So the question is:
Does this strategy and directory technology advance the cause and position of the REALTOR^® or does it do more for the prestige and value of directory, it's alliances and future IPOs?

One thing is clear - every major directory now has a very large listings quota to fill each month and depends upon maintaining that volume for future value. Volume that can only be supplied by real estate agents, many of whom do not understand that they already contribute or what effect that contribution, has had upon their perceived value.

In all fairness RealSelect and REALTOR.Com are often singled out only because they are the recognized leaders in the numbers game - in reality every directory and all the major franchise sites are guilty of the same shortcoming. They treat the listings as the object of value where in reality it is the agents who provide that value.

What motivation do agents have to continue contributing content(currency)product other than generic advertising claims all services make?

Contrary to popular perceptions - listings do not simply appear - they are not a commodity that a directory or any service can manufacture nor are they created by Brand dominance. They are the result of dedicated agents working full time to promote themselves and their services to homeowners. And homeowners are making educated decisions to place their home sale in the hands of a professional.

Announcements by Inman Newsthat www.owners.com runs far behind in the number of listings available illuminates a weak link in many predictions that the role of the real estate agent will soon be reduced to a fee based service run by a franchise office or electronic directory.

Are home owners going to enter the listing information, determine a fair market price, pay for the advertising and marketing locally and Internetally, purchase signs, distribute flyers, pre-qualify every inquiry, schedule the inspections, coordinate the closing, subsidize the distribution system (local and electronic) and host the open houses?

Yes. The very ones who opt to sell their homes on their own today. And the others will be contacting the same caliber of top producer who is actively building their business everyday. Technology will not change that. An anonymous letter to the editor at Inman News states an obvious oversight in the whole issue of the agents role in today's market stating that

It is the agents They are the ones who generate every dime of income for the company, they are the ones who create whatever goodwill the company can claim, and they are the only items of value.

Until a system is in place that can replace the personal service and legwork of the REALTOR^® in procuring the listings - the agent will continue to be the only value a franchise or directory has to offer. Yet no advancements have been made at the directory or the franchise level sites to allow the agent more control of their content and better ability to use that technology to promote themselves. Instead they are sold simple dead-end profiles attached to their listings, "framed" gateways and simple mortgage calculators as "cutting edge" technology. They are sold "pages" when they should be buying "sites".

The technology exists to allow every agent the full power of a database like www.REALTOR^®.com or www.coldwellbanker.com and at the same time allow them the advantage of a personal marketing service without the use of clumsy frames or annoying cookies.

Why isn't that technology being used? Why isn't the NAR pushing to provide the agent the personal technology edge the agent deserves for their contribution of content alone?

Because the value of the agent and their contribution to the content(currency)product is not fully appreciated or recognized.

When the REALTOR^® Boards and Individual licensee realize that their contributions are core to the value of the major directories and the franchises - and that those contributions fuel the issue of their own value - expect a demand for more control of how their content(currency)products are leveraged.

In this rush to criticize the agents role in the real estate transaction and ponder a day when that role is reduced or in some cases eliminated - there is a blind spot to the fact that brands were built upon acquisitions and the hard work of individual licensees - before the great consolidations, acquisitions and national ad campaigns there were top producers who did not and do not measure their worth by their access to listings but by the service they offer.

Internet commerce and the community as a whole are still in the confines of infancy. It is ridiculous to speculate that top producing real estate agent are going to fall idly aside and let consolidation and the Internet replace the industry they have built.

And as long as there are companies offering sophisticated technology to allow agents to participate in the Technology revolution rather than passively watch - and there are agents who are comfortable embracing the technology - the agent will survive and the consumer will benefit.