A federal administrative law judge today found that a Detroit-area multiple listing service's rule, which had been challenged by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as anticompetitive, actually may have a pro-competitive effect (see Inman News).

The FTC will appeal the matter for consideration by the agency's full commission.

At issue in the judge's opinion is an MLS policy that prevents the MLS from sharing property information about a certain category of property listings with an array of public Web sites, including Realtor.com, MoveInMichigan.com and other sites operates through data-exchange agreements among Realcomp members.

The Realcomp policy blocks the sharing of property information related to properties under exclusive-agency listing contracts, which provide that the home seller does not need to pay a listing broker in the transaction if the seller brings in the buyer without assistance from the listing broker.

This type of listing is more commonly used by brokerage companies that offer reduced or menu-based services -- such as those companies that offer to list a property in an MLS for a flat fee but provide few or no other services -- at a lower cost than traditional real estate companies.

Realcomp has no such restrictions for the more commonly used exclusive-right-to-sell listing agreement, under which sellers must pay the listing broker a commission regardless of who brings in the buyer.

Several other MLSs have settled FTC investigations of similar policies by withdrawing their policies and agreeing not to adopt similarly restrictive policies.

The administrative law judge found that Realcomp's restrictions on sharing exclusive-agency listings data with public-facing real estate sites "is plausibly pro-competitive" because it addresses "a free rider problem by exclusive-agency home sellers competing with Realcomp brokers for buyers," as sellers are not members of the MLS.

"Free riders" in economic terms are those who consume more than a fair share of a resource or do not pay a fair share of the cost to produce a resource.

Meanwhile, opponents of the Realcomp policy have said that companies that use exclusive-agency listings are a benefit to MLS participants because they typically offer compensation to cooperating brokers who bring a buyer into the transaction and they attract sellers who might otherwise sell on their own, without any assistance from a real estate agent.

The National Association of Realtors has supported Realcomp's legal battle, approving contributions of up to $300,000 for defense costs. Realcomp's contested policy is actually in violation of a National Association of Realtors MLS policy that was amended in November 2006, following the agency's actions against Realcomp and several other MLSs.

Brendan King, the outgoing chief operating officer of Point2 Realty who resigned from the company last week along with a group of other managers at the company (see Inman News story), said in a statement today that he would like to work again with the "Dream Team" that had been assembled at the company but offered no specifics about his future in the industry.

"I had the fortune of traveling with some of the best and brightest. Some of those people remain at Point2 and some have left. I am sure that Point2 will continue to be a great product developed by a company of great people," he stated. "Much of the near term vision and planning is in place and I wish the best to all the remaining staff. There have been a lot of rumors and speculation about the resignations, particularly the who and why." He referred to the formal company announcement for some of those details.

"I think I can speak for the bulk group when I say that the why is now unimportant. What is important is that all our great customers and friends in the industry can expect, at the very least, that Point2 will remain reliably and dependably what it is; a leader in technology and innovation. I can't say for sure what the future holds for those of us that resigned. I can say there are many wonderful opportunities. I can say that I personally consider the group of individuals who resigned a 'Dream Team.' I can tell you that I would love to continue working with these guys. I can also say that we have a lot of great ideas and opportunities. I can tell you that many of these are in the real estate industry (but not all :) ). I just can't tell you anything specific -- yet. Stay tuned."

A simple way to create "The Best Home Search Ever" is to name your home-search site: "The Best Home Search Ever."

Daniel R. Odio, the creator of Alexandria, Va.-based DROdio Real Estate Inc., has announced a new tool that calculates a route and delivers driving instructions for multiple for-sale properties selected by users in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

The real estate company also loans out GPS devices to assist prospective buyers in touring properties.

TheBestHomeSearchEver.com site, which also can be viewed at TBHSE.com, allows users to search for homes that are listed for sale in the regional multiple listing service, which had a for-sale inventory of about 94,000 homes as of Dec. 9.

The site also allows buyers to search for homes that have entered a foreclosure process, and to search for homes with upcoming open houses.

"Our tools allow home buyers to search on their own, without having to contact a real estate agent until they are ready to do so. It is our belief that by giving home buyers the free tools they want, they will turn to us when they are ready to have a professional help them negotiate a contract for a home," Odio said in a statement.

