LoopNet™ has 4 Million members and they are the dominate player in offering MLS like services to the commercial real estate industry. Their business model is different. Commercial Sales agents and consumers all pay for subscriptions. Some would say that LoopNet is highly successful, others would say that they are holding the commercial real estate industry hostage.
As we have seen in the past, the National Association of REALTORS® has done plenty to intercept these types of trade concerns in real estate. Perhaps the best example is the formation of Sentrilock™ as a competitor to GE Supra’s lock box domination. NAR is also in the process of launching a new company to compete against Rapattoni, who has an enormous market share in Association management software.
The NAR solution to LoopNet is called Commercial Source. The Los Angles California data sharing initiative called CARETS has now partnered with Commercial Source to offer their services to CARETS participants and subscribers. This is great news for Commercial Source and probably great news for commercial real estate specialists in the Greater Los Angles Metropolitan area. I think it will be a long time before commercial agents stop posting listings to LoopNet, but at least they have an alternative. Here is the press release.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) June 22, 2010 –
California Real Estate Technology Services (CARETS) has launched a property centric commercial multiple listing service (MLS) with resources and tools to enable its members to analyze and compile data, share information and market commercial properties more efficiently. Powered by ePropertyData, the commercial MLS and information exchange solutions provider owned by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), CARETS commercial information exchange will serve its more than 100,000 members throughout Southern California.
“A broker’s ability to access analytics and communicate market-based sales and lease history to help a client make a buy/lease decision is critical,” said Mike DeLeon, Chariman, CARETS Board of Directors. “In a changing market, having accurate and detailed information at your fingertips can make the difference in winning the client and ultimately, getting the deal done.”
With the new MLS, CARETS members automatically gain additional marketing of their properties on CommercialSource.com, the national commercial real estate listing platform and marketplace hosted by the NAR and powered by ePropertyData. This extra exposure comes with REALTORS only having to list their properties once in their MLS, as ePropertyData distributes to CommercialSource, Realtor.com and other websites.
“Our goal is to provide commercial associations and their members with leading-edge marketing and research tools that are simple to use and efficient,” said Connie Capone, CEO of ePropertyData. “ePropertyData is dedicated to building the best commercial MLS for superior data, choices and deals.”
ePropertyData is the leader in commercial MLS and information exchange technology with an in-depth knowledge of the industry coupled with a wide range of products that power the commercial real estatemarketplace.
About ePropertyData
ePropertyData, owned by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), is the leader in Commercial MLS and Information Exchange (CIE) technology. ePropertyData is NARs official operator of www.CommercialSource.com. Launched in May of 2008, CommercialSource.com continues to grow at a fast pace with data from 94 content providers that are aggregated to provide national exposure to those listings at no cost to real estate licensees. ePropertyData clients include the Commercial Brokers Association based in Seattle www.commercialmls.com, the Houston Association of Realtors, www.commgate.com, the Dayton Area Board of REALTORS®, the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Association of Realtors and CARETS (California Real Estate Technology Services, Inc.) and others.
About CARETS (California Real Estate Technology Services)
CARETS is a non-profit mutual-benefit corporation. CARETS membership covers the Combined LA Westside MLS (CLAW), CRISNet Regional MLS (Burbank AOR/Southland Regional AOR), iTECH MLS (Glendale AOR/Pasadena Foothills AOR), MRMLS (South Bay to San Gabriel Valley to Temecula), Southern California MLS (Orange and Southeast LA Counties, Long Beach to Whittier)Desert Area MLS (California Desert AOR/Palm Springs Regional AOR) and VCRDS (Conejo Simi Moorpark AOR/Ventura County Coastal AOR); representing over 100,000 real estate professionals and 30 REALTOR® associations throughout the Southland, which account for approximately one third of the MLS users in the state. Visit www.caretscommercial.com.
About the National Association of REALTORS® and CommercialSource.com
Approximately 79,000 NAR and institute affiliate members specialize in commercial brokerage services, and an additional 263,000 members offer commercial real estate as a secondary business. Information about NARs commercial real estate division is available at http://www.realtor.org/commercial. The National Association of REALTORS®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is Americas largest trade association, representing more than 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate.
