Above, Michele Harrington speaking at last year’s 2023 RISMedia Power Broker Forum in Anaheim, California.
Editor’s Note: The historic events taking place in the real estate industry over the last year, including the commission lawsuits, Burnett/Sitzer case, the NAR and real estate brokerage settlements and how the industry will evolve and thrive in the new normal, will be extensively covered at RISMedia’s upcoming CEO & Leadership Exchange in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 4-6. Don’t miss more than 400 industry leaders, 110 panelists and more than 25 educational sessions coming together to share their exclusive insights. Learn more and register here.
Witnessing the abuse of the federal government and the attack on our real estate industry in this past year made me think, “How did we get here?” How did we get to a place where a bureaucracy like the Department of Justice (DOJ) can interfere with a private contract between two individuals or a company and an individual, that they both agreed to, without coercion or force?
So I started doing some research.
Patrick Henry, a founding father and anti-federalist, resisted signing the Constitution for fear that it gave the federal government too much power over private individuals; he and his colleagues feared that this new government would be led by a group of distant, out-of-touch political elites (hmmm). The anti-federalists eventually did sign the Constitution but not until the Bill of Rights was incorporated. The Bill of Rights, consisting of the first ten amendments, was intended to limit the power and authority of the federal government. Henry wanted to give the majority of power to the states, restricting the ability of the federal government from infringing on the rights of private citizens.
One of the ways this is reflected is the Tenth Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Basically if it’s not specifically in the constitution it should be left to the states or the people
So where is the DOJ in the constitution? Where in the constitution do law enforcement agencies report to the executive branch? I think Patick Henry would roll over in his grave. Now, I’m not saying the DOJ has not done good things and I’m most definitely pro-law enforcement but realize the growth of government is always under the guise of protecting the people.
Can’t these things be done by the states? By local law enforcement? We have approximately 800,000 local and state sworn law enforcement officers who are more than capable of conducting enforcement actions. Do we need federal law enforcement?
Here is a short list of some of the federal law enforcement agencies:
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
- U.S. Secret Service (USSS)
- U.S. Marshals Service (USMS)
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)
- Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
- U.S. Capitol Police
- Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)
- Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)
- National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers
- Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division (EPA CID)
- Federal Protective Service (FPS)
- United States Park Police (USPP)
- Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement (FWS OLE)
- Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
- Office of Inspector General (OIG) for various federal agencies, each with its own jurisdiction.
This is not by any means a comprehensive list but gives you an idea. I am sure every single one of these agencies were set up with good intentions, to “protect” the people but remember, when you give up liberty for security, you will have neither (Ben Franklin).
So here we are now, the DOJ has targeted the real estate industry, it’s hitting home now because the DOJ started investigating the hideous crime of selling homes. We are now in a position where every ambulance chasing attorney in the US sees this cash cow as a way for them to buy their next G5.
How about the premise of these lawsuits, the Sherman act? Was that constitutional? Ayn Rand wrote about antitrust, “the penalizing of ability for being ability, the penalizing of success for being success, and the sacrifice of productive genius to the demands of envious mediocrity.” Whether you agree or not with that statement, the act was also set up against companies that were larger than the U.S. government. According to an NAR study on real estate firms, the average firm in the US has three real estate licensees. THREE. Not Standard Oil by any stretch.
So let me further explain how we got here. We got here one law at a time, one federal agency at a time, one compromise at a time, one good intention at a time. We could have fought this incrementalism at any time, but we didn’t. Most recently, NAR could have fought, should have fought, but again we didn’t, so here we are. Less free, with less liberty, with less of an ability to run our private businesses the way we see fit and lawsuits costing our brokerages billions of dollars forcing some of these smaller companies to shut down or sell.
“Will the abandonment of your most sacred rights tend to the security of your liberty? Liberty, the greatest of all earthly blessings—give us that precious jewel, and you may take everything else!” Patrick Henry
Powerful. Well written.
You are so far to the right and so void of objectivity as to be laughable if not so very sad.
Since time began, humans have been corrupt. The Ten Commandments was God’s joke, as he knee we would ignore them.
Raw capitalism without constraint leads to Enrons, Trumps, Crypto, etc.
Left to pour own devices we are less than kind, less than gentle and most certainly barbaric to those with differing views.
The majority of real estate licensees are at best mediocre in higher skill sets and yet all seek the relatively same commission rates, competence, service, fiduciary be damned.
Steven David
Realtor emeritus
Very well stated, thanks Steven.
This is quite the paranoid rant. You looking to be Trump’s VP pick? I hope nobody thinks you speak for all of us, spewing this garbage.
Well Said!
Objectivity always dictates who will succeed and who fails. if left to their own demise those who offer mediocre service should fail or cease unless one is willing to learn and grow. However, bad always chases out good, when bad policy and legislation punishes successful people the results are always the same mediocre services. Punish success your heading for a life of mediocrity. We don’t need government to interfere and provide security or police the real estate industry. More millionaires’ have been made because of real estate agents and agencies helped to guide average people to acquire an interest in real property, those who will be hurt are the 34% who would not have been able to quire home ownership Via programs like FHA. Shame on the powers to be- bad always chases out good. We will not hear of or see the fall out for a few years. More laws will be needed to fix what was otherwise not broken.
LOL. Adapt or die! The industry had this coming, because the bulk of the accusations are true, and you know it. It was always a lot of “nudge nudge, wink wink” within the industry, pretending there was competition and consumer choice, and that terms of broker agreements were “negotiable”. I hope your arrogance is your undoing.
This article is so stupid, it did not address at all “HOW WE GOT HERE”!
Well said Michelle, thank you.
Whenever you hear or read the phrase “how we will evolve and thrive in the new normal”, BEWARE, you are entering the arena of brain washing! Succumbing to frivolous lawsuits, allowing insurance companies and attorneys to profit in “settlement”, as governmental bureaucracys create restrictive legislation is the highway to socialism, one compromise at a time. VERY soon, far less time than I’ve been a Broker, federal dictates will determine how and who will be homeowners.
David Albert; REALTOR Emeritus
LOL!
VERY Nice write up Michele! The DOJ has way over played their hand here.
Idiocy, ignorance and inexperienced are exactly why Realtors and the real estate industry is where it’s at.
The knowledge, experience and the services Realtors are suppose to bring is now being commodicized because I’m so many cases, a buyer or seller equipped with a laptop and the Internet can do a better job representing their own interests than many Realtors, and for a fraction of the cost.
And all I can say to that is “Well done Realtors of America!”