...

Guest (Guest) from East Hampton, NY says:
Now that the New York companies have taken over the Real Estate market and changed the commission splits to the same formular as the Multiple Listing Service, there is no longer any motivation for an agent to sell his own agency's listings over that of the comepetition's listing so, in fact, we are paid like a multiple listing service without the benefit of the fully shared listing information from the time the property is officially listed for sale. The company's financial portion has been increased with this commission arrangement while the agent is working harder to promote and sell his own listings and earning less than we used to.We are hurting our agents and the sellers' opportunities by NOT having MLS in place since we are paid like we do anyway. Lets do it!

Guest (JamesT) from East Hampton says:
I find this story and the underlying premise held bu primarily the dinosaur agencies of the South Fork quite a perplexing issue. I am not a realtor, but alas, a home seller and have moved and sold 12 primary residences in my lifetime and to think that the "Exclusive" listing serves my interests is absolute hogwash. Realtors are suppose to have a fiduciary responsibility to their listings and the exclusivity you tout goes against that grain. My home searches have been conducted online for the most part for the past 10 years. I have found myself on realtor.com, zillow, and now that I am looking here, have found eastendhomefinder. All of these 3rd party websites provide variety, choice and flexibility. Each has driven me to a local agent and finally to the local agent's site. I have found six of my past ten properties on 3rd party sites and four of them were eventually found by a local agent after visiting one of his/her properties on the aggregator's site. I need information, I want to see all my choices and my options. MLS gives me that, and 3rd party sites that aggregate listings have done that as well.

Guest (Southampton Agent) from Southampton says:
AnnMarie; You ar getting at the real problem. You say: The big question is: If you are withholding information that could lead to the sale of a property in a faster amount of time for what could be a larger amount of money by opening up the information to thousands of agents- Where are the ethics? It is not a question of "ethics" -- the larger agencies in the Hamptons are simply breaking the law, and the smaller agencies are getting damaged and the buyers/sellers are damaged.

Guest (laurie@options) from riverhead says:
Well, THAT'S a cerebral take. And, hits it on the head: an intentional blocking of knowledge flow, to the detriment of the seller...limiting competition that would benefit that most (agreed: along with their buyers) important participant. The damage being caused by a specific contingent extends to homeowners in trouble at this juncture, as data is a gyration for values needed for loan mods or short sales- the harm being done is just more obvious, and the motivation for this behavior more reprehensible. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.