It's just another day as I walk to the mail box and grab a fistful of mail to sort through before dinner. Interspersed between the bills, magazines and catalogs is some junk mail. I feel a slight twinge, however, as I notice that several of the junk pieces were sent by well meaning Realtors, just like I used to do.

CNNMoney.com just turned up the heat with an article addressing REALTOR compensation issues adding to the controversy about commissions, discount brokerage and today's real estate services.

It is tough enough to compete with the 1.4 million licensees for buyers and sellers, but add the proliferation of discount brokerage houses, and online options, today's true professional has a challenge to differentiate their services.