In the continuing quest to see Realtors and online technology vendors reach a more productive and profitable accord, I believe that a lot of misunderstanding between the two camps can be cleared up by determining what the value of a listing is - to both sides.

Let's say for argument's sake that we already know that seller listings are the gold in the vault of the real estate industry. While Fort Knox is a very real place, this gold is distributed among 800 MLS organizations - broker-controlled cooperatives that agree to share listings information with competing brokers and their agents.

The broker-controlled listing is a gold-backed paperless currency that impresses potential clients and venture capital-backed aggregators with equal dazzle.

Because listings are only valuable when others know that they are available, it is necessary for brokers to display their "wealth." The listing can be photographed and slapped on newsprint, or it can be made into a movie on the Internet.

Now the listing takes on another hat - in addition to being currency, it is also doubles as an advertisement for the broker/agent. Yet when it comes to the Internet, the listing as an advertisement is about to meet new standards, both in presentation and in the expectations of what it can deliver to consumers, the broker, the agent and the aggregator.

Newspapers have long known that listings are valuable content. That's why almost every paper has a real estate section, where they give brokers a place to advertise. By selling as many ads to as many brokers in town as they can, the newspapers "aggregate" as many listings as possible. They know that local buyers and sellers want to look at as many homes as possible before getting in their cars and searching on their own.

Yet, have you ever seen a newspaper pay for listings? Not only do newspapers charge brokers handsomely for the "block"display of this content, they charge brokers and agents a second time to put some of the same information in classified ads which are marketed as a different part of the paper!

The newspaper incurs production costs and passes them along to the brokers by the column inch. Some newspapers offer a few freebies to the brokers who spend the most money. They may get an upgrade to a half page ad once or twice a year, or get free editorial in the real estate news section. Because advertising is a precarious business, the newspapers must command as much money as possible for those inches of space. Classified advertising is almost never included in any broker-newspaper contract, and neither are special favors for individual agents unless they are buying their own advertising along with the broker. So brokers or agents who want to advertise an open house, or a home that is not included in their brokers' block ad must buy their own classified ad for every home they want to make it into the paper.

For expenditures that range in the hundreds to thousands of dollars per week, the broker and agent get exposure for themselves and their listings, but what does the consumer get? A tiny blurry photo and some text.

In order for the newspaper advertising to pay off, the broker has to have a lead capture device in place - a phone.

Now contrast that age-old, low-tech advertising approach with what has happened recently on the Internet.

The Internet is a new medium in which vendors can supply both an advertising opportunity and lead capture devices. In no other medium, can consumers simultaneously view advertising content and interact with suppliers, giving rise to more immediate lead capture expectations from advertisers. Because it is still in its infancy, a number of experiments have been tried with mixed results. What has been proven is that, as far as real estate brokers are concerned, online visitors want to see listings.

By agreement, MLSs and some brokers were paid by aggregators for their listings. The aggregators compete bitterly to get the most "eyeballs," or visitors to their sites by supplying not only the listings, but the tools for their enhancement. To add further value to the brokers and agents, the aggregators provide lead capture tools - links so that the visitors can get in touch with the brokers and agents.

These tools are met with mixed appreciation by brokers and agents. While complaining of the cost of the tools, they forget that their ad - the listing - is being displayed to 60 percent of homebuyers free of charge.

But the ads aren't really free because they come with the expectation that the agent or broker will want to present the listing in the best possible light - with tools.

With improving technologies, the Internet is rapidly moving closer to television quality presentations and further from two-dimensional print media. While content with low-detail photos or text in newsprint, consumer expectation of presentation has subsequently risen dramatically on the Internet. Like children in a candy store, online consumers flock to the listings with the most visual appeal - the eye candy of virtual tours, maps, school information and more. And that is where the Internet medium breaks with the value tradition of offline advertising. Listings which are enhanced present more opportunity for the aggregator to collect revenues in order to continue to supply such an advertising medium.

Technology service providers are now in the position of providing more information to consumers than brokers and agents have ever supplied before. But how much is this information worth without the listing to provide the point of interest?

Meanwhile the brokers and agents have incurred increased technology costs and an almost impossibly steep learning curve in order to provide the enhanced listings data expected in an interactive medium. While the aggregators provide some, what they essentially provide are routes to consumers.

And that's made for some hard feelings as brokers and agents feel their way. While agents view their listings online as free ads, they really are not, neither to the aggregator or the broker or agent.

So, to say, an aggregator would be nothing without the listings is an understatement. But to use the same statement as a club is also inappropriate. Without the listings, there are no visitors, and without the visitors, there is no result for anyone.

Just as newspapers need to sell ads to provide news content to readers, they don't need to sell phones for brokers and agents to capture leads. Online aggregators don't have the same luxury. They must come up with creative ways to charge for listings display, whether it is supplying loans, reports, or links back to the agent, or they won't be in business to deliver the leads that the brokers and agents gave them the listings for in the first place.

And that means no currency for anyone.