Former NAR REACH Executive Director Kia Nejatian Joins Revive Real Estate
Leading Real Estate Venture Capital exec becomes Head of Corporate Development IRVINE, Calif. - August 23, 2022 -- Revive Real Estate, the most complete presale home renovation solution for sellers and cash-backed offer programs for buyers, announces leading real estate venture capital executive Kia Nejatian as its new Head of Corporate Development. He will join the Revive executive leadership team on September 6, 2022. Most recently, Nejatian was the Executive Director of the National Association of Realtors' REACH accelerator program for US real estate startups. He also was a venture capitalist at Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the NAR, focusing on real estate investments. Revive was among eight residential real estate technology startups selected for the US 2022 NAR REACH program earlier this year. "Kia joining Revive Real Estate rockets our visibility in the PropTech space and puts us on a trajectory that will drive higher revenue and smarter market expansion," said Michael Alladawi, Revive Real Estate CEO and founder. "Leading our business expansion efforts while helping us go deeper with current partners, Kia has the unique skillset to make an immediate impact for Revive. We are excited to have his energy and drive to help take us to an even higher level of success," he added. Before his roles at NAR REACH and Second Century Ventures, Nejatian led real estate and construction investments at Plug and Play Ventures. He also was Director of Partnerships at Kash, a mobile payment startup purchased by a publicly traded financial services company. Previously, he was a Real Estate Analyst at Real Facilities, acquired by Savills Studley, and an Advisor to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. "The real estate market today is shifting rapidly, and there will be winners and losers," said Kia Nejatian. "Revive shows it does incredibly well in a seller's market, but wait until you see how extraordinary it becomes for agents and sellers in a buyer's market. I'm excited to share the massive value Revive can deliver to sellers and their agents," he added. According to Revive cofounder Dalip Jaggi, adding Nejatian to Revive Real Estate's executive team validates the tremendous growth ahead for the entire Listings Concierge category. "As the demand of our product grows, Kia's involvement will be essential to integrate with the right strategic partners to deliver our mission to help homeowners maximize their biggest asset– their home," Jaggi said. Revive offers presale renovation services for homeowners to help maximize their profits from their home sales. When homeowners renovate their homes before selling, they maximize their return on their most significant asset — their home. Revive research shows that sellers leave 15 to 20 percent of potential profits on the table when they sell their homes "as is." Revive sellers average $186,000 more than the renovation costs and substantially more in higher-cost markets, and once Revive homes are listed, they sell faster. Learn more at www.revive.realestate. About Revive Revive's mission is to guide home sellers through presale renovations without upfront costs. By providing access to Revive's network of top contractors, home sellers gain an average of $186,000 in additional profit when selling their homes. Revive homes sell for more and help sellers move ahead by maximizing their sales value. Learn more at www.revive.realestate.

Kristi Kennelly Joins RateMyAgent
Shared commitment to help real estate agents leverage their hard earned reputation makes this union a perfect fit. SAN DIEGO, June 18, 2020 -- RateMyAgent, an agent review and digital marketing platform for real estate professionals to generate, aggregate, and syndicate client reviews, today announced that Kristi Kennelly has joined the company as a product ambassador. As a key member of the marketing team, Kristi will help agents become product-smart through virtual events, training and a delightful onboarding experience. "When we launched in the U.S., we made a commitment to hire the best in the industry," said Mark Armstrong, co-founder and chief executive officer of RateMyAgent. "Kristi brings showmanship, a strong work ethic and the perfect skill-set needed to ensure we deliver a delightful experience from onboarding to becoming an actively engaged, loyal customer ." A former Broadway performer (she played opposite Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and Rumpleteazer in CATS), Kristi combines practical real estate marketing knowledge with a dose of humility and entertainment. Instead of flying on the stage as Peter Pan, she will be teaching agents how to help their businesses take flight. She's educated agents nationwide as a professional speaker in online marketing, lead generation, lead conversion, video marketing, social media and how to harness the power of customer reviews. "RateMyAgent delivers the right product at the exact right time," said Kristi Kennelly, product ambassador for RateMyAgent. "I was looking for a team where I could harness my passion and purpose to help real estate agents build their dream businesses by amplifying their reputations. I believe I've found that with this group and am ready to help agents become undisruptable." Savvy agents understand the power of third-party validation and social proof. Therefore, client reviews are a critical component of any digital strategy. From ranking in search to establishing professional credibility, RateMyAgent simplifies the process and maximizes reach across all digital platforms such as social media, ad networks, and websites. Agents can focus their effort on delivering incredible consumer experiences and allow the automated platform to ensure transparency for future clients. RateMyAgent is endorsed by the 2019 REACH program by the National Association of Realtors®. About RateMyAgent RateMyAgent is an Australia-based review platform now expanding rapidly in the United States. In Australia, RateMyAgent is used by agents who sell 80% of property across Australia and get reviews for 1 in 3 homes sold nationally. RateMyAgent launched in the United States in 2018 and has partnerships with MLS's from Florida to California, including CRMLS, the country's largest MLS. They are the first review platform to be included in NAR's REACH Accelerator Program. RateMyAgent is listed on the Australian stock exchange. More information about RateMyAgent can be found at www.ratemyagent.com

David Doctorow Named CEO Of Move, Inc.
