"In the beginning everyone was emotional," recounts Marilyn Harra Kaye, president of the Prudential MLB Kaye International Realty. "It was like the energy put into a new baby and there was a sharing of information that created the Taskforce. But as we were working to get our site up, we were also negotiating to get the industry together."
"You just can't turn on a light and expect people to come together," asserts Neil Binder, principal of Bellmarc Realty, in reference to the goals of the rival side. "You just can't build a good structure without having this gestation period."
As to where REBNY has been in all of this, "it's been our position that there should be one Web site and that's what we've always been working toward," according to Steven Spinola, president of REBNY.
Now that everyone has kissed and made up, will the existing nymls.com remain the platform for the coming MLS? "The technology is going to remain and the vendor too but the name may be changed," according to Shari Goodstein, executive director at Goodstein Equities Inc. "We're going to be as dynamic as possible so we can move with the industry."
The coming MLS will be governed by the existing 18-member board of directors with the president of REBNY acting as a non-voting, 19th member. They will decide how the system will be run and how future boards will be composed and voted in. Each board will have a one-year term.
"It's like growing up," says Kaye. "I think the industry really grew up, whereby growing up is not an easy process and the industry had to grow into the age of the Internet."To go back to the earlier analogy, she concludes, "It was kind of like the Mets vs. the Yankees but the only difference is everyone's winning."
Author Anthony Garritano is assistant editor of Real Estate New York and Real Estate New Jersey.
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