Update: Lisia Amburn, an AE from SVAR, has clarified things at least a little. Apparently, FSBO is “getting Brokers (REALTORS) to work with them and in turn getting them to put the listings on MLS’s and REALTOR.com.”

Realtor bloggers around the country have been burning up the tubes of teh Internets today because of this press release:

ForSaleByOwner.com Becomes First to Provide New Access to Realtor.com

NEW YORK, Nov 12, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — ForSaleByOwner.com today announced that it has become the nation’s first “by owner” real estate website to enable home sellers to advertise their home on Realtor.com without appearing on a local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This new direct access to Realtor.com follows the May 2008 settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors. [Emphasis ours.]

Huh? FSBOs listed on Realtor.com and not in an MLS? To say this is Big News would be a bit of an understatement, and the fact that NAR didn’t tell anyone about this agreement — well, something’s not right.

It’s so “not right,” in fact, that VAR CEO Scott Brunner shot off a message to Laurie Janik, NAR’s general counsel. “We’re all a bit blindsided by this news, and I’m wondering if or how I and other Virginia AEs missed it at last week’s NAR meetings,” he wrote. “It’s a significant and controversial decision.”

About 90 minutes later, Laurie wrote back:

Please reassure your members that there are no unlisted properties on Realtor.com.

We still cannot figure out the basis for the outrageous claims being made by ForSaleByOwner.com in this press release.  No relationship exists between that entity and Realtor.com.  Listings displayed on Realtor.com continue to be provided by the MLSs, and contrary to the headline, there is NO “agent free access to Realtor.com”.

So, bottom line as we know it now: Home sellers cannot list their properties on an MLS — and therefore on Realtor.com — without going through an agent.

NAR is working to figure out what’s going on, and we’ll have more as we know it. Stay tuned.

More as it develops.

Time’s running out to vote in the first round of Blog Brawl 2.

No dates present

Want to vote more than once? Change your IP address — hit the library, a friend’s house, or steal borrow Wifi from your neighbor. The important thing is to be counted … at least once!

In case you missed the news, DHL announced that it will no longer offer domestic service in the U.S. It will, however, continue to pick up and deliver international packages in the States (and, of course, the Commonwealths).

Good news for Virginia Realtors, though: By being a VAR member, you get a discount with UPS.

Per Amanda Rainsford (née Arwood), our esteemed sales manager, to take advantage of the discount (if you haven’t already), you gotta do two things:

1. Set up a free UPS account by going to ups.com/switchnow.

2. Call 1-800-325-7000 and give your account number to be put on the VAR-discount list.

Simple, huh?

“NAR Must Add Pro Bono Provision to Realtor Code of Ethics” writes Joseph Ferrara on the Sellsius real estate blog. His point:

NAR ought promote the fact that public service is good for the community, good for the economy, good for business and good for the agent. It will distinguish (and elevate) the brand. Is the Realtor brand iconic? Prove it.

What about you — have you ever done pro bono work as a REALTOR? Take our quick poll and let us know.

The entries are in, and now it’s time to start a-brawling!

Thanks to the hundreds of people who nominated blogs for the Virginia Real Estate Blog Brawl (version 2.0)!

We took your votes, counted them, counted them again, and chose the top 16 entries based on number of votes and (in the cases where there were ties) by the time stamp.

We split those “Sensational 16″ into four arbitrary “zones,” each with a #1, #2, #3, and #4 blog. With two contests in each, that mean you now need to cast eight votes — one for each pairing.

For example, in Zone 1, first choose between LoCo Musings and the Arlington Virginia Condos & Washington DC Real Estate Blog. Then also pick between Blog.FranklyRealty.com and Musings of Caroline Virginia.

Not familiar with a blog? Click the entry — it’ll open a new window so you won’t leave the ballot page.

Oh, and you’ll notice that, in one of those contest oddities, Brian Block of Alexandria has two separate blogs, both of which made the cut. Conveniently, it worked out so they’re paired in this round — he’s beside himself, you might say, but only one will move forward.