After searching for homes, users can click to choose which properties to display on a map. They are then prompted to enter a starting address, and the tool calculates the most efficient route and produces driving directions to visit all of the selected properties and return to the starting address.

Dustin Luther, founder of Seattle real estate blog RainCityGuide.com, is apparently Move-ing on. Hired by Move Inc. as director of consumer innovations in November 2006, Luther wrote in a Nov. 30 blog post at the 4realz.net site: "time for something new." And at Twitter: "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... just gave notice to my boss."

When Inman News heard from Luther back in March, Realtor.com operator Move Inc. was rolling out a bunch of new blogs, including "Danny and Nina," "Behind the Walls," "Rental Survival Guide," "First Time Home Buyers," "Living with Roommates," and "Senior Housing." Those sites now appear to be dormant.

Can anyone guess what he'll be doing next?

The stock price of Realtor.com's parent company, Move Inc., closed at $2.28 per share in regular trading Tuesday, down 2 cents from the previous day. On Oct. 22 the company's price per share dipped to $2.20, the lowest level since March 21, 2005.

These days, it's more expensive to buy a gallon of gas than to purchase a share of stock in some real estate-related companies. The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports that the average retail gas price per gallon was $3.06 as of Dec. 3. Compare that to Move Inc.'s $2.28 per share and home builder Standard Pacific's stock price of $2.99 per share at the close of regular trading today.

Rick Aristotle Munarriz, writing for The Motley Fool last month, noted that Internet-based real estate companies such as Move, ZipRealty and HouseValues have been hammered lately on Wall Street, with lackluster earnings, though he said that investors may see light at the end of the tunnel: "all three companies have balance sheets that are flush with greenbacks. In short, these may be ugly homes, but they're cheap and they have strong foundations. Investors who relish fixer-upper market opportunities might find something worth pursuing."

Is Move ripe for acquisition? The company hasn't announced any plans to sell. And Move Inc.'s operating contract requires that the National Association of Realtors' leadership would also need to consider approval of any such deal. Sramana Mitra, a Silicon Valley strategy consultant, suggested in a July blog post that Move could be an acquisition target.

She wrote: "We have reviewed the online real estate market in detail, and it is a vibrant segment. We have also reviewed Move’s feature-functions which are OK, although nothing exceptional. The valuation on the company is a rather affordable $620 Million, pegging this as yet another potential acquisition for an Internet conglomerate like Yahoo, NewsCorp, or IAC, or even for a new one in the making via private equity intervention or a public company roll-up." Could this/would this ever happen?

Real estate search site Trulia is offering agents a featured listings advertising product, the company said Tuesday on its blog.

The ads will enable agents to place listings in top search results on Trulia and promote their photo, name and contact information to consumers. Trulia said it will give Trulia Voices users a free trial, and the subscription cost after that is $50 per month for 10 listings.

Trulia previously has allowed brokers to brand themselves and promote listings, but this is the first such play for agents.

Real estate bloggers and blog readers have already started ripping into the idea, and it's turned into a debate over whether the industry should give away listings to third-party sites like Trulia or keep them on their own sites and other brokers' sites via IDX. And this discussion almost always leads to the changing role of real estate agents.

Some of the readers commenting on a thread at Bloodhound Blog say they believe that new media companies like Trulia do nothing more than use the industry's own information to draw in consumers and sell it back to agents via advertising or leads. Many of these agents subscribe to the school of thought that agents should compete with third-party aggregators or media companies for leads, rather than pay for them or pay to advertise on their sites.

Others said they see value in showing sellers how they will market their homes in many different places online, noting that it's still free to post listings on Trulia.

One of Trulia's competitors, Zillow, is also positioned as a media company, collecting and creating a destination for real estate information that is supported by advertising from agents and others in the business.

David Gibbons of Zillow stepped into the recent blog debate, noting that it's consumers who see value in third-party media companies, which in turn defines the value of the companies to agents. As industry professionals, real estate agents will never be considered a neutral source by consumers, he said.

Trulia and Zillow aren't the only companies focused around the model of attracting consumers with real estate content and selling advertising around that content to those who work in the industry, like brokers and agents.

Realtor.com and Move are essentially media companies. Bankrate has done this in the lending industry for years, and big media giants like Scripps Networks have real estate divisions supported by advertising.

