Lindberg says that the framed listings will be offered at no additional charge to members, but that the MLS will offer customization features for extra costs. While adding such a service might make some MLSs feel justified in raising dues, MLSPIN's membership dues have recently dropped for the second time this year, according to Lindberg. "Our dues are about $29 per person," says Lindberg who says that the revenue model will be incorporated into next year's budget.

WebAssist has been offered to members since September 1, but to date only about three percent of members have requested the service.

Southern California MLS

Southern California MLS (SoCalMLS) is the cheapest MLS in the country, boasts its general manager Russ Bergeron. "That's because we actually do what's in the best interest of our members," he says.

One way he finds to keep costs down is let the members pay for enhancements they want direct from the vendors. That's why his company doesn't plan to frame the MLS listings, but will continue to invite HomeSeekers, Realtor.com and others to offer framed consumer-ready listings to the MLS members however they want.

"We are comfortable because we have already been doing it (broker reciprocity,)" says Bergeron. "We've taken the concept one step further from Broker Reciprocity to Listing Reciprocity. Most agents think it's a great idea. We already have framed listings on CityNet and we get no complaints."

"We're going to add another flag on the listing that gives the agent or broker the option to opt in or out of broker reciprocity," explains Bergeron. "We recommend the Gateway product (Homestore) and Citynet (HomeSeekers.) If you build your own site, you have to update it at least weekly, so I tell agents to take advantage of the aggregators, because everyone is going to have the listings anyway. You want to differentiate yourself with the skills that make you special and unique from everyone else."

According to Bergeron, the MLS has different deals outlined with each vendor. Some revenue share, some pay for each listing. How does the MLS help the aggregators reach the members? "They are on their own, but we will hand out flyers for their seminars, but we don't have favorites. We say, "This is the list of the Web site vendors and the member can make their own choice.""

SoCalMLS will also accommodate members who want to do it themselves. "If we have a company who wants to do it themselves, they can pull the data off a FTP site and get the new file for every day," says Bergeron. "For the vendors we do push technology. Everyday we send an active database to the aggregators."

Bergeron warns that the biggest problem will lie in policing the members and making sure they are following the MLS and NAR rules.

North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc.

Serving 18 local real estate associations with approximately 13,000 agent members, North Texas Real Estate Information Systems, Inc.(NTREIS)has not implemented a plan for broker reciprocity yet, but will have a decision in a few weeks. Meanwhile brokers and agents can sign an "Addendum to Access Agreement," a form which outlines specific instructions for the posting of consumer-ready listing data.

According to Jim Harrison, CEO of NTREIS, the MLS organization was already working on their own policies when the NAR released its guidelines. "We incorporated all the NAR recommendations and requirements. We adopted them a month later at the June meeting. Our intention is to be an enabler. In that scenario, members are all included as given permission to post the listings unless they opt out."

"We have a lot of members doing it. Members can dial in, download the data they want in an ASCII format, then they can do what they want with it."

NTREIS is also a Gold Alliance member, but does not necessarily plan to hand over a sales bonanza to Realtor.com or any other company quite yet. "Broker Reciprocity doesn't have anything to do with that," says Harrison. "The Gold Alliance doesn't prohibit the MLS from creating and operating its own publicly accessible Web site. With the Gold Alliance agreement, we are committing to send our listings to only one national listing aggregator, Realtor.com."

NTREIS is looking at a variety of services, says Harrison. "Nothing is going to change, except our obligation to be the enabler for the Realtor. We will meet the needs of the Realtors. As times change, what we do to provide services to the Realtors changes."

Members can post the public database of listings except for those brokers who have opted out, but Harrison points out, "They can't send anything but their own listings to an aggregator. Century21 can't send Ebby Halliday's listings to HomeSeekers."

"We already send listings to Realtor.com and we are talking to other companies about a variety of things," says Harrison. Victorious vendors will likely place their product offerings in NTREIS' MLSPLUS, a service directory for members.

No matter how the MLS organizations facilitate Broker Reciprocity, the availability of listings will certainly be a market advantage for agents who use the Internet. "It will encourage more Realtors to market themselves on the Internet, and provide more content for their marketing strategies," believes Harrison.