Veteran of eBay, Expedia to Lead realtor.com Operator Beginning in February NEW YORK, Jan. 8, 2020 -- News Corp announced today that David Doctorow will become Chief Executive Officer of Move, Inc., operator of realtor.com, effective Feb. 3. Mr. Doctorow joins Move from eBay, the global e-commerce business where he served as Head of Global Growth, eBay Marketplaces, since 2016. He previously was Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Expedia, the leading travel technology company. Mr. Doctorow succeeds Tracey Fellows, who has served as Move's interim CEO since June. He will report to Ms. Fellows in her capacity as News Corp's President of Global Digital Real Estate, a role she assumed in January 2019, after serving as CEO of REA Group, a leading digital real estate business in Australia and Asia, in which News Corp has a 61.6% stake. REA Group has a 20% stake in Move. "David is a thoughtful, dynamic leader with vast experience in contemporary digital commerce, and thus the ideal individual to take charge at Move, whose audience growth is significantly outpacing that of the nearest competitor," said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp. "Realtor.com® is the pre-eminent marketplace for consumers and real estate professionals, and David's digital drive and his marketing savvy will enhance the company and the industry for years to come." News Corp is a global leader in digital real estate services. Since the creation of the new News Corp in 2013, digital real estate revenues have more than tripled, with the segment approaching $1.2 billion in Fiscal Year 2019. Segment EBITDA has more than doubled during that time, accounting for 31% of reported Total Segment EBITDA for News Corp in Fiscal Year 2019. Realtor.com® has more than doubled the number of unique users since its acquisition by News Corp in 2014. For the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2020, ending Sept. 30, News Corp reported that there was an 18% year-over-year increase in traffic on the site, growing faster than that of its nearest competitor. "I have greatly enjoyed my time working so closely with the team at Move, and I am thrilled that our search for the next CEO led us to David Doctorow, who I know is destined to lead realtor.com® into an ever more prosperous future," said Ms. Fellows. "I am grateful for the opportunity to join the team at News Corp and to lead Move, Inc., where we have the privilege of helping real estate professionals match buyers and sellers as they make one of the most important personal and financial events of their lives. I am looking forward to working with the strong Move team to take the business to the next level," said Mr. Doctorow. Mr. Doctorow helped eBay through a successful turnaround in recent years, leading a versatile global team and implementing significant marketing tech and workforce advancements at the company. eBay was named one of the 10 "top-rated" workplaces of 2019 by Fast Company magazine. Before his time at Expedia, where he also led a large team in building the business on a global scale, Mr. Doctorow worked as an executive in the marketing and sales practice at McKinsey & Company and as Director of Global Marketing Strategy and Operations at the Hewlett-Packard Company. He was named one of Top 50 CMOs to Watch by Boardroom Insiders and a Forbes Top 50 Most Influential CMO. He has a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Doctorow will be based at Move's Santa Clara, CA headquarters. About News Corp News Corp (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and other products and services. The company comprises businesses across a range of media, including: news and information services, subscription video services in Australia, book publishing and digital real estate services. Headquartered in New York, News Corp operates primarily in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom, and its content and other products and services are distributed and consumed worldwide. More information is available at: http://www.newscorp.com. About Move, Inc. Move, Inc., a subsidiary of News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV], operates a family of websites and mobile experiences for consumers and real estate professionals through all stages of the home journey. This includes realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination that pioneered digital real estate more than 20 years ago. Operating under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS®, realtor.com®, offers the most MLS-listed for-sale listings among national real estate portals, and access to information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Through its Opcity platform, realtor.com® uses data science and machine learning to connect consumers with a real estate professional based on their specific buying and selling needs. Move also offers a complete solution of software products and services to help real estate professionals serve their clients and grow their business in a digital world, including ListHub™, the nation's leading listings syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the real estate industry; and Top Producer® Systems.

