In addition to Move, Inc. Q110  net loss of $20.3 million – nearly double that of Q109 - the major earnings-call news was the revamp of Realtor.com, and perhaps of its contract with the National Association of Realtors (NAR.) The new platform will go live as an opt-in beta in two or three weeks from now. As any consumer or real estate professional goes to the site she or he will be asked if the preference is to view the new beta version of the site or the traditional one. Some time this summer, after feedback from users, the new Realtor.com will be live for everyone.

Saying that the site’s current “inflexible structure was a stumbling block,” CEO Steve Berkowitz added that significant work on the site is yet to be done but the real estate firm will “overcome a major hurdle with this pending release.” The goal is to make content more accessible more quickly. To do that they’ll make homes for sale, new construction, recently sold, off-market properties and rentals all searchable and discoverable from one place. The Finding a Realtor function will be improved, and consumers will now be able to search for a professional by certification.

One mission is for more targeted monetization opportunities. One of the keys to accomplishing this is in better analytics, providing better insight to customers and their activity on the site. As an example of current limitations, Berkowitz said that approximately 10,000 calls to real estate professionals from consumers are generated by clicking from the site via the IPhone, but that without improvements those are the only calls Move, Inc. can track.

“Our goal is to define the value relationship of what we provide to our customers, he said. “We will then get a better understanding of what a lead / referral is.”

While stressing that the agreement with NAR for Realtor.com remains in force, Krolik said that Move, Inc. needs to clarify the agreement by way of conversations with NAR. With market evolution, and real estate information out there from a number of competitors as well as Realtor.com,  “We believe that we have to have the most comprehensive and reliable information available,” he said. Discussions between the two will include a conversation around the agreement clause “must remain competitive” for example.

It leaves us to wonder, with the creation of Realtors Property Resource, and the NAR funding of Game Changer Challenge projects such as Brokers Listing Cooperative, if the study of competitor phraseology in the agreement might be Move’s way of saying, “NAR, put us first.”  There could be some Move, Inc. concern that NAR is trying to serve too many masters – and competitive  or cross-purpose masters at that.

“At the end of the day we’re a search site – we’re a find site,” said Berkowitz. “We will continue to add new and better search functionality, giving consumers and real estate professionals smaller bite size chunks of what they’re looking for, enabling them to get through the site more quickly.”

Changes will roll out first for Top Producer and will be eventually applied to rentals and other places.

Move reported what CFO Bob Krolik called a “good [Q110] quarter, with the market still tough but some stabilization in Move’s core business.”  Realtor.com revenue and listing counts (over 7 million)  were both flat quarter over quarter, and while subscribers were down many purchased the more costly Market Snapshot than in quarters past. Rentals and moving revenues increased slightly.

Deferred revenue dropped by half in the last 12-18 months but revenue itself did not. This happened because customers that used to pay a discount fee for their upfront payment are now habitually paying on a monthly basis. Deferred revenue from December 31, 2009 through March 31, 2010 actually stayed about the same, however, indicating this payment process is starting to level out. Another factor in revenue drop was the drop off of Realtors, as approximately 300,000 left the industry, bringing Realtor numbers from 1.4 to 1.1.million.

Realtor.com now has 400,000 real estate professional subscribers, and relationships with 900 MLSs. Berkowitz cited a Comscore report that ranks Realtor.com number one among real estate sites for unique users, with 50 percent more users than number two Yahoo Real Estate. In April 14.7 million consumers and real estate professionals visited Realtor.com

Here’s the earnings release.