Jonathan Dalton wrote an interesting post on forced IDX registrations (and how forcing registrations is smart business). His point was that by forcing registration, you are effectively pre-qualifying prospects and also providing an opportunity to introduce yourself appropriately and work towards building a long-term relationship. Sure some people might be turned off by the idea and won’t register, but for the ones that do, at least you know they’re prepared to take the next step.

I’ve found that Real Estate Agents stand on both extremes… One preaching forced registration because “that’s how you get the leads” and the other against it because “that’s how you lose leads to your competitors.”

So… Where do you stand?

Do you force registration? Do you allow visitors to view a certain number of listings before requesting that they register? Do you allow unlimited free search?

Ultimately, I think that there’s no one right or wrong way to do it. You should test different options and assess which one works best. Still, I’d be curious to hear what’s worked for you!