Laurie Weston Davis Joins RateMyAgent
Australian-based reviews startup commits to U.S. market with the hire of a celebrated industry insider SAN DIEGO, Oct. 14, 2019 -- RateMyAgent, an agent review and marketing platform for real estate professionals to generate, aggregate, and syndicate client reviews, today announced that Laurie Weston Davis has joined the company as vice president of industry relations. This hire shows a deep commitment to the U.S. market to understand and align with the needs of today's real estate agent in a changing digital landscape. "There are few people in this industry who have participated in nearly every aspect of real estate as Laurie has done," said Mark Armstrong, co-founder and chief executive officer of RateMyAgent. "She has served as an agent, broker, local REALTOR® Association president, GeekyGirl, vendor board member and investor, and Inman influencer. She's able to share this breadth of knowledge as we build an agent-centric, comprehensive reviews platform." Laurie got her start in real estate over thirteen years ago while working with a small independent brokerage. She transitioned her business to a large franchise brokerage where she launched The Geeky Girls, given her aptitude for understanding and teaching emerging real estate technologies. Since then, she's become a sought after speaker, and highly regarded industry influencer. In addition to her role with RateMyAgent, Laurie serves as the CEO/Broker/Owner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Lifestyle Property Partners in Pinehurst, North Carolina. "I know how important reviews are to my business," said Laurie Weston Davis. "When I learned more about the mission of RateMyAgent, I knew it was a partnership I wanted to be part of. Not to mention, the Australian leadership has a heart of gold. They are an absolute delight to build with." Savvy agents understand the power of third-party validation and social proof. Therefore, client reviews are a critical component of any digital strategy. From ranking in search to establishing professional credibility, RateMyAgent simplifies the process and maximizes reach across all digital platforms such as social media, ad networks, and websites. Agents can focus their effort on delivering incredible consumer experiences and allow the automated platform to ensure transparency for future clients. RateMyAgent is endorsed by the 2019 REACH program by the National Association of Realtors®. About RateMyAgent RateMyAgent is an Australia-based review platform now expanding rapidly in the United States. In Australia, RateMyAgent is used by agents who sell 80% of property across Australia and get reviews for 1 in 3 homes sold nationally. RateMyAgent launched in the United States in 2018 and has partnerships with MLS's from Florida to California, including CRMLS, the country's largest MLS. They are the first review platform to be included in NAR's REACH Accelerator Program. RateMyAgent is listed on the Australian stock exchange. More information about RateMyAgent can be found at www.ratemyagent.com.

Leadership Change Signals Further Growth and Innovation for Planitar Inc., the Makers of iGUIDE
Kitchener, Canada, May 17, 2019 -- A leadership change is underway at Canadian proptech company, Planitar Inc. The creators of the iGUIDE camera system, the most efficient way to understand a physical space through accurate floor plans, 3D tours, and property measurements, have announced that co-founder Alex Likholyot will be taking the company through its next stage of growth as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing co-founder Kevin Klages. In his new role, Alex will be aligning the company's innovations with its sales efforts to accelerate Planitar's growth in existing markets and the expansion into new market verticals. Alex said: "From the very beginning, our goal was to optimize the way people collect measurement data. Our technology will continue to deliver the fastest workflow for mapping interior spaces, with iGUIDE 3D tour presentation being one the most intuitive and efficient ways for people to explore indoor environments. We also strive to give our customers powerful tools to run their businesses and help them, in turn, to serve their clients better. Planitar is uniquely positioned to take full advantage of its technology in multiple vertical markets and we will accelerate executing on this vision." Kevin will be taking on a new role as Chief Industry Officer to focus on strategic initiatives within the current Residential Real Estate and Property Management industries while developing new market verticals. Kevin is excited about the future outlook in our existing verticals. "As co-founders, Alex and I had a vision of what Planitar could be. Under his management and leadership, the company is in a great position to continue executing on our vision. In under five years, we have managed to evolve the standards for listing real estate property in Canada. Floor plans, room measurements, and square footage have now become commonplace and a default in many markets. We will be capitalizing on Planitar's strengths to become the standard for many different industries and verticals in proptech, and are looking forward to continuing to build on that paradigm shift in Canada and globally." Over the past five years, Planitar has experienced strong growth and iGUIDE is now available throughout Canada, in 35 states in the US, and with European, Australia, and New Zealand expansions underway. Founded in 2013, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Planitar Inc. is the maker of iGUIDE, a proprietary camera and software platform for capturing and delivering immersive 3D virtual tours and detailed property information. iGUIDE is the most efficient system to map interior spaces and features accurate floor plans, measurements, and reliable property square footage. By integrating floor plans and visual data, iGUIDE provides an intuitive and practical way to digitally navigate and explore built environments.

