HomeAdvisor has just introduced "Broker Direct" a bold new initiative that will allow brokers and agents to upload their listings daily onto HomeAdvisor at no cost. Big deal, right? Think again.

To brokers whose MLSs don't share listing data with national listing services, it is a very big deal. To brokers whose MLSs have signed exclusive agreements with Realtor.com, it is a very big deal. To agents whose MLS systems are so backward that they can't upload digital photos or listings to their own MLS, it is a very big deal. To agents whose MLSs drag their feet delivering new listings to Realtor.com and others, it is a very big deal. To Realtor.com, who only uploads new listings weekly, not daily, it should be a very big deal.

After trying to find a chink in Realtor.com's armor, HomeAdvisor may have just found its Achilles heel instead.

Realtor.com has built its tremendous listings advantage through direct deals with MLS organizations. Sidestepping the question of "who owns the listing?" Realtor.com has chosen to deal directly with the MLS instead of the individual broker. Getting listing data directly from the MLS has its advantages - you get the whole database with the stroke of a pen, and save yourself the costs of selling desk to desk. This strategy has enabled Realtor.com to garner the largest market share of listings on the Internet with 95% of MLS-listed homes.

With half that number, HomeAdvisor has been seeking to slay the giant, or at least to engage the giant to live in peaceful coexistance. But like a true Machiavellian entity, HomeAdvisor never stopped trying to gain access to Realtor.com's riches - listings. First, HomeAdvisor tried to increase the size of its listing holdings by partnering with HomeSeekers. Thwarted by Realtor.com's exclusive agreements with some MLS organizations, HomeAdvisor has been wooing the broker and agent, achieving some success in unfriendly territories such as the Seattle region where Norwest MLS does not share listings with anyone, including Realtor.com. HomeAdvisor offered free template Web pages to agents and agreed to link them at no cost to their own listings, a privilege agents pay for on Realtor.com. But the MLSs haven't been forgotten - there is something for them, too - one free warrant for one share of HomeSeeker's stock for every listing for the MLS and the broker. This can't lose offer means nothing if the stock goes down, but can translate to instant cash is the stock is purchased and resold at a higher amount.

The stock volley was a response to Realtor.com's parent company's proposed HomeStore IPO. But the IPO is in jeopardy with the sudden Cendant lawsuit in which the real estate company accuses HomeStore of failing to honor good faith agreements which would allow Cendant's participation.

Now, HomeAdvisor is offering free, instant Internet listing uploads, something most agents can't do on their own MLS systems, and that puts the listings war in the trenches.

Some brokers don't want their MLSs to have exclusive agreements with Realtor.com. They want the listings to be spread far and wide. Many agents agree, but who asks them?

By providing Internet listing upload capability to agents as well as brokers, HomeAdvisor may have neatly averted more bloodshed in an unwinnable war. They may never gain Realtor.com's listing share, but they have certainly removed the barrier to getting the listings by bypassing the MLSs. And they did it by making it easy for the broker/agent to load listings.

What the listing giants and some MLSs failed to consider until now is the sheer cash and carry value of broker/agent-loaded listings.

Here's why. Right now there is a breakdown in service to the agent as far as getting listings posted in a timely manner. The agent is getting little help with this chore in many areas. Listings have to be routed through the MLS first, slowing down delivery to Realtor.com, HomeAdvisor and other national listing services. Many times this effort is hampered by MLS information systems that are desperately outdated and difficult to use. Sometimes system access is so slow that the agent has to leave the listing with an assistant or forward it to the MLS for posting. Realtors are more worried about how to save time at their MLS screen than they are about Realtor.com and HomeAdvisor.

Where HomeAdvisor may have scored its greatest victory may have nothing to do with the listings war at all. By enabling agents to upload listings at the agent/broker level, agents and brokers will automatically be less reliant, and loyal, to MLS systems.

Agents and their sellers just want their listings up and running. Fast. They don't care how it gets done or who does it. They are tired of explaining to baffled sellers that their MLS doesn't allow listings to be posted here or there, or that it may take days or weeks to see their home on a national service like Realtor.com. That argument doesn't fly in on the Internet anymore. Sellers want to see their homes right now. And agents want the homes exposed.

Realtor.com gets listings, but they are supplied with an implied caveat - that the MLS owns the listing. This enables the MLS to put barriers to the listing if they choose - limiting its exposure and the speed with which it is shared with national listing sites. Some MLSs bar agents from putting their homes on their own Web sites.

HomeAdvisor has put the ownership back in the broker's and agent's hands.

Let the battle begin.

Published: August 3, 1999

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.