NAR’s Second Century Ventures acquires ePropertyData

WASHINGTON – March 7, 2008 – The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has acquired ePropertyData (ePD), a provider of commercial information exchange (CIE) services for the commercial real estate industry. The acquisition was accomplished by NAR’s new for-profit subsidiary, Second Century Ventures LLC.

In addition to technology investment, Second Century Ventures, a strategic private equity fund, plans to develop a credit union and political action fund. Money to kick off Second Century comes from a dues increase approved by NAR directors last year.

“Through this acquisition (of ePD), NAR will provide its members with two important new services – a robust national commercial real estate listing and transaction platform, and a broker-centric solution provider for the CIE industry,” says NAR President Dick Gaylord. “The national listings and transactions platform will give our commercial members national exposure for all their sale and lease listings, and provide the industry with an excellent and trusted resource to search for properties across the country,”

ePD operates two of the largest CIEs in the country, CommercialMLS.com, on behalf of the 4,500-member Commercial Brokers Association in Seattle, and CommercialGateway.com, for the 2,000-member commercial division of the Houston Association of Realtors.

The new listings and transaction platform will be located at CommercialSource.com, which is managed by the Realtors Commercial Alliance, NAR’s commercial real estate division. RCA expects the site to become the primary source for all commercial real estate information on the Internet.

Realtors who practice commercial real estate may elect to have their listings aggregated through their local CIE. Realtors who are not a member of a CIE may choose to post their listings directly through ePD’s Web site. Realtors will be able to post and have access to all listings at no charge. Ultimately, millions of people will see the listings.

Approximately 60,000 Realtors are members of RCA, and NAR estimates that more than 80,000 members offer commercial real estate services. Information about RCA is available at www.realtor.org/commercial.

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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