July 18, 2011 - Vendor Alley

Brad Bjelke (former EVP and General Counsel of Rapattoni) joins lawfirm (JDTP)

July 18th, 2011

Seems like yesterday that Brad Bjelke was named EVP of Rapattoni. But it looks like he has decided to take on a new challenge. Brad has joined the law firm of JDTP; Jackson|DeMarco|Tidus|Peckenpaugh (a you thought Rapattoni was hard to spell!)

According the the press release:
“Brad has extensive experience with real estate technology licensing, regionalization of MLS entities, real estate data sharing issues, software agreements, IDX policies, RETS compliance, the setup and maintenance of VOWs, website scraping, and the implementation of policies established by NAR and state associations.”

Looks like he has some real front line experience with all the legal mumbo-jumbo in real estate.

Full Press Release Below:
______________________________________________________________________________

Brad Bjelke Joins JDTP

IRVINE, CA – Jackson DeMarco Tidus Peckenpaugh is pleased to announce that Brad Bjelke has joined the Firm.
Brad is an experienced business attorney who is well known within the real estate industry. Brad concentrates his practice on the day-to-day issues affecting real estate associations, multiple listing services, and real estate software vendors throughout the United States. Prior to joining JDTP,
Brad served for over ~~five years~~ as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for one of the largest real estate software companies. In that role, Brad worked closely with executive officers of MLSs and real estate associations, the National Association of Realtors®, and state real estate associations.
Brad has extensive experience with real estate technology licensing, regionalization of MLS entities, real estate data sharing issues, software agreements, IDX policies, RETS compliance, the setup and maintenance of VOWs, website scraping, and the implementation of policies established by NAR and state associations.
Brad can be reached directly by phone at 805.418.1927 and by email at bbjelke [at] jdtplaw [dot] com

[UPDATE: Brad served as EVP for 4 months. He was General Counsel prior to that time]

LPS powers REBNY

July 18th, 2011

Seems LPS Real Estate Group is kicking ass signing up these MLS portals. Congrats!

Full Press Release Below:
________________________________________________________________
LPS Real Estate Group Powers Consumer-Facing Website
for the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — July 18, 2011 – LPS Real Estate Group, a division of Lender Processing Services (LPS), announced today that its MLS Portal was chosen by the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) to serve as the platform for its newly launched consumer-facing website, NY1Residential.com, a re-launch of REBNY’s existing New York City real estate listing website.
LPS Real Estate Group’s MLS Portal provides multiple listing services with a branded website that offers consumers direct access to comprehensive property listing content. This site includes an aerial-view map-searching feature with rooftop accuracy and parcel-line overlays. Additionally, search functions are tailored to regional and market specifications. The portal also enhances the listing information to include points of interest, school and neighborhood data, driving directions to each property and more. With the click of a button, viewers can generate real-time reports and snapshots of the real estate market in a selected area to analyze buying trends and compare property values.
“The goal is to provide a regional channel to drive more consumer traffic to our REBNY brokers, while making it easy for the public to find a home in New York City,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. “REBNY selected LPS Real Estate Group because of their outstanding member benefits, knowledge and product.”
“These consumer portals do not compete with REBNY’S members’ websites, but ensure that consumer traffic is sent back to the brokers and agents,” said John Hensley, chief product officer, LPS Real Estate Group. “Statistics show that consumers who are allowed independent access to listings are better informed and more faithful to the real estate professional who helps them with their sale or purchase.”
More than 90 percent of consumers use the Internet as the first step in their real estate purchase. LPS’ MLS Portal provides that intermediate level between the national websites, where many consumers start their search, and the individual agent website, where consumers work one-on-one with an agent in their home-buying process.
“Surveys have shown that consumer-facing MLS websites gain increasingly higher search result placement than individual broker agent websites,” added Hensley.
Search for a home in New York City by visiting www.NY1Residential.com.
For more information contact Kevin Greene at 949.903.6138, email kevin.greene@lpsvcs.com or visit www.lpsreg.com.

About Lender Processing Services
Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) is a leading provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries. LPS offers solutions that span the mortgage continuum, including lead generation, origination, servicing, workflow automation (LPS Desktop®) portfolio retention and default, augmented by the company’s award-winning customer support and professional services. Approximately 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume are serviced using LPS’ Mortgage Servicing Package (MSP). LPS also offers proprietary mortgage and real estate data and analytics for the mortgage and capital markets industries. For more information about LPS, please visit www.lpsvcs.com.

About LPS Real Estate Group
The LPS Real Estate Group has relationships with more than 300 MLS organizations, 250 broker companies, settlement services companies, and more than 350,000 real estate professionals. The technology applications include innovative tools such as Paragon™; the reInsight® collection; reDataVault™; rDesk® Broker & Agent Suite of products; TransactionPoint®; DocCentral; the Real Estate & Living Media Network that generates revenue for its publishers; as well as a robust real estate property and tax database that includes 400 million residential and commercial property, ownership, sales, assessment and mortgage records. This represents detailed information on at least 92 percent of U.S. property ownership records in more than 2,000 counties with over 675,000 new ownership records added monthly. For more information, please visit www.lpsreg.com.