A study released last week by Borrell Associates was bullish on the prospective growth in the real estate advertising space, predicting that the online component of real estate advertising would grow almost 26 percent to $2.6 billion this year, moderate to a still-strong 12 percent growth in 2008 and then soar to $3.3 billion in 2011. By then, Borrell suggested, Web sites could control 37 percent of the realty advertising market, a larger share than all other forms of advertising.

Shameless plug/further reading: What is the outlook for real estate media business models? Inman News is interested in the discussion and has planned a panel at Real Estate Connect New York on January 10 to dive in and find out. "Online Real Estate as Media Enterprise" will feature top executives from Zillow, Bankrate, Trulia, Scripps Networks Interactive and REA Group. More info is on the Connect Web site.

A proposal for a national property information database, called the Gateway, has stirred mixed reactions among real estate professionals.

Intended to give Realtors, consumers and others broad access to property information, the details of the Gateway are still being worked out by members of a National Association of Realtors advisory group that was formed last year to create a future vision for multiple listing services.

At this point, the advisory group envisions that the Gateway would carry information supplied by brokers, MLSs and other sources about all types of property, including residential, commercial and vacant land. The Gateway could be NAR-owned and broker-controlled (see Inman News article).

Among the comments that Inman News readers have shared about the proposed Gateway:

• "It's this type of strategic thinking that will allow us to leapfrog the 'interlopers.'"
• "An ever-moving consumer wants access to more than just the state in which they currently reside. If we don't provide this, someone else will"
• "If all access is granted to everyone with the Gateway concept, who would need a Realtor?"
• "I wish the NAR could explain to its members how this 'Gateway' is going to be good for Realtors. ... Why not return the MLS to what it was before, a private way for cooperating brokers to share information about listings."
• "Talk about locking the barn after the horse is gone! Now that the Internet is literally stuffed with data -- some of it good, some of it not so -- NAR has plans for Gateway."

While the Gateway is not intended to be a national MLS, it could become one if that's what participants want it to be, said Gary Thomas, a Southern California RE/MAX broker who leads the advisory group.

The Gateway could include tax information, for-sale-by-owner information, and tools to track property appreciation trends and compare information for separate parcels, Thomas said.

Some industry professionals have questioned whether the Gateway could impact NAR-affiliated Realtor.com, which also offers property information to consumers, and some have said the Gateway would be a good way for the association to keep real estate information in the hands of industry professionals.

There are many details to be worked out, Thomas noted, and the current operating agreement with NAR would prevent the Gateway from offering consumer access to property information, for example.

LAS VEGAS -- An over-capacity crowd gathered at the National Association of Realtors conference today to hear what Google's Justin McCarthy and Zillow's Richard Barton had to say about the future of real estate technology. As the session began, numerous would-be attendees still filled the long hall leading to the room (see photo), and throughout the course of the discussion they continued to filter in to fill the choice few empty seats and vacant spaces along the walls.

For those who did get in, they heard McCarthy say that Google is now working with property listings data feeds from about a dozen MLSs "and we'd like to work with about 880 if we could."

Barton also said he is open to discussions with MLSs to accept data feeds.

While some critics continue to hound Zillow about the inaccuracy of some Zestimates -- the name Zillow gives to its automated home-value estimates -- Barton said that Zestimates can be a gateway to some productive discussions about homes. "I think what Realtors should see when they see Zillow is opportunity. It's a real topic of conversation -- that gives you a real open door."

The company will continue, he said, to be "a bit controversial -- we will continue to do controversial things," adding that the goal is to "give homeowners what they want."

The median error for homes with Zestimates is 7.2 percent, Barton said, and "we're proud of that." In some cities, Zestimates are even more accurate. (Inman News erroneously reported earlier that the accuracy rate for Zestimates was 70.2 percent. Apologies for this error.) Zestimates are reportedly within 10 percent of the selling price 62 percent of the time.

An explanation of Zestimate accuracy is available at this link: http://www.zillow.com/howto/DataCoverageZestimateAccuracy.htm.

Whatever the accuracy, Zillow is attracting millions of eyeballs per month, and that does have value given the current market, he said. "It's not the time in the industry to be picky and choosy about how you get customers."

McCarthy remarked during the session that the real estate industry seems to be moving beyond the apprehension about online sites such as Google, and the notion that such sites represent the "lion over the hill" seems to have lost traction: "It's silly and it's a disservice to an industry that has traditionally prided itself on being very forward-thinking and entrepreneurial," he said.

