Broker Public Portal Reaches Funding Milestone

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif., March 19, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A nationwide group of leading real estate brokerage firms and Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) have exceeded their initial benchmark of raising $250,000 towards a National Broker/MLS consumer-facing website in just 10 weeks.

The initiative, known as the Broker Public Portal, was first made public in January and includes participants from 32 MLSs and 24 real estate brokerages who contributed $5000 each. A webpage for the project is available at www.brokerpublicportal.com.

To launch the initiative, this group established a milestone of raising $250,000 to fund the project's start-up expenses and gauge interest in the project. Among other expenses, funds will go to legal fees, administrative costs, and meeting expenses. The effort to raise the organization funds was launched in January of 2015 and the goal was met in 10 weeks, on March 10, 2015.

According to Victor Lund of the WAV Group, a consultant for the project, 21 additional brokers and 18 MLSs are processing their agreements, which will add appreciably to the talent pool supporting the organization and to the resources available to it. "The group met their milestone quickly," Lund said, "and we won't turn additional contributors away. The wider the industry support is for this initiative, the more likely its success and durability," he added.

Lund explains that MLSs have long provided regional consumer facing property search websites. In December of 2014, a group of like-minded real estate brokerages and MLSs met to discuss the possibility of building a National MLS consumer facing website to fill an unmet need in the online marketplace. "This is an effort that is good for the real estate industry today and will benefit brokers and sales associates for many years to come," said Robert Moline of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services of America.

Cameron Paine of Connecticut MLS added, "We have just over one-third of the real estate industry and many of the largest MLSs and brokerages in the country currently involved in this project. By the time we have completed our build out of the Broker Public Portal initiative, the benefits to the brokerage community, the MLSs, and the public will be so clear that I believe we will see even broader support from the industry. "The group gathered support for the project widely by engaging broker networks, franchise organizations, MLS networks, attending conferences, and providing information to the media.

The first meeting of the contributing organizations was held on March 18th, 2015 by telephone conference where an interim executive committee was announced.

The first in-person meeting of the organizers is scheduled for April 22, 2015.

Below is a list of corporations contributing to the effort to date. More are expected to join the project before the first meeting next month.

ARMLS
Austin Central Texas RIS
Baird and Warner
Carolina Preferred
Charleston Trident
Cincinnati Board of REALTORS
Coldwell Banker Perry & Walston
Colorado Real Estate Network
Columbus Realtors
Connecticut MLS
CRIS MLS
Crye-Leike
Cutler Real Estate
Edina Realty
F. C. Tucker Real Estate
Gardner REALTORS
GFLR
Greater Tulsa AOR
Greenridge
HomeServices of America
HGAR
Howard Hanna
Hunt Realty
IRIS
John Green Realtor
Keller Williams Austin
Leading RE
Long Realty
Louisville Realtors
Lyon Real Estate
Maine Real Estate Info System
MARIS - Mid America Regional Info
MetroMLS
MIBOR
Michael Saunders
MLS Listings
MLSPIN
MRED
MRIS
NNREN
NNRMLS
NOREIS Toledo
NORMLS
Pacific Union
RealComp
Realty USA
RealtySouth
RealtyWeb
Regional MLS of Minnesota
Shorewest
SIRMLS
Trend MLS
Watson Realty
William Pitt Sothebys
Windermere
WNYREIS