Skeptics of RPR Database Voice Worries

San Diego, California, www.inman.com -- Executives with a new subsidiary created by the National Association of Realtors® to build a national property database are facing some skeptics and critics as they hold briefings on the product at NAR's annual conference.

The database is expected to eventually include records on every parcel in the U.S., residential and commercial, combining public property records with data from multiple listing services and commercial information exchanges (CIEs).

MLS executives at the conference say they want additional assurances that it won't compete with services they offer. In addition, some NAR members -- particularly appraisers -- aren't happy that the project's business model relies on selling automated valuations to lenders and government agencies.

Some skeptics at the conference have even referred to the Realtors® Property Resource database (RPR), as "Reaper" -- as in the Grim Reaper -- fearing its potential to harm their business.

Because it will not include offers of cooperation and compensation and will only be accessible to NAR members, the database won't function as a national MLS, NAR says. Not all are ready to take NAR's word for it.

"I have to say, that is a very fancy MLS you have there," Cameron Paine, Chief Executive Officer of Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, Inc., said jokingly after a demo of the new database for NAR members Saturday, one of more than a dozen presentations planned during the the annual conference.

While NAR has been talking about creating a national property database for more than a year, some members were caught by surprise by the implications of last week's announcement that the Realtor® association had formed a subsidiary, Realtors® Property Resource LLC, and purchased technology and licensed data from LPS Real Estate Group, the operator of Cyberhomes.com.