Realserv's Introduction to Over 150,000 of Nation's Real Estate Agents

The Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County and Realserv announced today significant advances in product development and investment which will enable Realserv to service customers beginning with approximately 150,000 real estate agents around the country. This is made possible through strategic partnerships developed among the North Carolina Association of Realtors® subsidiary Realfast Inc., the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® and First American Corporation, an $8 billion publicly traded company providing multiple listing service to over 680,000 real estate agents around the country.

With an arrangement to service over 10% of the nation's real estate transactions through their e-commerce portal, I think they're off to a pretty good start, and RealCap's growing membership most definitely intends on being there when it pays off.

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) June 14, 2008 -- The Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County (E.D.C.) and Realserv, L.L.C., announced today significant advances in product development and investment which will enable Realserv to service customers beginning with approximately 150,000 real estate agents around the country. This is made possible through strategic partnerships developed among the North Carolina Association of Realtors® subsidiary Realfast Inc., the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors® and First American Corporation, an $8 billion publicly traded company providing multiple listing service to over 680,000 real estate agents around the country. Realserv, L.L.C., has had a presence in Asheville since 2005 when this location was selected as the company headquarters by the oldest and largest trade association in the state, The North Carolina Association of Realtors® (N.C.A.R.). The company chose Asheville as its headquarters due to the city's emergence as a hub of technological industrialism. Realserv will continue its expansion plans this year as it evaluates locations for its new customer service facility. Asheville is under consideration for the location of this facility, and this would have a major impact on the local market as it may employ up to 630 skilled employees with backgrounds in the real estate industry. Realserv is currently conducting its due diligence and expects to make its final announcement shortly.

Bottom line results of Realserv's significant investment in research and development over the past three years include a state-of-the-art web-based platform which integrates the core systems used on a daily basis by real estate professionals. User benefits include single-point access to required forms, individual property reports, multiple listing services, transaction management, and connection to the world of service providers required for listings, sales, and property management transactions. The company's main focus is parallel to that of its 87-year old parent (N.C.A.R.), and is driven by their common purpose of enhancing real estate agents' professional image and maximizing agents' value to consumers in the marketplace.

"We are well-pleased with the overwhelming support offered by local groups wanting to locate the customer service facility here in our own backyard," said Shannon Van Etten, local resident and C.E.O. of Realserv. "We are starting to see more action than talk, as a handful of formidable companies are stepping up to make this a reality," said Van Etten. The first big win on the local front was the recent announcement that Woodward McKee, manager of a $30M+ private equity fund in Asheville had formed a separate holding company, RealCap Partners, L.L.C., to secure a $5M equity block in Realserv. "My investment partners are a pretty sharp bunch, and it didn't take us long to realize the benefit of capital partnership with Realserv," said McKee. "With an arrangement to service over 10% of the nation's real estate transactions through their e-commerce portal, I think they're off to a pretty good start, and RealCap's growing membership most definitely intends on being there when it pays off."

Additionally, a $5M block was secured by local investor, Kimmel Development Group, affiliated with The Kimmel Eblen Group and Kimmel & Associates executive search firm, both of which are dedicated to driving local employment growth and improving our community in areas of education, humanities, and philanthropy. "Kimmel Development Group is honored to be able to participate with Realserv at the ground level of a technological endeavor that will have such a tremendous impact on the national real estate industry," said Brad Galbraith, President and partner. "As well, we are very pleased that this company is being headquartered in Asheville, and if Realserv ultimately decides to bring its customer support center to Buncombe County, this will certainly bring substantial economic and employment opportunities to our area."

Other investors and stakeholders representing over $1M in contributions include for-profit subsidiaries of the Asheville Board of Realtors®, the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®, and other private and publicly traded technology companies from outside the area.

"We commend Realserv for embracing technology that will ensure the continued evolution of the real estate industry. It's exciting that an Asheville-based company is at the helm in improving the transaction management process which positively affects millions of people," E.D.C. board chair, Bob Roberts, commented.    

Realserv, L.L.C., was established in 2005 in Asheville, N.C., by Transaction First, L.L.C., and N.C. Management Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the North Carolina Association of Realtors® (N.C.A.R. - est. 1921). Realserv is responsible for providing integrated document and transaction management solutions to real estate agents across 17 states subscribing to N.C.A.R.'s proprietary web-based real estate forms software system Realfast (RF2Go), to the 70,000+ collective Members of N.C.A.R. and P.A.R., and to selected portions of the 680,000 M.L.S. customers served by First American Corporation's MarketLinx. More information about the company can be found at
Realserv.com

The First American Corporation (N.Y.S.E.: FAF) is a Forutne 500® company that traces its history to 1889. With revenues of approximately $8.2 billion in 2007, it is America's largest provider of business information. First American combines advanced analytics with its vast data resources to supply businesses and consumers with valuable information products to support the major economic events of people's lives, such as getting a job, renting an apartment, buying a car or house, securing a mortgage and opening or buying a business. The First American Family of Companies, many of which command leading market share positions in their respective industries, operate within five primary business segments, including: Title Insurance and Services, Specialty Insurance, Information and Outsourcing Solutions, Data and Analytic Solutions, and Risk Mitigation and Business Solutions. More information about the company and an archive of its press releases can be found at FirstAm Realserv Newswire

RealCap Partners, L.L.C., is a real estate technology holding company formed in 2008 by Woodward McKee (manager of W.N.C.'s private equity fund known as Whiteside Fund, L.P.) More information is available by contacting Woodward McKee at wmckee@whitesidepartners.com

Kimmel Development Group is a management company founded in 2005 for the purpose of managing real estate development opportunities and real estate-related technologies in Western North Carolina and Charleston, S.C. More information is available by contacting Brad Galbraith at bgalbraith@kimmeldevelopmentgroup.com

The E.D.C. for Asheville-Buncombe County is a public-private partnership dedicated to the creation of high-paying jobs and serves the Asheville area as the one-stop-shop to help businesses succeed in Buncombe County. Since its inception in 1994, the E.D.C. has been actively involved with projects with a cumulative investment of over $595,000,000 and projected employment of over 8,500 persons. The E.D.C. is funded by Buncombe County, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Advantage Asheville campaign.

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