The Wall Street Journal reports a bit of news that discount real estate brokerages have been eagerly looking forward to for some time. The article said that the Federal Trade Commission has ordered an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors in the Detroit region to stop certain practices that the federal agency determined illegally discriminated against discount real estate brokers. The FTC made the announcement in early November 2009, and the unanimous decision was the most recent of a series of clashes about competition issues between government antitrust regulators and the NAR. Federal regulators repeatedly pushed the nationwide realty group to abolish rules that marginalize discount real estate brokers at the local, state and national level. The FTC filed the case against Realcomp II Ltd. in October 2006. Realcomp operates a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that covers properties in and around Detroit and the rest of southeastern Michigan. Local realtor associations own the company. A MLS provides and maintains a database of homes for sale in a given area and enforces the rules for real estate brokers who use that information. The FTC had challenged the legality of Realcomp’s rules that blocked some types of listings from being available to prospective homebuyers on Realtor.com and other websites that allow users to browse homes for sale. These blocked listings—also called “exclusive agency” listings—are popular with discount real estate brokers who provide limited services for flat fees instead of charging a percentage of a home’s sale price. Are you looking for a Louisville real estate broker to assist you with the a flat fee Louisville MLS listing? Call Louisville Properties today at 502.744.9504 to speak with a fully licensed and experienced discount real estate broker.