WASHINGTON (March 7, 2008) - The National Association of Realtors® has acquired ePropertyData, a major provider of commercial information exchange services for the commercial real estate industry. The acquisition was accomplished by NAR's new for-profit subsidiary, Second Century Ventures LLC, a strategic private equity fund that was conceived to help support NAR members in emerging technologies and services.

   "Through this acquisition, NAR will provide its members with two important new services, a robust national commercial real estate listing and transaction platform; and a broker-centric provider of solutions for the commercial information exchange industry," said NAR President Dick Gaylord. "This national listings and transactions platform will give our commercial members national exposure for all their sale and lease listings and provide the industry with an excellent and trusted resource to search for properties across the country," he added.

   For the past five years, ePD, based in Gig Harbor, Wash., has been providing commercial information exchange services to the commercial real estate industry. ePD operates two of the largest CIEs in the country, Commercial MLS.com, operated on behalf of the 4,500-member Commercial Brokers Association in Seattle, and CommercialGateway.com for the 2,000-member commercial division of the Houston Association of Realtors®.

   "For years we have seen Seattle and Houston as two of the most progressive commercial real estate markets in terms of organization, sophistication and technology," said Senior Vice President Bob Goldberg. "They introduced us to their technology provider, ePD, and it became clear that this company could develop to become NAR's exclusive operator of its national commercial platform."

   The new listings and transaction platform will be located at CommercialSource.com, which NAR's commercial real estate division expects to become the primary source for all commercial real estate information on the Internet. Members may elect to have their listings aggregated through their local CIE. Members who do not currently participate with a CIE may choose to post their listings directly through ePD's Web site. Ultimately, millions of viewers will see the listings, and members will be able to post and have access to all listings at no charge. "The relationship of ePD and NAR will provide a means for NAR members to expose their commercial properties for sale or lease to investors and industry professionals," said Bob Hale, chief executive officer of the Houston Association of Realtors®.

   More than 80,000 NAR members are engaged in commercial real estate services; 60,000 of these members are engaged full-time in commercial practice. Information about NAR's commercial division is available at http://www.realtor.org/commercial.

   The National Association of Realtors®, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing more than 1.3 million members involved in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate industries.