Crye-Leike's CIO Appointed to Board of UpstreamRe, the Future Google Drive of Real Estate

Memphis, Tenn. (December 19, 2016) - Crye-Leike Real Estate Services, a full-service real estate company, announces that its Chief Information & Operations Officer Gurtej Sodhi has been appointed to the board of managers of UpstreamRE, LLC, a Bellevue, Wa.-based real estate broker-owned and controlled data management company that governs Upstream, a collaborative broker initiative for the benefit of every sized broker in the real estate industry.

Upstream is a comprehensive data management project that promises to deliver a universal system for real estate listing information and distribution. In development since 2014, Upstream's functionality is being described by its peers to become the Google Drive of real estate.

Upstream is managed by a tiered board of managers as well as networks and national franchisors. Being affiliated with Crye-Leike, Sodhi's seat on the Upstream board represents large firms. Crye-Leike is ranked the nation's sixth largest residential real estate brokerage firm among the nation's top 500. In his role, Sodhi will join Upstream's 23-member board and CEO to ensure that the organization has a well-articulated, long range strategy in addition to a successful initial launch of Upstream.

"Our board of managers is one of the strongest boards of directors in the real estate industry," said Alex Lange, president and chief executive officer of UpstreamRE, LLC who confirmed Sodhi's appointment.

Gurtej will serve as a valuable member of the board with 20 years in the technology and real estate industries. He has been critical while serving on our technology workgroup as he understands the importance of technology, systems and processes imperative to our achieving maximum efficiency."

About Upstream. "More than a platform for brokerage data entry, management, storage and distribution, Upstream is the culmination of an industry groundswell to take back control of brokerage data," said Sodhi.

Brokers of every size are frustrated with how inefficiently they leverage one of their greatest assets - data. Upstream cross references a broad set of real estate data extending beyond real estate listings posted in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It creates a single entry point for the entire real estate industry and seeks to eliminate duplicative data entry costs. Upstream then gives brokers full control to distribute their data simply and efficiently."

Upstream will not have any consumer-facing websites. So, it will not be competing with syndication sites like Zillow and Trulia. Upstream will not be a Multiple Listing Service (MSL), or a MLS vendor. Instead, Upstream focuses on empowering brokers to manage their data as an asset.

To accelerate development, Upstream entered into a technology agreement with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Realtors Property Resource (RPR), the data analytics and reporting subsidiary of NAR.

Why Should Real Estate Agents Care about Upstream? Upstream will offer real estate agents, nationwide, a simplified data entry process and control over the distribution of their real estate listings. This new entry process will ensure not only that accurate listing information is distributed, but also that each agent can decide when and where to send their listings, notes Sodhi.

"Upstream will offer protection to real estate agents, brokers and consumers; it is why Crye-Leike Real Estate Services has been working with Upstream from the beginning."

Crye-Leike Real Estate Services, a full service real estate company for 39 years, is the nation's fourth largest privately-held residential real estate brokerage firm, and the largest serving Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Mid-South. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Crye-Leike has a network of over 3,000 sales associates in 86 company-owned offices and 26 franchise offices located throughout a nine-state region in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama and Missouri.

As a full service real estate company, Crye-Leike Group of Companies (dba Crye-Leike Real Estate Services) offers real estate and related services in a nine-state region. Those services include: relocation services; commercial business and investment real estate services; property leasing and management services; insurance services; title & closing services; mortgage services; home warranty services; home services; auction services; business brokerage services; REO services for bank-owned & foreclosed properties and real estate schools.