Marketing and Innovation Executive Joins Showcase IDX as Chief Marketing Officer
Kurt Uhlir Joins Showcase IDX to Help Fuel Rapid Growth and Drive Innovation Atlanta, GA -- Showcase IDX, the leading real estate search and consumer engagement platform, has tapped Kurt Uhlir as its new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Based in Atlanta, Uhlir will lead all brand, marketing, strategy, and communication programs aimed to help Showcase IDX achieve accelerated growth, secure new partnerships, and drive innovation. With more than fifteen years of experience with high-growth technology companies, Uhlir served most recently as Managing Partner with Ethereal Innovations, a boutique marketing agency responsible for leading marketing for numerous high-growth B2B technology companies over the past five years. He previously served as CEO and co-founder at Sideqik, one of the first influencer marketing platforms, and as the COO for The Made in America Movement, which represents 20,000 American-based companies. Earlier in his career, Uhlir was on the front lines at HERE where they formed the location-based and spatial data industries that we know today. "It's clear that Kurt is a master of his craft and has a proven track record growing and driving marketing performance for some of the fastest growing companies around," said Scott Lockhart, CEO at Showcase IDX. "His experience working with high-growth SaaS businesses is a strategic fit for Showcase IDX as we continue to help the 1.3 million real estate professionals in the United States. And as an experienced CMO, he is intimately familiar with the challenges that real estate agents and marketers face to deliver digital experiences that meet ever-rising customer expectations." "It is an honor to join an innovative company like Showcase IDX, especially given their market, customer, and partner focus as well as an inspiring company culture," said Kurt Uhlir, CMO at Showcase IDX. "I look forward to continuing Showcase IDX's momentum of building loyalty with our existing customers and engaging with new customers for future growth." Uhlir believes real estate agents and brokers need to change the narrative and improve how they share their unique value proposition in order to be more successful, considering the experience many buyers and sellers expect when working with an agent. He believes agents, teams, and brokers must be able to deliver exceptional experiences through their websites that position them as local experts that can help solve customer challenges when buying or selling a home. "Our purpose is to activate the authentic storyteller in all of us," adds Uhlir. "The best agents rely more on human connection than automation. More on teaching and serving than technology. At the same time, technology plays a more valuable role than ever in assisting great real estate agents to engage and builder stronger relationships with even more customers and with less effort than ever before. I'm excited about being a part of a leadership team and company that's doing this better than anyone else in the market today." Showcase IDX raised a round of investment from a private equity source in October of last year, after having been self-funded and growing through increasing revenues for over 12 years. They have relocated to an expanded office in Atlanta's Inman Park neighborhood. About Showcase IDX Showcase IDX is the leading real estate search and consumer engagement platform, helping agents, teams and brokers generate leads, improve their websites, and stand out. The cloud-based offering integrates with residential property listings and numerous local data sources from around the country to give real estate professionals the tools they need to drive more traffic, conversions, and revenue.

Matterport Hires RJ Pittman as Chief Executive Officer
New Leadership to Drive Company's Next Phase of Growth SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec. 3, 2018 -- Matterport, the world leader in 3D capture technology and data, today announced that RJ Pittman has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer. Pittman will assume day-to-day leadership of the Company and will also join Matterport's Board of Directors. He is a technology industry visionary and veteran, having most recently served as Chief Product Officer for eBay following leadership positions at Google, Apple and Groxis. Bill Brown, formerly CEO of Matterport, will serve in an advisory capacity to Pittman and the organization. The announcement of Pittman's appointment coincides with a period of significant growth for Matterport, which has built a library of 1.4 million 3D models, with 600 million model views since the company's inception. "We are approaching a tipping point in market adoption of 3D models to transform how building environments are designed, developed, experienced and managed. The commercial applications are quickly unfolding, and Matterport's industry-leading technology is well-positioned to drive rapid market expansion," stated David Gausebeck, Co-Founder and CTO of Matterport. "RJ's operating experience at scale, paired with his entrepreneurial DNA and deep product vision, will be instrumental to unlocking the full potential of our breakthrough technology and unparalleled 3D media and data. His reputation for driving transformation and creating high-performance teams will invigorate our organization, attract world-class industry talent, and accelerate our next phase of growth." Matterport has built the world's most advanced platform for quickly and easily creating, modifying, and distributing 3D models of real-world spaces. The company has amassed the largest repository of 3D space data in the world for industries including real estate, architecture, construction, insurance, hospitality and more. Matterport leverages this data to drive its AI and deep learning algorithms to create unparalleled digital reconstruction of physical spaces, with an understanding of the spaces themselves and the objects within them. "It's hard not to be extremely impressed with all that Bill and the Matterport team have accomplished over the past several years. Specifically, the company has achieved an industry-leading position and global product-market fit, powered by a unique hardware and software offering that separates the Matterport experience from the pack," said Pittman. "The Matterport Cloud is an unrivaled dataset of precision 3D environments that represents an enormous opportunity to scale the company's data services business exponentially. This will open up new strategic partnerships and investments as we realize the full value of this data for a rapidly expanding set of market opportunities around the globe." Pittman's career spans startups, venture capital, and the biggest companies in technology. Before joining Matterport, Pittman spent five years leading product, design, engineering, mobile, payments, and brand as CPO for eBay. Prior to eBay, he led the global e-commerce platform for Apple's online stores, and led product innovation for Google's next-generation consumer search properties. Pittman also served as a co-founder and CEO of Groxis, the advanced search engine technology company that created the industry's first graphical information interface used by hundreds of prominent content services, including Google, Yahoo, and Amazon. Alongside his career in technology, Pittman has spent more than 20 years following his passion for design, architecture, and real estate development. He has been involved in dozens of innovative real estate projects throughout the U.S. and the U.K., affording him a unique perspective on the profound impact of technology on the built environment. Over the past four years, Matterport has experienced quadruple-digit revenue growth and notable market momentum, including geographic expansion into EMEA and APAC, and vertical market expansion beyond residential real estate to include multifamily and commercial real estate; architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC); insurance; travel and hospitality; and e-commerce, among other industries. Since inception, Matterport has raised more than $70 million from investors including Lux Capital, DCM Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and Greylock Partners. About Matterport Matterport is the world leader in immersive 3D technology, offering a platform to easily capture, edit and share 3D models of physical spaces. These navigable virtual tours are presented in Matterport's proprietary photo-realistic digital format, True3D™. Experience places through Matterport's interactive 3D models online as if you are actually there: www.matterport.com.

