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Pay-to-Look Service for Home Lists to Go Free: An Online Program Will End Soon, Reopening the Listings for Free.

Posted on: Saturday, 20 May 2006, 15:04 CDT

By Patrick Lynch, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

May 20--A one-year experiment with a pay-to-look program for online home listings will end soon, according to the Real Estate Information Network of Virginia Beach.

REIN, a cooperative of 7,500 brokers and agents, will discontinue the EPass program within the next few weeks. It debuted in Hampton Roads last June, charging browsers or potential buyers $3.95 for a daily pass or $4.95 for a monthly subscription to view any home listing. REIN said it was a first of its kind and an innovative way to earn revenue, but some agents and buyers complained that it was akin to paying for entry to a shopping mall and that it discouraged people from using the online listings.

But now the program will be dissolved except on the Web site of the Hampton Roads Multiple Listing Service, , said REIN president Arthur J. Zachary.

Zachary said REIN issued 30,000 such EPasses in the past year, and said there are 3,500 current subscribers who can search the service's 10,000 current listings. He said EPass was a trial program from the start, and after months of studying how buyers, sellers and brokers used it, REIN decided to open the process again.

"It's been successful, but our concern is making it easier for buyers and sellers," said Zachary, who is president and chief operating officer of Rose & Womble Realty. "The general consensus right now is, 'Let's get as much information as we can, and let the broker with the best service win.' "

He added that in the coming months REIN would unveil new programs to allow individual agents to market properties online as they see fit.

More access to listings will work better for agents, buyers and sellers, said Barb Kerwin, an associate broker for Abbitt Realty.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

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Source: Daily Press

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