During the last few years Title Insurance companies have moved in and stepped up by acquiring MLS providers and Transaction Management software companies – all in pursuit of the "silver bullet." They are now very close to successfully "bundling" and "packaging" a large selection of services and every step they take moves them ever closer toward "one-stop-shopping" for the real estate industry. The new 110-page, 2006 Swanepoel TRENDS Report ranks integration of the real estate transaction as the 8th most important trend for real estate brokers and agents to watch.
The sheer volume of paperwork produced by a single real estate transaction – with thick packages of documents to review, initial and sign – often overwhelms buyers and sellers. They generally have very little time to work through the documents before another packet is placed on the pile in front of them. Add to the volume of documents the fact that real estate data is repeatedly keyed into multiple forms, applications and software programs and the result is an industry continuing to be fraught with duplication. Through the integration of Electronic Forms, Transaction Management Systems and Multiple Listing Services, the promise is to significantly reduce this problem by eliminating duplicate data entry.
According to Stefan Swanepoel, author of the Swanepoel TRENDS Report, streamlining the real estate transaction and the application of economies of scale are huge steps in the right direction toward lowering transactional costs. Not only are they actually reducing costs, but the end result may well be an increase in revenue. He feels that this alternative could not have come at a more suitable time for the industry.
Stephen C. Roney, President of First American Residential Group, says that their company has brought all pertinent services in-house, which greatly streamlines the bundling process. He suggests that it may even signal the beginning of the end for a large number of proprietary software and technology companies, as they slowly give way to single point of ownership and standardized web services-based order management and delivery systems.
The 2005 Survey of Top Producers undertaken by the California Association of REALTORS®, indicates that 37% of Top Producers already use a transaction management system, and 90% of those agents use a transaction coordinator.
Examples of some leading transaction management systems detailed in the Swanepoel TRENDS Report are:
- First American’s (www.residential.firstam.com) Transaction Management Platform (TMP), offered by First American Residential Group, Inc., a subsidiary of First American Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company – the nation’s leading provider of business information. They acquired Realty Plus Online’s “Close Your Deal” platform in 2001, and now market an improved version today as the TMP.
- Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (www.realestate.fnf.com) Transaction Point is offered by Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES), a division of Fidelity National Financial (FNF) - the largest title insurance and diversified real estate-related services company in the nation. Fidelity acquired Transaction Point from ReEz, Inc. in 2002.
- Stewart (www.sureclose.com) SureClose is offered by Stewart Realty Solutions (SRS), a subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corporation - a Fortune 1000 company. The SureClose product is based on the RealtyAssist platform, a company and product Stewart acquired in 2004.
- Escrowdesk (www.TrackMyFile.com) was established in 2003, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orange Coast Title Company. Orange Coast Title offers title insurance and closing services at 77 offices, with approximately 1,300 employees in California, Utah, Arizona and Nevada.
- GURU NETworks, Inc. (www.gurunet.net) originated from a technology company, Open Systems Associates, Inc., founded in 1993. In May 2001, GURUnet acquired Synteleos, developer of the Transaction Management Network.
- SettlementRoom Systems (www.settlementroom.com) was established in 1999, and is a privately held company based in Vienna, Virginia that primarily targets brokers and MLS’s.
For more details on transaction management systems, as well as 14 other key trends impacting the residential real estate brokerage industry, visit the RealtyU Bookstore at www.realestatebook.org and get your copy of the 110-page Swanepoel TRENDS Report. |
