The software distribution is an undertaking of a joint venture of the National Association of Realtors, Homestore.com and Real Estate Business Services Inc. The Austin-based Texas Association of Realtors represents the third largest real estate member organization in the nation.

The agreement calls for distribution of ZipForm Version 5 software with each payment annual dues, beginning in 2001. Software will be downloaded from the Internet. "This long-term relationship forms the basis for our association to assist our members in moving to an entirely electronic transaction in the future," says Louise Hull, chairwoman of the Texas association.

The software is considered a gateway to eRealtor.com, an e-transaction platform, says Dennis Cronk, NAR president. The application enables e-mailing of complete transactions or individual documents, with annotations to e-mailed documents via e-sticky notes. The software also integrates contract manager applications and facilitates the importing and exporting of data from other software products. In the future, electronic signature and browser-based functions will be added.