COMPUTER-REALTY FLAK REACHES DOJ.

Byline: GREGORY J. WILCOX

The National Association of Realtors is catching a bit of flak these days over a new policy governing Internet property listings.

Some association members are miffed about it.

The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at the issue.

And implementation of the policy has been pushed back from January to July, at least for now.

This is a concern for any consumer with a computer and plans to go house hunting in the future.

The dust-up started last May when the association issued an innocent- sounding press release promising that homebuyers would be able to access more comprehensive information about residential properties over the Internet.

The policy focuses on virtual office Web sites, known as VOWs in the trade. Lots of sites offer property listings on the Internet. But a VOW allows consumers to do anything on the Internet and get the same kind of information they could by going to a brick-and-mortar office.

``The new policy on VOWs will make it possible for real estate consumers across America to see virtually the same information about residential property that professionals use,'' NAR President Cathy Whatley, owner of Buck & Buck, Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., said in a statement at the time.

It went on to say the policy also protects the integrity of that data, respects sellers' rights to privacy and maintains the viability of the Multiple Listing Service, the lifeblood of the industry.

The problem surfaced, it seems, in the details and between then and now the picture regarding VOWs has become muddled.

In October, the NAR cranked out another release on VOWs, this time saying it was complying with a request from the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division for information relating to policies and rules regarding Internet postings.

The Department of Justice also released a statement.

``The antitrust division is investigating the potential competitive impact of certain rules involving the display of residential real estate listings over the Internet.''

And that, an official said Friday, is all the department will be saying about that for now.

Jim Link, executive vice president of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, which covers the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, is a director of the national association and he voted for the policy. Link points out that there are 750 national directors, so he's not exactly in an exclusive club.

The implementation date was pushed back because of technical issues, he said.

``Our position is that there needs to be virtual office Web site rules and regulations because there are various creative ways members are using data in the Internet,'' he said.

The policy will protect buyers, sellers and agents, he said.

The policy requires in part that before consumers can access listings on a VOW that they first must become bona fide customers of the brokerage operating the site and sign a Terms of Use Agreement. It also says an agreement imposing a financial obligation between a consumer and the operator of a VOW must be established separately from the Terms of Use.

Lots of Web sites require users to register so this seems benign.

The policy also protects the integrity of MLS data by prohibiting ``scraping,'' or copying listings from one Web site to another, and by requiring that data be refreshed at least once every seven days.

``Part of the policy is to not allow the VOW model to simply be a means for a technically savvy person to capture client data and then sell that data back to the listing broker using that broker's data,'' he said.

For example, if a buyer registered on a VOW site, found a home, then used a different broker the site operator might claim part of the sales commission.

The policy also says sellers and the brokers representing them will have the right to withhold their listings from display on others' VOWs either on a blanket or a selective basis even though the properties might be available for sale through an MLS.

Not surprisingly, this ``opt out'' provision irks real estate companies whose business is based on the VOW model.

Patrick Lashinsky, vice president of marketing at zipRealty based in Emeryville, is a member of the national association and views the policy with disdain.

``I find it amazing the spin that NAR would (put) on it,'' he said. ``It's a very anti-consumer position that's been taken by the national association.''

He believes the policy restricts access rather than expands it.

``Most consumers who have been through this process would agree that they want their home seen as many places as possible,'' he said.

Lashinsky also notes that 80 percent of home buyers start the home-buying process on the Internet versus 28 percent in 1999.

It's proved a lucrative universe, too, since zipRealty's business has grown more than 100 percent the past two years, he said.

``Companies that have VOVs and a good Internet presence seem to have been gaining market share. This is a way to stifle that competition and the growth of Internet companies until others can catch up with their own Internet strategy.''

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com