Internet companies have rolled out the red carpet for real estate listings and they're inviting brokers to the party for free. Free marketing exposure can be irresistible in today's suffering market conditions. (See "Brokers go all in with listings on the Web.")

Realtor.com, still the dominate player in online listings and still holding its cozy ties to the nation's Realtors, surely is paying attention to the ton of new beefy competitors that have moved into the neighborhood. The race to aggregate for-sale property listings online is in full swing.

In one corner, Zillow appears to be working feverishly to enable bulk listings uploads from brokers, announcing new deals set to send thousands of listings their way each day. Two of the deals have been reported in the last few weeks: one with ERA, and one with RE/MAX Allegiance.

In another corner, Trulia has been inking broker partnership deals for a couple of years and has partnered with such heavyweights as Realogy, Real Living and Realty Executives.

Cyberhomes is another online destination eyeing more listings via broker relationships.

And don't forget about Google Base. Many brokers have been sending listings there for exposure, including brokerage giant Realogy, which translates to about half a million listings for Google.

Enter Homescape in yet another corner. The online real estate venture, which is operated by a group of five newspaper publishers, has inked a new partnership with a real estate brokerage company to add more for-sale property listings to its online portal.

Homescape this summer announced a change in its approach, which used to rely on newspaper companies within its network to feed property listings in. The company now deals directly with brokers for listings.

What will differentiate these sites? Searching all of them sure sounds exhausting.

Now, about that DOJ lawsuit -- brokers are sending listings everywhere, yet this old rule that got NAR into trouble enables brokers to hold listings from competitors' Web sites. Might they be deeming their own sites useless as more decide to beef up national aggregators that offer a more comprehensive set of listings in many markets?

POST UPDATED, Nov. 9 (See below)

HouseValues, a real estate marketing and lead generation company based in Kirkland, Wash., has agreed to pay $51,000 in costs and attorney fees to settle a case alleging the company's real estate lead generation services violated the state of Washington's consumer protection laws.

Seattle Post Intelligencer has the full story at this link.

The attorney general said the company was selling leads in which some of the names provided were fake, including obvious made up names like "Mickey Mouse." According to the complaint, HouseValues implied that more than 20 percent of its leads would result in a sale.

The company asks consumers to give up their personal information in exchange for free home valuation reports. Their information is then sent to subscribing agents who follow up with consumers in hopes of closing a sale.

The complaint also alleged HouseValues locked real estate agents into restrictive subscriptions.

HouseValues did not admit wrongdoing, according to the report, but the company agreed to credit agent subscribers who got an invalid or bad lead. The company will allow agents to exchange leads they are not happy with for new ones. HouseValues has had a lead exchange program in place for about two years, according to company spokesperson Hugh Siler.

As part of the settlement, the company will be prevented from misrepresenting the quality of its leads and also the subscription term. HouseValues will not be permitted to charge early termination fees to subscribing agents unless the company clearly discloses these fees will apply.

A copy of the complaint is at this link. The consent decree is at this link.

HouseValues this week reported a $900,000 net loss in Q3. The company's stock has been suffering, and closed at an all-time low of $3.61 per share on Oct. 22.

Also this week, HouseValues announced it purchased Realty Generator LLC, a technology company that offers lead-generation services to real estate brokerage companies, and a related company, Blackwater Realty LLC, on Nov. 1.

Under that agreement, HouseValues paid $10 million in cash and assumed liabilities, and is also required to pay Realty Generator based on the future performance of the acquired business through June 30, 2009, according to an SEC filing.

UPDATE, Nov. 9:

Correction: Leads not refunded, but will be exchanged

Inman News published a blog post on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, reporting on a settlement reached between HouseValues and the Washington State Attorney General over alleged violations of the state's consumer protection laws.

The headline erroneously read, "Agents can get a refund for 'Mickey Mouse' leads," but HouseValues did not agree to refund agents under the consent agreement. The company agreed to adhere to its lead exchange program, which enables agents to exchange leads they feel are of poor quality for replacement leads.

The article also erroneously noted that HouseValues agreed to pay fees owed to consumers who complained to the attorney general's office. The company in fact agreed to pay the attorney general's costs and fees associated with the case, but not to any consumers involved.

Inman News regrets the error.