In the early 1990s, there was a lot of broker and Industry fear of the public gaining access to the MLS. There was talk of MLS being so valuable, that it should be considered a public utility…regulated and controlled by the government. This presented a huge hurdle as I set out to introduce the Web as a new place to advertise listings as the Realtor Consultant for RIN.

When the WWW burst on to the scene, listings displayed as advertising could be mistaken for “public access” of MLS. I was acutely aware of the problems RIN would face promoting Realtor.com and convincing the Industry that the WWW was a great place to advertise should brokers begin to confuse the Web with public access. To socialize the difference, the first name I gave to Internet Advertising on REALTOR.com was the National Electronic Advertising Program (NEAP). That worked for awhile until my friend and colleague, Roy Rainey, complained that it was too long. So I changed it to EAP, and then IAP (Internet Advertising Program). It was later changed to RPA (Realtor Property Ads). Here is an early brochure: