Among the issues that were hotly debated at the NAR's mid-year conference which just ended in Washington, D.C., was a green-lighted national MLS, oops, I mean, "gateway."

Nothing is as simple as it looks, even the decision to raise dues for the first time since 1994, when they were set at $64 a year. Programming and nondues revenue have increased by 50 percent, largely due to the efforts of dealmaker Bob Goldberg and staff, while staff levels have dropped by 40 percent to 2006. But even with membership doubling in the past six years to 1.3 million members, with little or no attrition, the NAR needs more revenues.

Why? Because despite the NAR's fierce protection of its members' interests, third-party anarchy is swaying consumers away from Realtors.

By raising its dues to $80, the trade association hopes to launch its "Second Century Initiative," $60 million - $100 million in new programming over the next three to five years, including:

• A major consumer outreach effort that will allow NAR to leverage the natural alliances that exist between REALTORS® and real property owners.

• Planning for a national property data "gateway," a repository containing detailed current and historical information on all real property in the United States.

• A credit union for NAR members.

• An investment company that would fund technology initiatives to benefit REALTORS®.

• A campaign to drive traffic to REALTOR.com.

Before you read on, take a good look at the gateway sentence again as written by NAR. "All current and historical information on real property in the U.S.," says the NAR.

Sure sounds like a national MLS to me, but spokespersons say that it's not. It's a gateway. Oh, sorry. I was confused because it hasn't been made public to members what this gateway actually is, but a little birdie told me that it's going on to the next step in development, without a business plan and without being disclosed to members what the gateway is, whom it will serve, what it will improve upon, and what it will cost.

There's only one reason for that kind of secrecy -- competition, which brings us to the question -- who is competing with the NAR?

No one, but there are plenty of companies competing with NAR members, and more than a few would like to put Realtors, as higher-priced fiduciaries, out of business.

A little birdie told me that $3 million of the NAR's money is going to fund a co-venture with Move.com, presumably the top-secret $6 million project that is being worked on by Allan Dalton and David Lereah. Could it be that NAR is funding a new "gateway" that will allow brokers and agents to access listings all over the nation?

Except for the credit union, all the other "programs" appear related, particularly when you couple the programs with news from NAR's official website, as operated by Move.com, and new president Errol Samuelson.

Samuelson told NAR directors that a number of innovations for Realtor.com include "new mapping and satellite imaging capabilities; an increase in the maximum number of photos per enhanced listing to 25 from six; and the addition of videos. The site will also have detailed neighborhood information and will provide a blog platform free to all REALTORS®."

Consumers will be able to download to their computer desktop a window into REALTOR.com that will allow them "to continually monitor the latest listings that meet their criteria." Wouldn't it be cool if that criteria were more robust than it is now? A virtual CMA that includes past sales, current sale prices and other data direct from the only viable national MLS in the nation?

The press release also said REALTOR.com will increase its staff levels by 30 percent this year -- with most of the increase going to its customer support call center -- and continue to accelerate listing updates on the site. Currently 13 percent of participating MLSs are updated six times daily.

This could also mean the call center is gearing up to sell a new product offering to Realtors.