It's like the old joke between the lost manager in the air balloon who calls down to the ground for help and an engineer shouts back the longitude and latitude. When the manager sneers that this useless information can only come from an engineer, and that he'll never get where he's supposed to go, the engineer pegs the lost balloonist as a manager. When the manager says, "How'd you know?", the engineer replies, "You don't know where you're going, you expect those under you to solve your problems, when I give you the information you need, you don't want to use it, and now if you don't get where you want to go, you're trying to find a way to make it my fault."

That's exactly how it felt when REBIG sent the following letter to Realty Times criticizing us for not contacting them when they were mentioned in a story we published March 22, 2004.

We didn't contact REBIG because the focus wasn't on REBIG, but on the actions of a Coldwell Banker leader of 56 NRT offices in the Chicago area which attracted the interest of The Chicago Tribune. We did explain the business model for REBIG, a for-profit entity, in an article written in 2002, and this article was attached as a related article to the story "Local NRT Group Pulls 10 Offices Out Of MLSNI," giving any interested reader a chance to find out more about REBIG.

As we correctly guessed when we sniff a good story, there would be plenty of chances to followup with REBIG and many other players in this spat because it was clear that this would grow to major proportions, and it has.

The story, as this editor/reporter sees it, is that brokers are divided over whether or not sellers' listing information should be a profit center for MLSs and third-parties like REBIG, or whether listing data should simply be about getting the listing sold. In other words, is selling the data to third-parties right or wrong?

What is happening in Chicagoland is an excellent forum for this debate, and it is a dramatic example of how far people are willing to go to protect their beliefs. One broker, as our story told it, chose to pull some of his offices out of MLSNI and put them in a not-for-profit MLS that doesn't allow data-sharing with third-parties.

All Realty Times did was mention that REBIG was an MLSNI investment. REBIG is a for-profit data-mining cooperative of MLSs whose purpose is to sell MLS data in a controlled, authorized manner to third-parties. We did not view it as our job to defend REBIG to the manager who left MLSNI or to the readers, and we are sorry that REBIG thinks it was.

But the story gets more interesting. Realty Times has just learned that others have questions over MLSNI's for-profit activities besides the manager who pulled 10 offices out of the MLS.

The ten shareholders of MLSNI have just requested a forensic audit, with a motion that specifically names MLSNI and CEO Jay Huffman, to be completed within 60 days.

We'll save the details we've learned about that for another article, as the focus of this article is not the MLSNI audit, but the fact that REBIG is upset that Realty Times didn't allow the company to defend itself.

The bottom line is that REBIG hasn't done the job it could have explaining its business model to interested brokers, and now somehow they want to make it Realty Times' fault, but it's not our job to square things, just to report them. REBIG needs to talk to those who are now pulling out of the nation's largest MLS and those who would like an MLSNI audit, because it's clear that they don't understand or agree with MLSNI's ideas of how broker data can and should be leveraged.

Well, let it never be said that Realty Times doesn't give a fair shake to all parties, and let it also be said, we don't have an ax to grind here for or against REBIG, MLSNI, Jay Huffman, Brenda Huffman, Coldwell Banker, or anyone else.

So in the interest of fairness, here's the remainder of the letter:

"We were disappointed to read the slanted statements and innuendo in your article with regard to our company REBIG, LLC and our President and CEO Brenda Huffman. The article seemed quite unbalanced as opposed to a piece representing all sides that confirmed statements made by those who spoke with you or Realty Times. To our knowledge, no attempt was made by Realty Times to confirm comments related to or about REBIG either by telephone or by review of our website, both of which would have provided you with the information necessary to speak of our company and management in an informed and factual manner. Our company, and the real estate community in general, deserves better from your publication.

"As you noted in your follow-up article on March 25, the innuendo, specualation and gossip have gotten out of hand in reference to your March 22 article. We would like to take this opportunity to clarify the facts as they relate to REBIG:

• REBIG business development only includes a primary Business-to-Business focus. REBIG does not allow a primary Business-to-Consumer focus. From the beginning, REBIG’s business model took into account keeping the person-to-person real estate relationship between the consumer and the Realtor.

• REBIG does not deliver data for an IDX, VOW, or any consumer listing website.