About the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY)
The Real Estate Board of New York is NYC’s leading real estate trade association with more than 12,000 members consisting of owners, builders, brokers, managers, banks, insurance companies, pension funds, real estate investment trusts, utilities, attorneys, architects, marketing professionals and many other individuals and institutions involved in New York realty. REBNY launched its public real estate listings website ResidentialNYC.com in 2007 and decided to re-launch the site with partner NY1 News in 2011 and call it NY1Residential.com. For more information, visit www.rebny.com.

LPS Real Estate Group:
Laura Buser, 949.681.4852
laura [dot] buser [at] lpsvcs.com

Move acquires SocialBios (formerly Peep.ly)

July 18th, 2011

I’m starting to see a trend. Looks like a bigger companies are taking their social networking more seriously. Instead of just allowing visitors to share listings on Facebook or Twitter they are now buying “social” focused companies/products for full integration. With last week’s announcement of VHT acquiring Dwellicious and now Move, Inc. acquiring SocialBios we are starting to see the chess pieces move with social networks becoming a larger part of their overall strategy.

As for SocialBios I think the key here is implementation. They need to get it just right. Connecting people “naturally” through their social graph is a powerful idea but runs the risk of triggering privacy concerns.

Looking forward to what Ernie and his team adds to the Move, Inc mix.

Full Press Release Below:

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Move Acquires SocialBios, Award-Winning Social Search Platform

Real Estate Leader Invests in Social Platform and Talent to Realize Vision of Connecting Consumers, Properties and Real Estate Experts Through Their Social Networks

CAMBPELL, Calif., July 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Move, Inc. (Nasdaq: MOVE), the leader in online real estate, today announced its acquisition of SocialBios, an award-winning social search platform. SocialBios allows individuals and companies to create one social hub for their online profiles through interactive ‘About Us’ pages that simplify the discovery of shared connections on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare and Google without sacrificing their privacy.
The acquisition of SocialBios points to Move’s acceleration into the area of social and its integration into the real estate search experience throughout Move’s online real estate network. As a result, Move will leverage the SocialBios platform and talent to develop products that connect people with real estate professionals based on the commonalities of their on- and offline social networks.
“Real estate is inherently a social business. Today’s search experience is highly interactive and instant with the explosion of mobile in real estate. We’re uniquely positioned to lead our industry and connect people naturally through their social graph,” said Scott Boecker, chief product officer at Move, Inc. “This acquisition brings a new element of discovery and creativity to our online real estate marketplace as we evolve our web, mobile and social search experiences.”
SocialBios was a 2011 ‘Best Tech Startup’ winner at Inman Connect NYC, and was selected by a popular vote of real estate industry leaders as the new technology that would most benefit their industry. In the past six months, through the company’s social layering technology, SocialBios members and visitors have equated to more than two million potential connections.

As part of the acquisition, SocialBios founder Ernie Graham and co-founders Ira McMahon and Andrew Van Tassel have joined the product development team at Move, Inc. Graham, who will head up Move’s social product strategy and development team, will work with the Move’s franchise and broker customers to develop social graphing strategies that help them facilitate more connections between their agents and brokers with consumers.

“We’re very excited to join Move and the talented team that continually delivers great products and services based on the premise of connection,” said Ernie Graham, general manager for Move’s SocialBios platform. “By using the current SocialBios platform as a springboard and leveraging Move’s product and technology assets, we’ll take the concept of social capital discovery and create new ways to expedite higher quality connections between agents and consumers. We’re looking forward to the road ahead and transcending the traditional boundaries within our industry of how to drive better client-agent relationships.”

The SocialBios office and team of social experts will be based in Denver, Colorado. The SocialBios website, products and brand will remain in production and available to real estate professionals. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Real estate agents and brokers interested in claiming their SocialBios ID can go to http://socialbios.com or call Move’s support team at 800.878.4166.

About MOVE, Inc.
Move, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE) is the leader in online real estate with over 15.2 million monthly visitors(1) to its online network of websites. Move, Inc. operates: Move.com, a leading destination for information on new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden and home finance; REALTOR.com®, the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®; MortgageMatch.com, Moving.com; SeniorHousingNet; ListHub; and TOP PRODUCER Systems. Move, Inc. is based in Campbell, California.

About Social Bios
Social Bios is the only online service that allows individuals and companies to aggregate all of their disparate social network profile and connection data for generating new business referrals. The Social Bios “About Us” page allows your website or Facebook fan page visitors to discover social capital with your agents or employees. The Social Bios beta was launched in January 2011 and won the Inman Connect NYC “Best New Startup” award. Social Bios is based in Denver, Colorado. For more information, go to www.SocialBios.com