An updated version of a Realtor-owned national property database is set to go live tomorrow morning.
Version 1.20 of Realtors Property Resource will feature improvements to database tools, including its comparative analysis tool. In addition to filtering by active listings, pending sales and off-market properties, users will have the ability to view only distressed properties through the tool. RPR users will also be able to search comparable properties by date and see expanded details on each comparable, RPR said.
The enhancements are based on Realtor feedback, said RPR CEO Dale Ross in a blog post.
The new version of the database will also allow users to personalize report covers with the name of a property or neighborhood instead of the property address or geographic area.
RPR is owned by a subsidiary of the National Association of Realtors of the same name and is accessible only to Realtors.
The company divides its users into six constituents: agents, brokers, multiple listing services, appraisers, associations, and commercial professionals. RPR rolled out a commercial application in beta last fall, and in 2011 launched broker tool sets.
The company is currently focusing on developing appraiser tools and a dashboard for associations and MLSs. The dashboard will offer user statistics, market analytics, and messages from association or MLS leadership, among other features. RPR plans to start beta testing the products in the second quarter.
RPR generates analytics products based on public property records and historical listings data obtained through partnerships with MLSs. In December, Santa Ana, Calif.-based Veros became a reseller of one of those products, an automated property valuation called a Realtors Valuation Model (RVM).
RPR’s business model depends on selling analytics products to non-NAR members such as lenders and government agencies. Initial expectations that the database would generate enough revenue to pay for itself have not panned out, however.
Since its founding in November 2009, RPR has cost NAR nearly $58 million and, as of late October, had generated little revenue, at least partially due to coverage gaps resulting from a lack of participation among some major MLSs.
Michigan’s largest MLS, Farmington Hills-based Realcomp II Ltd. joined RPR in November. More than 425 MLSs and commercial information exchanges (CIEs) have signed up to feed listings data to RPR.
