A year ago, at the mid-year conference, the National Association of Realtors announced its Internet Data Display Policy, giving MLS and Realtor associations until January 2002 to implement Broker Reciprocity solutions for their broker members.

At the time, Agent News predicted that Broker Reciprocity, the voluntary cooperative public sharing of MLS listing data on brokers' Web sites, would be a windfall for Realtor.com and Homestore. The dot-com could sell more Web sites, and upgrade them with enhancements such as current listings by brokers. Homestore could offer custom solutions to brokers who would insist that the listings integrate with the style and colors of their brands.

But an announcement of a Realtor.com IDD solution never came. Busy expanding its subscription sales, adding subsidiaries, and trying to get the complex eRealtor platform going, Homestore appeared to pass on the opportunity to be the designated service provider, courtesy of an implied or real NAR endorsement.

As the year went by, Realtor associations began compliance, including smaller associations such as Traverse City Association of Realtors, which implemented its own solution for brokers at no additional cost to brokers. The Florida Association of Realtors provided Broker Reciprocity also at no charge.

But plenty of other MLSs and brokers were paying other vendors tens of thousands of dollars to get them listings-ready. Major competition was already in place from MLS information system suppliers such as VISTAinfo, Homeseekers, and Interealty. With collectively over half the real estate population already seated for their MLS and productivity software, each have broker reciprocity solutions. Homeseekers, for example, has a product called CityNet that allows MLS listings to be posted on Homeseekers' customers' sites by MLS and broker permission in certain markets. Offered as part of an upgrade to the company's basic Web site lead generation packages, CityNet gave Homeseekers customers' a competitive advantage, and helped to rank Homeseekers among the top three Web site vendors in subscriptions.

Yet, Homestore remained silent. Was it missing the opportunity of a lifetime, or was it quietly building an unbeatable solution of its own?

Now Realtor.com is announcing an IDD solution of its own. While it has not announced a product set yet, Realtor.com president Steve Ozonian says that the new solution is part of a new attitude at the dot-com to build its brand on its own merits and not off "the back of the NAR."

"If we don't build the best products and services, then Realtors will make decisions to purchase other products in the long run," Ozonian told Agent News. "The average Realtor works hard and they are picky about how they spend their money."

Aware that some Realtors may be skeptical about a new kinder, gentler Homestore and the site it operates for the NAR, Realtor.com, Ozonian says, "Homestore needs to reinvest into customer service and product development."

Addressing the new IDD solution, he says, "This year we are focused on spending millions of dollars on data aggregation, and we are improving the process of collecting data from MLSs. We have a major new customer service center in Scottsdale, and we have hundreds of people dedicated to product service and concerns. The third piece is that we are really concentrating on lead generation.

"We know the real value proposition for the broker/owner is when our services generate high value returns by providing new customers," explains Ozonian. "So products are focused on lead generation and that vision is solid at Homestore."

Will IDD implementation take value away from Realtor.com? "The NAR says this should be a competitive playing field and delivering service is the only way to compete," replies Ozonian. "It makes it more valuable in the sense that Realtor.com is the best aggregator in the world, so we will be able to provide a policy soon, around linking, deep-linking and framing.

"We will also have a set of products that allow customers to come to Realtor.com for property information and make it easier for people to drill down to the local level," he adds.

So why the delay to get started? "There needs to be standards and IDD is meant to put some fences around that. You don't want someone to jump into the real estate business with an entire data set, because they could walk in overnight and take customers off the Internet and charge referral fees back to the brokers who gave the data in the first place," Ozonian explains. "Let's say that I am a two-person office in Chicago and I agree to share my listings and that gives me the right to display the other brokers' listings. Is that really fair? As real estate practitioners we don't mind sharing data, but we want real Realtors in the business, not people who are scamming the information and charging referral fees to Realtors for their own data."

Costs are also an issue with many MLSs, says Jerry Matthews with the Florida Association of Realtors. He says that even providing free solutions to local MLSs that it will be touch and go to get them all served by the January 2002 deadline.

The NAR may pitch in by extending the deadline, so that MLSs can explore more choices including those put forward by Realtor.com. Spokespersons with the NAR say that is on the discussion agenda for the mid-year board conference.

"Not many have it ready," Ozonian says. "They should extend the deadline. It's not as easy as one would think, coming up with the products. You can't do it overnight. We had to make sure that we were going to spec out according to requirements, build it, prototyping, testing. If people think we should have had this done by now, they are naive. When we come out with a solution, it will be with specific guidance from the NAR."

Published: May 18, 2001

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. 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. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.