Brokers who have successfully built systems for recruiting, retention and growth using online leads.
While the approaches vary there is frequent commonality on the commitment to a timely response and making personal connections that build relationships between their agents and the customer. See how they went about it in their own words:

BrokerSumo's Simplified Commission Management Platform Helps Brokers and Teams Retain Top Agents
Teams and Small Brokers Manage Productivity and Pay SACRAMENTO, CA--(Aug. 1, 2017) - BrokerSumo, a leading back office, commission management and accounting platform for real estate brokerages and agent teams, is helping smaller brokers and real estate teams compete successfully for top producers by simplifying the management of commissions to make sure they are paid accurately and promptly. As real estate agents change firms faster than ever, keeping accurate and current commission data has required spreadsheets and manual calculations, and even the largest agencies with IT staff and full-time accounting support struggle to keep agents happy. Small, independent brokers and real estate teams have been at a competitive disadvantage for attracting and keeping top talent until the launch of BrokerSumo last October. BrokerSumo's integrated platform avoids double entry and minimizes errors from manually re-entering information. BrokerSumo integrates with like dot loop, SkySlope, and accounting software like QuickBooks, allowing brokers and agents who use these programs to sync their transaction data seamlessly. It even takes care of the details, like managing escrow accounts, paying commissions electronically and onboarding new agents. No longer do brokers and agents need to struggle with programs that don't work together, manually re-enter data, or pay for software they don't know how to us. Custom Commission Plans Track Productivity and Pay Agents By managing commissions selectively, small brokerages and teams using BrokerSumo can analyze the productivity of agents and brokers and motivate them individually. Productivity can vary greatly. Last year, for example, less than 20 percent of all Realtors produced more than $5 million in annual sales each while 28 percent of all Realtors delivered sales totaling $500,000 or less last year. BrokerSumo creates custom commission plans for every agent and automatically calculates the agent's commission split for each transaction It tracks all credits and debits, charging agents credit cards for their monthly fees directly from the system. In addition to tracking agent and office sales performance from transaction data, BrokerSumo can also track agents' personnel records and store all of their critical documents such as their real estate license, insurance card, and driver's license. Agent billing invoices and payments sync automatically every time an invoice is sent. "I can monitor agent productivity every day. BrokerSumo makes it so easy to get a snapshot of how people," says Paul Knighton, President and Managing Broker of MORE Realty in Portland, OR. A BrokerSumor customer since February, Knighton is impressed by the platform's simplicity. "It's like a plug-and-play applications." Tailored for Mezzanine and Independent Brokers No other tool is designed specifically to manage and compensate real estate professionals based on their models, which makes BrokerSumo a perfect answer for mezzanine and large independent brokers that want to save money on back office personnel costs. Luis Gonzalez, Employing Broker, and Principal Broker at Brokers' Guild in Colorado Springs, Colorado's premier independent real estate brokerage firm with more than 900 brokers and agents, found the "old school" alternative of manual bookkeeping and spreadsheets too expensive. "In the Denver market alone we are doing 300 closings a month. BrokerSumo is so simple to use and to navigate that we can track income, commissions, and expenses on a year to date basis and monitor the effectiveness of agents every day," said Gonzalez. BrokerSumo not only relieves the back-office burden for brokerages and teams, but it also shows them how to become more successful by tracking performance and profitability. It is a powerful, affordable and easy-to-use set of tools designed to give independent real estate brokerages and agent teams exactly what they need. "BrokerSumo saves users tens of thousands of dollars every year in time saved and accuracy, but it is paying off in other ways. It makes smaller, independent agencies more attractive to top-selling agents by providing them back-office support that is equal or superior to the largest brokerages. Equally important, it tracks agent performance with profitability to identify opportunities that maximize commissions and reward achievers," said Jeremy Shoenig, founder of BrokerSumo. About BrokerSumo BrokerSumo is a back office, commission management and accounting solution for real estate brokerages and agent teams. It enables brokers to manage their agent's information, track transactions and commission dollars, automatically calculate commission splits, create commission disbursements, bill agents for monthly fees, pay agents their commissions electronically, report on agent and office performance and sync financial data to QuickBooks.

