HomeStore is HomeStore friendly but I don't see a lot they've ever done for REALTORS that didn't have a benefit to them as well. Evidence the purchase of www.HomeFair.com and the implementation of a lead redirection program away from the REALTORS that furnished the listings towards those willing to pay HomeFair/HomeStore a referral fee. They say it was "an honest mistake"; maybe but damage was still done to REALTORS that were HomeStore customers. The new "Online Relocation Tools" which virtually force agents with a Realtor.com homepage to buy them or risk becoming invisible to consumers that choose the "Only show REALTORS with online relocation tools" option when searching for an agent. The exorbitant cost of their products relative to similiar, competing products. For example; HomeStore's school reports product is $299 a year. A similiar, better product from www.2001beyond.com is $59.95 a year and includes private and religious school which HomeStore's product does not. My Association too was pressured to sign the "Gold Alliance" agreement but we refused, choosing instead to include www.HomeAdvisor.com, www.cyberhomes.com, and a site our local newspaper operates in our online partners that display our MLS information. Finally I'm sure most REALTORS don't realize that not everyone pays the same price as others for the same services. For example Realty Executives just completed a deal with HomeStore to bulk purchase Realtor.com Silver iLEAD home pages for all their agents for $60.00 a year. I know for a fact that others have negotiated similiar deals. It seems HomeStore's pricing philosophy is to charge whatever the traffic will bear. Expensive products, Unfair competition with their REALTOR/customers, pressure for exclusivity, and uneven pricing. Not exactly (I hope) what NAR had in mind when they signed the "lifetime" agreement with HomeStore/RealSelect. Maybe it is time to re-negotiate the agreement or find someone else to operate Realtor.com. NAR does own that domain name after all.

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