Statues to be erected in honor of Homestore

…Or would be if Alan Dalton, the President of the company that owns and operates REALTOR.com®, had it his way.

Many of you recently received a letter announcing significant rate hikes for "enhanced" services on REALTOR.com® condescendingly warning that by ignoring "common sense" you could lose earning potential if you did not pay up.

Dalton told Realty Times "They [REALTORS®] need to understand that it [REALTOR.com®] is a tool and only as good as you use it. Enhanced marketing is for agents who are going to champion the utility of the Internet that they do more than most do in marketing."

Readers of our e-newsletter recall that Homestore insisted we disable a feature that allowed the listing broker/agent to access his or her photos and property information from REALTOR.com® in a one-time download and have the same information, photos and so on appear on their personal Agent XSite. Perhaps this fee hike gives some insight into their intractable stance on the matter.

Is Homestore doing all it can to soften the blow of substantial (126 percent, in the case of "Featured Homes® Marketing System Tier 1") fee increases for its "enhanced" services? The tenor of their letter to customers suggests that no, they're not.

In fact, Dalton mind-bogglingly went on to tell Realty Times "There should be statues erected to us."

Recall that we even offered to pay a fee on behalf of our common customers to access their own listing information, which was rejected out of hand. With a fee increase, more is at stake than ever for Homestore to ensure you use its services and not other, possibly more effective, certainly more cost-effective, third party web marketing tools.

We have been overwhelmed by the support we've received from our customers in our stance against Homestore's denial of your basic right to access to your listing information. We have received numerous e-mails either directly or copied on messages to Mr. Dalton, Mike Long, Homestore CEO, the Federal Trade Commission, local boards or others.

We've also been grateful that the media is giving this issue the attention it deserves. Realty Times covered the issue very comprehensively and objectively, in two long stories: Who Has the Right To Publish Your Listing Online? and Website Vendor-Homestore Dispute: Each Misses The Point, Says The Other.

The issue has also been covered Real Estate Technology Insight (subscription required) and its sister publication, Appraisal Intelligence (subscription required). Real Estate Intelligence Report will also feature a piece on the issue in its next quarterly print edition. We received so many requests for statements or interviews that we released our own press release on the matter which can be found here.

Inman News invited our CEO, Dave Biggers, and Mr. Dalton to each prepare a seven to eight paragraph statement of their positions on the issue. Mr. Dalton declined.