Real Estate Leaders Identify Pivotal Business Challenges for 2017
January 16, 2017 – Bellevue, WA – As they grow less confident in the economy, top real estate executives at firms of all sizes find themselves united by a key concern for 2017: Agent recruitment and retention. In the latest Imprev Thought Leader survey, 85% of participants agree that recruiting more agents is their most critical business challenge. The challenge continues when it comes to reaching younger agents; over 52% ranked "attracting younger agents" among their top concerns. A broker owner of a major franchise office in Minnesota gives depth to his recruiting worries: "Recruiting is and always has been our biggest challenge. While we continue to grow, it's never at the pace we want it to be. While recruiting younger, less-experienced agents has improved for us this year, we've noticed increased difficulty in recruiting the top talent." Many boutique firms are also worried about the competition for talent. In Southern California, a leader of a smaller brokerage laments that her top recruiting challenge is "being able to offer agents alternative motivation to stay or join our firm. We are a family-run boutique business and cannot compete with the money of the heavily-backed firms." Agent productivity is also top of mind for the top real estate executives and broker owners surveyed. 44% of participants rank "getting agents to use broker-provided technology" as their next critical business concern—beating out lead generation (34%) and lead follow-up (36%). A broker owner in California struggles to get "user adoption of tools that will help agents communicate with their clients," while a Dallas-area broker owner says, "We feel confident in our technology we have in place; we need to continue to teach and train for this technology." When it comes to technology, leaders face a myriad of challenges. More than half of survey respondents rank "getting our systems to work together" as their most critical technology challenge for 2017. It's a struggle to have "technology that is cohesive," says a broker owner at a top Southwestern Florida brokerage. Better technology integration isn't their only worry. Leaders said having "systems for more effectively competing against the RE portals for generating leads" (44%) and "increasing mobile capabilities for agents" (36%) are their next pressing concerns. A Houston, Texas broker running a major franchise office shares his goal of seeing "seamless integration of the transaction, from agent to corporate to closing, and simplified use of mobile devices to enter all data across the company," while the leader of smaller Florida brokerage notes her battle is to "stay on top of technology to compete with bigger brokers." "Real estate leaders clearly believe that the technology they provide to their agents is widely underused," says Renwick Congdon, Chief Executive Officer of Imprev. "So how does the industry begin to improve agent adoption? By reducing complexity. Systems need to seamlessly fit into the agent's business and process. Integrated and connected platforms—rather than 'apps' and standalone solutions—are imperative to successfully compete with the portals." Beautifully summing up the struggle to stay relevant in an ever-growing competitive landscape, a broker owner of a large franchise office in Nevada says her top concern is "ensuring we remain relevant to our agents and that we are leading them toward the future, rather than having the future 'happen' and we weren't prepared." The annual Imprev Thought Leader Real Estate Confidence study, one of the most comprehensive in real estate, was created in 2012 by Imprev to provide insight on key business challenges top executives and broker owners face, encouraging an exchange of ideas and solutions among industry thought leaders. This latest study was conducted from October 18 to November 1, 2016, polling nearly 240 real estate leaders who represent brokerages responsible for more than half of all U.S. residential real estate transactions last year. 26% represent firms with 100 agents or fewer; 42% represent firms with 101 to 500 agents; 17% represent firms with 501 to 1,000 agents; and 15% of the respondents represented firms with more than 1,000 agents. Survey demographics show 31% of participants are female and 69% are male. More than one-third are 61 years old or older, 32% are ages 51 to 60, 23% are ages 41 to 50, 8% are ages 31 to 40, and 1% are under the age of 30. You can view the first round of findings from this latest study here. About Imprev Imprev, Inc. provides Automated Marketing Services, including Listing Automation, agent recruiting, email campaigns, and Marketing Centers for many of the largest and most respected brands in real estate. Imprev's unique, integrated solution drives synergy between the broker and agent's marketing—empowering agents to effortlessly promote their listings, brands, and brokerages through custom digital, social media, and print creative. Established in 2000, Imprev is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Discover more at www.imprev.com.

