Everyone says NAR doesn’t do enough to demand high standards and exemplary performance. Everyone complains about the incompetent, inexperienced, un-professional agents that are out there terrorizing the public. Complaining won’t improve the situation and NAR can’t/won’t mandate excellence. What will improve the performance of agents is free market incentives to improve and natural consequences for underperformance and incompetency.

Let’s say a super site creates high standards to become a local partner, and let’s say the super site becomes THE place to be for agents going into the new world of online real estate search and transactions.

It seems to me the new agent who has what it takes won’t whine about not being accepted as a partner, but will begin to gain the skills and knowledge and references to become a partner. The payoff to meet the standards will be recognition and leads, and something to use as a marketing tool locally.

Yes, there will be many who complain that the standards aren’t applied fairly, and there will be hoopla regarding unfairness, but people who want to be seen as the best will strive to become the best.

Google gets criticism all the time about its search results, but everyone still tries to rise to the standard Google has set to be a player in their game. If something is difficult to achieve it has more value.

If anyone with a license and a few bucks, or even a free forum, can become an expert, then it is worthless to be an expert.

Those who have worked hard and have learned and have earned the title of local expert ought to be utilized and recognized – to become models for the future of the industry online. It would give a super site muscle, improve the accuracy of their information, create value for their services; it would give consumers confidence, make their online search efficient and profitable; it would give agents exposure, increase their business, and it would ensure they are a part of the online game, players on the edge of this quickly changing industry.

Once we are past this economic downturn, baby boomers will be moving in huge numbers for years to come and they are going to be looking online. I don’t imagine they want to get bogged down in the morass of cyber-chaos that is now presented – they will want good, solid, reliable information, no spam, no sales pitch, no baloney, just good, reliable information, delivered sensibly and professionally and quickly.

A one-stop, reliable super site would capture these people and deliver a professional service that would put them in a very profitable, enviable position – maybe there will be two, three sites like this – competition will be good to ensure quality and lower advertising costs.

A super site would be a clearing house using this definition from Merriam:

2: a central agency for the collection, classification, and distribution especially of information; broadly : an informal channel for distributing information or assistance

Several sites have begun the process; it will be interesting to see which ones rise to the top. The partners can also be vendors who provide services related to real estate; lawyers, inspectors, interior design, remodelers, builders -- everything local and real estate related -- each meeting a certain set of criteria to ensure quality.

Some might cry "Elitism" but others will proclaim "Thank God, finally, a place I can trust and have confidence in!" The future is about quality service provided with ease, sans spam and pressure and nonsense.

I'm such an idealist.