For many brokers and agents, worry is mounting that popular real estate listing portals will do to the real estate business what Expedia did to travel agents—that is, make their business model and role obsolete. The fear that keeps some brokers up at night is that eventually, these portals, which have been highly successful at attracting consumers, will begin selling properties directly to these consumers, thereby cutting out the perceived "middle man": the real estate broker.

There's no denying that real estate listing portals have become an extremely popular way to search for homes and offer wide exposure to consumers. According to the National Association of REALTORS® 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 96 percent of homebuyers under the age of 44 used the Internet in their home search, mostly through one or more real estate portals. And total unique visitors to real estate sites are up 70 percent year over year, according to ComScore.

But is selling properties really the end game for real estate portals? The portals say a resounding "no," insisting that their business model has little in common with that of brokers. Portals generally assert that they are focused on providing exposure for properties, and generate their revenues from advertising and lead generation.

We don't want to be part of the transaction," says Mark Tepper, senior vice president of sales and marketing at HomeFinder.com. "Our goal is to facilitate the transaction and make the agent's job easier. We are a marketing organization. We want to get consumers to come to our site and then get them to brokers."

Andy Woolley, vice president of Homes Media Solutions, explains his company's business model: "We provide advertising and solutions to help brokers communicate with their customers. The only interaction we have with consumers is to convert them into a lead for our advertisers." Woolley asserts that brokers and agents provide a level of local expertise that can't be replaced by technology. "It's a massive leap from our technology to providing the local market expertise and personal services brokers do. We have a completely different role in the process."

The reality is, most brokers say, that real estate portals have given them good exposure, and that the arrangements they have with portals largely support their businesses. Still, others grumble that certain portals are pricing REALTORS® out of the market, using information that REALTORS® actually own.

What can real estate brokers do to protect their continued value in the real estate transaction? Experts recommend the following:

1. Be educated about portals and how they affect your business.

Assuming a brokerage decides to list with a portal, it's important to consider how and where you want to spend your advertising dollars. For example, are you comfortable with the advertising practices of the portal(s)? Does the company prominently display unwanted information, such as ads from competitors, on your listings? Some sites, such as Homes.com, don't display any competitive agent or broker information on the listing detail page, while others do. What options does the portal offer to enhance listings? Have these been effective for you? If you're investing in enhanced listings, tracking metrics is important.

2. Think, act and engage locally.

Buyers and sellers shouldn't need to go to an aggregator to find out the value of their home, or to know what's for sale in their area. Most would prefer to have a reliable local source of information. Local brokerages can, and should, do a better job of demonstrating and communicating their expertise in their local market by providing rich, relevant content. (Think: the new dog tax in their municipality, or targeted emails to past buyers about comparable properties that have closed in their neighborhood). Brokerages that have a strong content strategy and the best site out there for a local real estate market don't need to worry about the large portals, since consumers want in-touch, local content.

"It's not enough just to put up a website. It's a commitment. If you're going to compete with Zillow and Trulia, you have to take a long-term approach and do a better job of engaging with customers and being experts in their market," says Jay Gaskill, CEO of Real Estate Digital. "And you have to sustain that effort."

3. Follow up on leads as quickly as possible.

Online customers who inquire about a property expect a speedy response, otherwise they will simply move on to the next agent or property.

"We have found through trial and error that close to an instant response time is essential. If you wait more than nine minutes to respond to a consumer online, chances are they will move on and potentially connect with another REALTOR®," says Dan Kruse, president of CENTURY 21 Affiliated.

4. Validate online information on behalf of consumers.

Because many portals receive their data from multiple sources, they sometimes have incomplete or inaccurate listing data, such as homes that are no longer on the market. This leads to frustration for consumers. Brokers can help by making sure to validate this information and weed out unreliable data.

"It's important to dig deeper and ask, Is that information accurate today in our local marketplace? Whether it's dated information or estimates that don't add up, our job as real estate agents is to validate the online information based on our local knowledge. That's a huge value we provide," says Kruse.

5. Just say "no" to syndication?

A number of companies have decided to withdraw from the major portals over issues of cost and dissatisfaction with the portals' policies. Edina Realty is an oft-cited success story of this approach.

Is opting out the answer? Certain large brokerages, such as Edina, are very good when it comes to their website strategies, and drive a great deal of traffic to their sites. Yet, for most smaller brokerage firms, opting out is not a perfect solution, since many don't have the resources to commit to developing a strong Web presence. Moreover, most REALTORS® hold to the fact that they still get a lot of activity and exposure from being on portals.

"Home sellers want to sell their homes quickly, and for the best possible price. Most brokers understand that, and operate in the best interest of their clients by assuring their listings are seen on the most-used marketing platforms in their area," says Cynthia Nowak, senior communications manager at Zillow.

Nowak goes on to say that home sellers also want the exposure offered by portals, citing a January 2013 survey conducted by Ipsos: "More than two-thirds of sellers said they would either reconsider using their agent or specifically ask their agent to include their listing on large real estate sites and mobile apps if they found out their home would be excluded from these marketing platforms," she explains.

6. It's the brokers' game to win.

Says Gaskill, "Brokers are highly motivated to stay engaged with consumers because that's the brokerage business. Before the Internet, agents sent postcards, knocked on doors and made telephone calls. Now the consumer is online, and agents are motivated to engage with that consumer where they are." But, he argues that pricing a home appropriately is more important than exposure on real estate portals.

"Syndication doesn't hurt you, but it doesn't necessarily bring the real value we think it brings. If a home is on the MLS and is priced appropriately, it sells."

Portals may have seized a lion's share of the online traffic, but they don't appear to be taking that much money—and their business model seems to be unclear. In fact, at the same time as portal use has grown exponentially, the use of real estate agents has grown, too. According to NAR's 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 89 percent of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker in 2012, a share that has steadily increased from 69 percent in 2001.

"It is still the brokerage businesses' game to win, but they will have to up their investment, skillset and engagement," concludes Gaskill.

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