New real estate recruiting and retention tool for brokers
  What would you do if a thousand people asked you for the same thing? That's what happened to us here at Adwerx. Nearly a thousand real estate brokers asked us for help with a specific part of their business: recruiting. It wasn't surprising once we looked at the data. According to NAR's 2016 report, one-third of real estate agents started at a new firm last year — that's up by 67% from the year before. And the success of a brokerage is absolutely dependent on the agents. That's why NAR also reports that 44% of brokers are actively recruiting right now. Finally, a tool that makes real estate recruiting simple. We looked at our automated digital ad platform and saw a unique opportunity to help. That's how we came to develop our newest tool, Digital Ads for Recruiting. Now brokers can create a list of the exact agents they want to recruit. Maybe these are the top producers in the area. Or maybe they're new agents entering the market. Either way, they're the exact agents the broker wants to work with. Next, the brokers upload an ad with the messaging that best captures why the agency is the right place for their talents. Then Adwerx finds those agents where they are online, across thousands of premium web sites, on Facebook, and on mobile devices. "These targeted ads make it more likely the agents I want to work with will answer when I call," said broker Tiffany Kjellander of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate PorchLight Properties in New Jersey. And she's right: data from Officevibe shows that candidates with brand exposure are twice as likely to respond. Do you want to work with just any agent? Top Florida broker Samantha DeBianchi is building up her team and knows exactly the kind of agent she wants. "I don't just need agents on my team," she said. "I'm looking for superstars." But here's the challenge: recruiting the right agents takes time and effort. Many real estate brokers hold networking events. They buy print ads and do direct mail. All to build up that broker brand awareness with local agents in hopes of enticing them to make a move. And all the while running a busy real estate business. But do you know where most agents are, when not working directly with a client? They're online. And their mobile devices are never far. You're hiring, but so are they. There's a flip side to all this recruiting. Because all the while you're looking to lure away top agents, someone else is trying to lure yours. So the same tool that helps you recruit can help you retain your best agents as well. "My agents need to know how much they mean to the brokerage's success," said Joe Schutt of UNIT Realty Group in Boston. A retention campaign can remind real estate agents their broker is still their biggest fan. It reinforces that loyalty for agents who, in turn, can become evangelists for their broker. Recruiting will always be a top priority for brokers. But hopefully, with digital ads, it can be more about the right message to the right agents at the right time. Learn more about digital ads for recruiting. To view the original post, visit the Adwerx blog.

SentriLock Provides Integrated Lockbox Security to Toronto Real Estate Leader
SentriLock, the number-one rated provider of electronic lockbox systems to the real estate industry, is proud to serve Toronto’s Re/Max Rouge River Realty with an integrated lockbox system to secure its client’s properties. The brokerage chose the SentriLock System to provide its home selling clients with increased security, showing reports, access control, and peace of mind previously unavailable with single-combination style lockboxes. “The integration from mechanical lockboxes to high-security SentriLock lockboxes went smoothly and was well-received by our Sales Representatives and staff. At the initial introduction, the SentriLock team did an excellent job introducing the product and presenting hands-on training for our entire company. They have always been quick to answer our questions and solve any issues; we couldn’t ask for a more professional or efficient company to work with. We made the right decision to work with SentriLock,” states David Pearce, Owner and Broker, Re/Max Rouge River Realty. To streamline showing scheduling and reporting processes for Re/Max Rouge River Realty, SentriLock also integrated their access system with Lone Wolf’s front-office software. Lone Wolf, the North American Leader for real estate software solutions, is now capable of managing functions of the SentriLock System natively within the WOLFconnect platform. Users of both systems can now generate SentriLock’s industry exclusive One Day Codes for property showings, retrieve access reports for properties, and track the location of each of their lockboxes. The integration saves valuable time for Re/Max sales representatives and office administrators. "Lone Wolf did a great job in working with our company as well as with SentriLock and the Toronto Real Estate Board on our endeavor to switch from mechanical lockboxes to high-security SentriLock lockboxes. The integration between the Lone Wolf Connect system and SentriLock system ran pretty much flawlessly from the get-go. Their support and dedication ensured our day-to-day operations were not interrupted throughout this process," says Jenn Delaney, Senior Office Administrator, Re/Max Rouge River Realty. “Lone Wolf is thrilled to integrate with the SentriLock brand and automate lockbox offering into our WOLFconnect extranet system. This partnership brings added value to our customers and, along with the current innovative functionality of our platform, provides real estate professionals a single point of access to be able to manage and run their businesses efficiently,” says Des O’Kelly, Executive Vice President of Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies. “We are extremely pleased to add even more functionality to our previous integration with Lone Wolf, which was primarily based upon our One Day Code feature in order to schedule property showings,” comments Brent Borel, Manager of Strategic Alliances for SentriLock. “The additional integration is a win-win situation for both companies, but the real winners are our shared customers. The streamlining into one