Napier tells GlobeSt.com his understanding is that when all the brokerage houses got together to support CARDS, in some cases there was a conscious, related decision to stop supporting his service, not only as subscribers but also as providers of property listings, which they had all done freely in the past regardless of whether they were subscribers.

"Competition is competition, and I can deal with that; this will affect our income some, but we have a very wide base of subscribers so we can make it through this," says Napier, whose recently upgraded service is more expensive but provides more useful bells and whistles and includes free quarterly reports. "But they are apparently trying to directly affect our ability to do business, which I don't think that's fair to anybody and I don't think falls within fair trade guidelines."

CB Richard Ellis confirmed for GlobeSt.com that it will stop providing Napier free listing information for his database. Others also believed to be planing a similar move but unable to be reached for comment are Norris Beggs & Simpson, Cushman & Wakefield and Norris & Stevens. Colliers and Grubb & Ellis, meanwhile, tell GlobeSt.com they will continue to provide their listing information to Napier for free in the interest of their clients.

Mark Fitkin, CBRE's top man in Portland, says everybody needs to align with one system in order to create one comprehensive player rather than continuing to support three incomplete ones. Moreover, he says the CARDS system will be run by the brokers' association and therefore the money that is paid in subscriptions may very well make it back to the brokers in the form of discounted membership and subscription dues once a critical mass of brokers are signed on.

"I think what will transpire here is you will have a majority contributing info to CARDS, an industry run organization for which each house will have board representation," he says. "As long as we as companies are accountable to keep system up to date, it ought to be a very good system."

John Kohnstamm, head of the local Colliers office, says it's not an either or proposition for him. "Capitalism works," he tells GlobeSt.com. "We like Scott's product -- he's got the quarterly reports, historical info-- and CARDS' is unproven but with potential, so we will try and support both and develop both."

Dave Squire, a senior director with the local office of Grubb & Ellis, will do the same, saying it's not about the provider, it's about the client. "We are supporting the CAR endeavor, however we have a fiduciary responsibility to our clients to expose their properties to any and all available listing services," he tells GlobeSt.com, "so will happily send our stuff to everyone."

Both products allow brokers to search a database of available properties to find opportunities for clients and also set preferences that will alert them to opportunities that match their client's needs. Both products also rely on brokers to supply and/or keep up-to-date the property information that drives the system. The CARDS product is licensed from was Commercial Search of Denver, which currently has licensing agreements with individuals and organizations in nine other U.S. markets. Napier is currently seeking patents for pieces of his products, a custom solution that has recently been upgraded and includes more bells and whistles than the CARDS system and by most accounts is currently more comprehensive.

Backing that up, Napier tells GlobeSt.com he got a call Thursday night from one of the managers of one of the brokerage houses planning to unsubscribe from his service. "He called to say he likely wouldn't unsubscribe as soon as planned because some of his brokers had just tested the two systems head-to-head, and with the same property query CARDS returned just four matches and RealNet returned more then 30," says Napier. "I don't think these companies spoke to the brokers--the people who depend on this info day-to-day to make a living."