Upstream Charts New Direction

UpstreamRE, LLC, owners of Upstream, the comprehensive real estate brokerage data management project created by a broad-based industry coalition, is finalizing an agreement with a new vendor to power the brokerage data platform. As a result, UpstreamRE, LLC, has amicably agreed to part ways with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Realtors Property Resource (RPR), its wholly-owned subsidiary and Upstream's technology development vendor.

After the release of the system earlier this year, discussions began between the leadership of NAR and the leadership of UpstreamRE, LLC, to allow Upstream to take a different approach in 2019 and to allow NAR and RPR to focus on its new strategic initiatives, which have changed since the agreement with Upstream was signed years ago.

"We are proud of the work we have done with Upstream to help them gain their footing and reach this next phase of their launch, and we are pleased that a new plan is being implemented that will propel them forward and help them become the tool we've always envisioned they would be for our members," said NAR CEO Bob Goldberg. "This project has been an amazing opportunity to drive innovation and conversation among our brokerage community and gain their input into building the tools they use every day in their business. As I've said since the beginning of my tenure as CEO, we are not in the business of inventing at NAR; we've supported Upstream to the extent that makes sense for both our strategic missions and now it is time for them step out on their own."

"NAR's provided both critical funding resources and an experienced product development team in RPR during a time when we needed to both build and test the concept," said Dan Elsea, president of brokerage services at Real Estate One in Southfield, Mich., and chairman of the UpstreamRE Board of Managers. "What was once just an idea moved to real-world testing thanks to NAR's support. As Upstream's 'go-to-market' business model evolved it made the most sense both for NAR and for Upstream for this project to roll out in brokerages using a different vendor. This is a win for both NAR and Upstream."

"The brokerage community truly appreciates NAR's significant support during this early phase of the project's development," said Craig Cheatham, president, and CEO of The Realty Alliance. "Upstream's founders, which represent small, medium and large real estate companies and every business model, have an association representing them that understood our industry's current data problem and took dramatic steps to partner to lay the foundation for developing a solution."

Upstream's leadership paired its discussions with NAR with a review of various options for powering the Upstream project in 2019 and beyond. With the completion of RPR's development of the Upstream system, that process is now complete and Upstream has selected a new vendor well positioned to deliver Upstream's industry-wide platform and at a speed of implementation necessary to secure significant adoption during the coming year. Upstream expects to announce the name of the new vendor in January 2019 soon after final negotiations on a definitive agreement are complete.

"Our team is more excited than ever about the future of the Upstream project," said UpstreamRE, LLC CEO Alex Lange. "NAR and RPR played a key role in getting us to this point, and now we are well positioned with our new vendor to take the next steps. We expect a very large number of brokers and agents will begin to enjoy some of the first benefits of the Upstream platform in the new year, as a result."

Brokers and agents currently working with the RPR-powered application in pilot markets will convert to the new version of the platform, developed by the new vendor. Upstream will continue to run in parallel with support from the RPR team during the transition.