familiar system reduces training requirements, saves time, and makes brokers, sales representatives, and office administrators more efficient and proficient. In today’s market conditions, this is more important than ever.” About SentriLock SentriLock is majority owned by the National Association of REALTORS® and is a proud partner in NAR's REALTOR Benefits® Program. The company’s REALTOR® NXT Electronic Lockbox System, the official NAR lockbox solution, is known for its reliable and secure technology, ease of use and its outstanding customer service. SentriLock provides secure, easy and reportable access to every listing via more than 600,000 lockboxes in use by 250,000 Agents from over 230 different Boards, Associations and MLSs in the United States and Canada. SentriLock’s award-winning Customer Care Team provides world-class support seven days a week, exclusively from its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. http://www.SentriLock.com or http://www.SentriLock.ca About Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies is the North American leader in real estate software, services, and solutions that help real estate offices realize their full potential. Since 1989, Lone Wolf has been pioneering real estate technologies used in over 8,700 offices throughout North America. Lone Wolfs’ flagship program is the Realty Management System which is a powerful brokerage application designed to manage all accounting and back office functions of a real estate office. Lone Wolf also provides a comprehensive front office solution with the WOLFconnect platform, as well as website, mobile, and membership management solutions with the globalWOLF, mobileWOLF, and WOLFtracks programs. About Re/Max Rouge River Realty Family owned and operated since its inception in 1987, Re/Max Rouge River Realty has grown to serve its customers throughout the Greater Toronto Area, with offices in Toronto, Ajax, Whitby, and Pickering, Ontario. The company has continued to attract area agents by providing the best possible environment, tools, and growth opportunity for career success. Re/Max has always been more than selling homes. Offices consist of full-time real estate professionals, who live, work and give back to the community in which they serve every day. The company and its agents contribute to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation "Sold on a Cure" as well as "Yard Sale for the Cure" and The Children's Miracle Network, along with many other charitable and community improvement endeavors. Contact Information James Mink Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies http://www.lwolf.com 1-866-279-9653 ext. 1393 Brent Borel SentriLock http://www.sentrilock.com bborel(at)sentrilock(dot)com 513-618-5813 David Pearce Re/Max Rouge River Realty Ltd. http://www.remaxrougeriver.com/ 416-286-3993

Form Simplicity Select GoPaperless’ eSignOnline as its Integrated e-Signing Solution
Escondido, CA – June 23rd, 2011 - GoPaperless Solutions is pleased to announce that Form Simplicity has announced a strategic relationship with the company and selected eSignOnline as the electronic signing solution integrated within the Form Simplicity program. With Form Simplicity’s new integrated e-signing solution, powered by GoPaperless Solution, users can now easily and quickly start, send, complete and mange an e-signing process within one easy-to-use interface. Form Simplicity transaction documents as well as uploaded files can now be e-signed in minutes rather than hours and days, reducing cost and eliminating paper from the document workflow. The integrated e-signing solution ensures that the Form Simplicity user experiences a single-sign on and consistent user interface branded to the regional Form Simplicity client. Form Simplicity is now the official forms provider to a growing list of REALTOR® organizations in areas ranging from Florida, South Dakota, Delaware, Iowa, and Massachusetts among others. “We partnered with GoPaperless because we felt its eSignOnline solution would be widely accepted by Form Simplicity users,” said Joe Ballarino, President and COO of Real Estate Industry Solutions, developer of Form Simplicity. “With the e-signature’s easy-to-use interface within Form Simplicity, users will be delighted at just how quickly they can send documents to their clients for signatures, in addition to having easy access to another tool they can use to create a paperless office.” “We are excited to offer the integrated eSign service for FormSimplicity. The integration is seamless and adds value to the entire process. We have created a secure and robust system allowing users to feel confident their documents will be signed and returned quickly,” said Mehrdad Alaei, CEO of GoPaperless Solutions, developer of eSignOnline and Real Estate Dashboard for the Real Estate Industry. Form Simplicity users have the option to purchase Form Simplicity’s e-signature tool by upgrading to the Ultimate edition. In addition to unlimited e-signing capabilities, the Ultimate edition gives users unlimited online transaction storage and unlimited domestic faxing for only $99/year per user. Users may simply click the “Upgrade” link on the homepage of Form Simplicity to select the Ultimate edition. About GoPaperless Solutions GoPaperless Solutions is a hi-tech company delivering the latest in total paper-free computing business solutions backed by leading edge service and support with our global ecosystem in mind. GoPaperless Solutions provides innovative software solutions such as eSignDashboard, Real Estate Dashboard and eSignOnline for the paperless professional in a variety of industries including real estate, insurance, automotive, finance, health care, and field service. About Real Estate Industry Solutions Real Estate Industry Solutions, LLC is a leading provider of forms management software and technology support services for the real estate industry. The company provides associations, multiple listing services, brokers and vendors value for their customer base through services such as Form Simplicity and Technology Helpline. Real Estate Industry Solutions is a wholly-owned business subsidiary of Florida Realtors® and is located in the Florida Realtors® headquarters in Orlando, FL. Media ContactPrabakar [email protected]