• Just in time for Halloween - An Industry Witch Hunt I attended the recent DOJ / FTC Public Workshop on competiton in the real estate industry in Washington, DC. I found it ironic that a meeting intended to openly "discuss and present" was so controlled. Right down to the need to submit written questions on cards that were pre-screened by DOJ officials before they were then delivered to panel leaders who in turn delivered some of them to the panelists. I also found myself listening to the presentations of REMAX, C-21 and Cendant and recalling the struggles these organizations and their leaders have had to build quality real estate services companies over the last 30 plus years. I have personally been a part of some of that growth and much of that pain. And then, I listened to the woes of those who now strive to be one of those companies - today. A message for those companies. The simple fact is that it takes time to capitalize, test, advertise, hire, open offices, take millions of listings, close millions of transactions, build name awareness and to earn the consumer's trust. There are few shortcuts to building such businesses that contract to manage such a valuable consumer asset as their home - this does not happen overnight. In the end, I left the workshop hoping that the FTC and the DOJ soon realize that it is the test of time - a lot of time - that the consumer measures of business - not the influence of more controls and unnecessary governmental intervention to somehow regulate the natural selection process created by open competition within the free enterprise system.Ken Jenny - RBSC