For once, the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance and Realtors are on the same side of an issue. The Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) is opposing an anti-rebate bill alongside the AHGA, the Consumer Federation of America and the Department of Justice.

"Our hope is that this example may turn out to be a turning point in the relationship between Realtor organizations and consumer groups and Regulatory agencies," Bruce Hahn, president of the AHGA told Realty Times. "The Justice Department also worked against this bill, and I suspect they may feel the same way."

That's nice, but it won't be enough to get the DOJ off the industry's back. When the National Association of Realtors modified its online listings policy, the DOJ invoked its right to file an anti-trust lawsuit, and even went so far as to inform the Wall Street Journal before telling the NAR that the suit was being filed. In fact, consumer groups like AHGA and the CFA must have been on reporter James Hagerty's speed dial, because he was ready with quotes for an article just in time to embarrass the NAR at its annual governance meetings in D.C.

The DOJ wants the MLS to be a public utility, and for all brokers and agents to be on an even playing field, and for all players to share the same equipment, even if some players are hell-bent on destroying the team. In fact the DOJ is so biased in favor of the discounters, rebaters and MLS-only service providers, that it put up a website extolling their virtues. (See usdoj.gov.)

So this round of arguments about rebates is only one of many.

What rebates mean to people like Hahn is that consumers can get money back on the transaction and that it should be legal to do so. The flip side is something nobody wants to talk about -- and that's the seller might not be thrilled to pay for the incentive. What it really means is that practitioners who rebate must sell their services at a higher rate to the seller in order to have cash to rebate to the buyer, and vice versa.

In other words, somebody's overpaying, while everyone else looks the other way. What's consumer-friendly about that?

That said, the chairman of the Illinois General Assembly Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Fritchey, told Hahn that he would block the antirebate bill at today's hearing.

But don't expect the DOJ to thank the IAR.

"If the feds can point to a state like Illinois and say, "see, the states can't be trusted to protect consumers," then that generates momentum for antitrust officials to come in and add even more layers of federal regulation under the pretext of combating harmful state regulation," explains Skip Oliva, president of The Voluntary Trade Council. "Either way, Realtors end up paying the price."