Torus, my friend....go to homestore.com and click on the "information" link and you will see the affiliations and partners of the website. Look at the ads and follow all the links. There is also a fairly succinct explanation of exactly what HOMS is and who it works for and what it does.
The real estate industry (much of which has a vested interest in HOMS) in the broadest sense consists of residential brokers, commercial brokers, home builders, lenders, title companies, settlement agents/attorneys, home inspectors, pest control inspectors, furniture moving companies, home repair contractors, yada yada.
I do not mean to keep creating new confusion or questions on this issue...only reason I chimed in on this thread was because of so much misinformation being blasted around.
And I certainly don't work for HOMS....am not even a dues-paying member of NAR at the moment, but like many of my fellow real estate professionals, I don't like everything that goes on with HOMS, but it has nothing to do with the stock, at least yet.
And by the way, posted below is some information that some of you might be interested in. It's a letter addressed to a Realtor who inquired about the Cendant deal.
Meanwhile, I'm outta here, because obviously I'm not helping to increase anyone's understanding of the issues that seem you bother you all so much.
____________
Subject: Re: Realtor.Com & Cendant
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 23:57:59 -0600
Thank you for contacting me about the acquisition of
Move.com by Homestore.
Like you, I believe that the interests of the NAR membership
must always come FIRST in all of NAR?s dealings with
Homestore.
I want to insure that YOU have the accurate information and
not some of the misleading information that was contained in
the eMail that you sent to me.
It is terribly unfortunate that so many facts were misstated
regarding this transaction INCLUDING the percentage of
ownership. After receiving your email and others like it
from concerned REALTORS, I wanted to respond to you with the
SPECIFIC facts of the situation.
1. Great care was taken in structuring the Homestore
acquisition of Move.com to assure that NO PREFERENCE is
given to the Cendant real estate brands. For example,
neither Cendant NOR ANY of its brands will receive ANY
special pricing on products or services they purchase from
Homestore that is not available to other Homestore
customers.
2. NOR will Cendant have early access to technology or
receive ANY other special preferences. Rumors that Cendant
has received free web pages are TOTALLY untrue.
3. In the purchase of Move.com Cendant received 19% not 26%
percent equity in HomeStore as was misreported. But if you
will read further, AND THIS ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL over
REALTOR.com.
4. Cendant received one seat on the HomeStore board but
Cendant is REQUIRED to vote its Homestore shares on all
corporate matters in proportion to the voting decisions of
all other shareholders, thereby effectively NEUTRALIZING its
presence as a shareholder.
5. While Cendant is entitled to one seat on the Homestore
board of directors, that director will NOT be able to
control any corporate action taken by Homestore, and, like
all other directors, owes fiduciary duties to the
corporation, NOT TO CENDANT.
6. Cendant does NOT, I repeat NOT, have ANY position
on the board of RealSelect, the subsidiary that ACTUALLY
OPERATES AND CONTROLS all of the real estate related
activities of Homestore including REALTOR.com. On the other
hand NAR has TWO seats on the RealSelect board of directors
and SUBSTANTIAL CONTROLS over the operation of that
corporation.
Again, Cendant HAS NO CONTROLS WHAT SO EVER or even
representation on the RealSelect board responsible for the
operation of REALTOR.com.
7. It is important to understand that HomeStore DID NOT
acquire Cendant. They only acquired the website owned by
Cendant called Move.com which at the time was one of the
major sites that consumers went to view real estate
property. Now those consumers will be directed to
REALTOR.com and that INCREASES consumer views for ALL
Realtors.
8. The Move.com acquisition brought some REAL BENEFITS to
REALTOR.com, NAR and ALL of our members. Remember within
Cendant are Coldwell Banker, C-21, and ERA and they include
many members of NAR.
WE ARE PLEASED that those members of our organization are
now a part of REALTOR.com versus being on the separate
competing Move.com website.
When Move.com was competing with REALTOR.com, consumers were
going to both sites. The acquisition ensures that all
Cendant listings will appear JUST on REALTOR.com and that
DRIVES A MAJOR AMOUNT of more traffic to all the rest of the
REALTORS now as well.
Another concern was the possibility that a competitor would
acquire Move.com, which could have put REALTOR.com at a
disadvantage. By going ahead with the acquisition, traffic
at REALTOR.com has INCREASED BY MORE than 1.6 million
additional unique visits per month. That is another
additional major BENEFIT to ALL Realtors.
9. Additionally, Cendant has committed to purchase AND SPEND
REAL MONEY not stock for professional products for its
190,000 licensees, thereby strengthening the revenue streams
RealSelect. And as I said in point number 1 & 2 Cendant
will get NO SPECIAL PREFERENCE that is not available
to any other REALTOR.
10. Cendant also agreed to provide ADDITIONAL exposure to
REALTOR.com through cross marketing and advertising
programs. That means that Cendant will spend money in their
advertising promotion trying to get customers to NOW go to
REALTOR.com versus Move.com, as Move.com will no longer
exist. THAT is good for all REALTORS not just Cendant
Realtors.
11. From a business point of view NAR represented ALL
REALTORS and INSURED favorable treatment or gain ANY
influence over REALTOR.com. Rather, the acquisition has
made REALTOR.com a better site for all Realtors, including
those who belong to the Cendant organization.
12. I want to state clearly that NAR's brand is NOT
HomeStore.com. NAR's brand is REALTOR.com, which we
exclusively endorse.
And the REALTOR.com brand and URL is solely owned by NAR and
we will insure that it remains neutral and we will NEVER
sell any part of that to anyone.
And I want to repeat again that Cendant received NO
ownership whatsoever in REALTOR.com and ABSOLUTELY NO
CONTROLS whatsoever over REALTOR.com.
The transaction was very complicated and it was an
acquisition with a multitude of controls that now insures a
MASSIVE amount of more traffic is going to ALL of NAR
members at REALTOR.com.
In today's world in which communications travel so quickly
over the Internet, sending reckless and irresponsible emails
can lead to legal liabilities resulting from trade libel.
I feel that it was reckless and irresponsible conduct to
misstate so many facts regarding the transaction.
Now having said all of the above, I want to be EXPLICITLY
clear that NAR will continue to monitor and evaluate
EVERYTHING HomeStore does and does not do regarding what we
feel should be in the best interest of our members.
Lastly, I do not own nor have I ever owned any stock in
HomeStore. And I DO NOT represent HomeStore in any way
shape or form. I represent YOU and fully intend to
represent you and all members and Association Executives
of the National Association of REALTORS.
Richard Mendenhall, CCIM, CIPS, CRB
2001 President
National Association of REALTORS |