• REBIG does not send data to moving companies or allow any blind direct mail or telemarketing use of the data.

• REBIG has been working with one of the leading consumer privacy consultants in the industry since the company development. This expert sits on the REBIG Board of Governors. She is also knowledgeable regarding government privacy initiatives and keeps REBIG up-to-date on these issues.

• MLSNI is not the sole owner or governor of REBIG. MLSNI is one of four MLS investor/owners. Each REBIG investor has one governor on our Board of Governors, and each governor has one un-weighted vote. MLSNI has only one vote on the REBIG Board of Governors.

• Contrary to the implication in the article, our investor MLSNI does not use data without broker permission. From the beginning, MLSNI conducted a broker opt-out program. We respect and honor the decision by a broker to opt-out their offices from the REBIG business venture. The vast majority of MLSNI broker offices made the decision to participate in REBIG. The right of these brokers, who comprise approximately 80% of the MLSNI database and 78.60% of the broker offices of MLSNI, to have a differing business opinion should also be respected and honored. MLSNI has excluded the listings of any opt-out broker from the database sent to REBIG, and likewise REBIG does not send the listings of these broker offices to any company.

• MLSNI returns the data licensing monies back to the brokers of MLSNI.

• Any broker opt-out decision is a local issue decided by individual MLSs not by REBIG. REBIG respects the local relationship of the MLS and their member brokers.

• Brenda Huffman was appointed to the position of President and CEO of REBIG by a unanimous vote of the REBIG Board of Governors with MLSNI, and Jay Huffman, abstaining from the vote. She stands on her own and does not need her husband to put her into a position as her career reflects. Unfounded conflict of interest innuendo and speculation of the Huffmans are misinformation at best and professional envy at worst. Even if said for political or competitive reasons, those you spoke with are accountable for unfounded comment.

• Brenda Huffman is considered one of the leading experts in the information industry, with over 20 years of industry experience. In addition to the business development area, she brings successful senior-level experience in several areas, including operations and data security.

• As detailed in a May 30, 2002 Realty Times article, Brenda Huffman formulated the REBIG concept and wrote the business plan for the company. She educated the MLSs working with REBIG regarding data licensing, data security control and fair market data value and risk. The fact that our investors wanted the visionary of the original business plan to manage our company was not surprising in light of her 12 years of senior management experience in the field.

• REBIG has invested a significant amount of time and resources into the security of the data as well as compliance monitoring of those who license the data. Security measures, such as proprietary method database seeding and watermarking, allow REBIG to track misused data, and determine its origin. Plus, by making security a top priority, and data security focus and implementation. These REBIG services are invaluable to many MLSs, as most do not have the individual resources to complete this vital function.

As you know, MLSs have been dealing with MLS data being used or displayed without their permission for decades. As an example, for years MLSs across the country have been battling moving companies who secure the data without MLS authorization for mailing lists. MLSs face the problem that with the Internet now a part of everyday business life, unauthorized database development through information reverse engineering, screen-scraping, and unauthorized data redistribution is even easier than it was years ago. REBIG understands these are data control issues we must all work together to resolve and works with MLSs to this end. With REBIG’s safeguards, the data has more protection, and a greater recourse, when unauthorized use of the data is discovered. REBIG has also imposed the following data use restrictions from day one:

• Only product lines with a primary Business –to-Business focus.

• No consumer focused listing websites.

• No product lines with a primary real estate broker or agent focus.

• No direct mail or telemarketing product lines.

• No derivative product lines outside of the specified contractual product lines.

• No sharing of the databases by product producers with sister, affiliate, or client companies.

• No re-licensing of the databases.

We invite you to view our website, www.rebig.net, and the Frequently Asked Questions document and press releases contained therein, to familiarize yourself with our business focus, goals, and practices. We hope you will take an active role in not perpetuating any further misconceptions and unfounded innuendo. We ask that you make this letter as prominent to your readership as you did the original article. In the future, please call our CEO to confirm the information regarding REBIG, Sincerely Al J. Unser, CAE, Chairman of the Board, REBIG Board of Governors."

Readers can decide for themselves if we were fair or not in our treatment of REBIG.

Published: April 20, 2004

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

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.