Homestore has proudly announced a new listings presentation deal with NRT to showcase enhanced listings on Realtor.com. There are broader implications for the real estate marketplace online as well.

NRT is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cendant that operates brokerages across the United States in more than 35 major metropolitan markets and the U.K, under the franchise brands Coldwell Banker(r), ERA(r) and Sotheby's International Realty(r) brands, and The Corcoran Group and The Sunshine Group.

NRT owns and operates more than 1000 offices, with 8,000 employees and 59,000 sales associates.

Realtor.com is an online listings channel owned by The National Association of Realtors and operated by agreement by Homestore for profit, with royalties paid to the NAR for use of the Realtor(r) service marks and access to the organization's 850-plus multiple listing organizations. These MLSs are operated by or under the supervision of local Realtor organization subsidiaries.

Realtor.com has the largest marketplace and showcase in the world for online listings.

According to the announcement, the agreement "provides NRT with expanded marketing and advertising capabilities on Realtor.com, by enhancing NRT listings and utilizing Featured Home and Featured Company inventory."

"One of our top priorities for the last year has been to expand the content available to consumers on Realtor.com by increasing the number of enhanced listings on the site," said Allan Dalton, chief executive officer and president of Realtor.com. "We continue to explore many different strategies to accomplish this goal, including working with large brokerage operations like NRT."

The contract is for one year, beginning April 1, 2005, with NRT holding renewal options for two additional years. Realtor.com will continue to market local "Featured Home" and "Featured Agent" advertising positions as well as numerous other marketing services to NRT’s agents.

With several online brokerages obtaining venture capital and lowering their commission structures to compete in a virtual world; with competing franchise organizations such as Prudential purchasing eRealty for its "technology" and lead capture contract with Yahoo!; and with lead generation companies making money off brokers and agents by providing online referrals, the NRT-Realtor.com pact makes a huge statement.

It means that Cendant-owned NRT will have the most robustly enhanced listing presentations of any brokerage in the country. The fact that these listings are on the largest, most public, most easily accessed brand name Website on the Internet should not be underestimated.

It's no secret that Cendant corporate has been strongly against competitors that utilize other brokers' listings as lead capture devices. Making a deal with Realtor.com could not send a stronger message that a broker's listings should be in his/her control. It also sends the message that a broker's listings should be consistently presented as part of the image of the brand.

Enhanced listings are also a helluva recruiting tool. The deal also provides a unique lead generation concession to NRT agents. While other brokers are establishing lead generation revenue models and charging their agents for the leads they provide, NRT is merely tightening controls on listing presentation and lifting it to a higher level.

More about the particulars of the deal, like who pays for what and how the leads will be processed by NRT, will be featured in Friday's edition of Agent News.

Published: February 7, 2005

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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.