Your votes in this round will decide which members of the Virginia real estate blogging scene move on to become the “Exquisite Eight,” with voting later this week, and which move on to noble ignominy.

And remember what’s at stake here:

First Place: Free registration to Inman’s Real Estate Connect NY (including Bloggers Connect) + $1000 travel allowance.
First loser Second Place: Free registration to Inman’s Real Estate Connect NY (including Bloggers Connect).
Third Place: Mino Flip Video camera.
Fourth Place: Mino Flip Video camera.

Now, if you’re not a contestant in the Blog Brawl, don’t forget that Inman is offering up a sweet $150 discount for Real Estate Connect NY for VAR members. Just use the code “VAR08″ when you register.

All that said, it’s time to cast yer ballot. First round of voting concludes at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, November 16. As with last time, after you complete your survey, you’ll be redirected to the VARbuzz Blog Brawl parking lot, where you can do some trash talkin’. Have fun!

Poll closed.

Our long, national nightmare — the election — is over; congrats to President-elect Barack Obama.

And now, the poll: “How will the election of Barack Obama affect the real estate economy?” Give us your answer on the home page.

***UPDATED 9:22 a.m. VAR’s offices are closed for the day. There’s nowhere for staff to park!***

VAR’s offices are also a Henrico County polling location, so it’s a rather busy day in our parking lot…. To say the least. I was here at 4:45 to open the doors for the poll workers. About 20 came in, and one said to me, “I’m here to work.”

“Hmm?” I said. “Work where?”

“At the election.”

“Aren’t you all here to work?”

“No,” said someone else. “We’re here to vote.” About a dozen of them, in fact.

Less than an hour later:

With tongue firmly in cheek, we present our admittedly unscientific, both-side-bashing, don’t-send-us-nasty-messages-because-it’s-not-nasty-enough, 2008 Presidential poll.

It’s on the sidebar on the homepage. Vote early, vote often. And please, don’t take it seriously. (The poll, that is. Not the election. That you should take seriously.)

The deal:

How good is your blog? Time to find out — it’s our second Real Estate Blog Brawl competition. This one’s just for Virginia REALTORS, and this one’s got some sweet prizes. Rest assured, there will be a bigger, badder version of our uber-popular national Real Estate Blog Brawl in March, so consider this Blog Brawl the prelims.

So, let’s talk prizes:

First place:

• Free registration to Inman’s Real Estate Connect NYC 2009 including Bloggers Connect
• $1000 travel allowance
• Number 1 overall seed in March 2009’s National Real Estate Blog Brawl

Second place:

• Free registration to Real Estate Connect NYC 2009 including Bloggers Connect

Third and fourth place:

• Flip Mino pocket camcorders

Thanks to the good folks at Inman for ponying up the registrations as bounty in support of the Blog Brawl. And by the way, they’ll be offering up a pretty hefty discount to Real Estate Connect NYC 2009 just for VAR members. Stay tuned for details.

Back to the brawl… Use the form at the end of this post to register your blog — or to nominate someone else’s (or, if you care to hop from IP address to IP address, several someone elses’). We’ll take the top nominees and create the Blog Brawl bracket in typical single-elimination tournament style.

Next month, we’ll hold up to six rounds of voting to determine who moves on to the next round, who goes home weeping, and ultimately the big winner. Being as this is the Blog Brawl, there are no rules. Competitors can use whatever means at their disposal to drive up their vote. Those REALTORS who engaged their current and former clients in the voting not only did well in the tourney, they also had a fun (and frequent) reason to contact their clients. You can also get your mama to vote for you.

So get to it. Nominate all of your favorite real estate blogs as many times as you want from as many IP addresses as you can by Friday, November 7 at 11:59 p.m. EST; just enter the URL into the form below.

Caveats: This Blog Brawl is open to Virginia Realtor bloggers only. (The national Real Estate Blog Brawl comes in March.) Multi-author blogs are permitted to join the brawl, provided that a majority of its authors are REALTORS. VARbuzz may exclude blogs from the brawl at its sole discretion. As the Blog Brawl sponsor, VARbuzz will not participate.