For release:
Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009

Fresno REALTOR® association to put calREDD™ participation on hold

LOS ANGELES (Sept. 1) – calREDD™ today announced that the Fresno Association of REALTORS® is putting its participation in the statewide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) launched Aug. 17 on hold. calREDD™, an acronym for California Real Estate Dynamic Data, embodies the vision of creating one database for all California real property, with advanced technology that goes beyond current MLS systems.

“We are, at heart, a member-driven organization. This has informed and guided our efforts since day one,” said Mike Silvas, CALMLS chairman and co-owner of Morgan Lane Real Estate, a luxury market brokerage based in Napa, Calif. “While this was disappointing news, we respect the decision of the Fresno Association of REALTORS® leadership and its board of directors.

“We know the rollout has been a hardship for many and that it’s created an additional challenge for users who have had to simultaneously learn the new system while running their day-to-day businesses,” Silvas said. “However, we continue to believe that participation in calREDD™ is in the best interests of the Fresno association, its members, and their clients.”

calREDD™’s integration with the Madera Association of REALTORS® and the Merced County Association of REALTORS® is proceeding on schedule as planned. Leadership of both associations have expressed their ongoing support of calREDD™ and are pleased with the progress that has been made in the last two weeks.

“While we experienced our share of glitches during the deployment and conversion process, we have made great strides in speed, performance and the rollout of new features and enhancements since the launch,” said calREDD™’s Scott Kucirek. “Constructive feedback about opportunities for improvement has been invaluable as we’ve worked our way through the launch. The calREDD™ system of the Aug. 17 launch is clearly not the calREDD™ of today, and we are closer than ever to having a robust MLS system fully in place.

“Our commitment to provide a next-generation MLS system to each association has never wavered, and we are making measurable progress toward that goal every day,” Kucirek said.

calREDD™ enables brokers and agents to access the statewide data through any participating AOR or MLS. Associations and MLSs may be part of the system by using the new vendor as their primary software or under a hybrid arrangement using an association’s existing vendor connecting to the statewide system through calREDD™ for the rest of the data. To date, 68 local REALTOR® associations and multiple regional MLSs representing more than 120,000 members across the state have recognized the importance of a statewide MLS and have signed letters of intent to participate in this critical endeavor.

Leading the way…® in California real estate for more than 100 years, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (www.car.org) is one of the largest state trade organizations in the United States, with nearly 165,000 members dedicated to the advancement of professionalism in real estate. C.A.R. is headquartered in Los Angeles.

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