Los Angeles County - News from Sept. 4, 1995

On-Line Real Estate: Los Angeles real estate agents are talking about a new computerized property listing service that’s in operation this week and could prove a threat to the area’s local boards of realtors. The California Listing Service allows brokers and agents to find out what homes are up for sale anywhere in Los Angeles County and a large section of the Inland Empire for a fee. Until recently, brokers have had to deal with several listing services run by local boards of realtors to find out what homes were available for sale in certain areas, such as the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley and Malibu. Three of the area’s largest real estate agencies--Fred Sands, Jon Douglas and Prudential California--have already agreed to list their properties with the new service. But this does not necessarily mean big trouble for the realtor boards, insists Ed Albers, president of the California Assn. of Realtors. The local boards and the new service could merge their listings, he says. If they don’t, the boards “can thrive on the competition as necessary.”