Four leading boards of REALTORS®, representing more than 80,000 members, including the Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®, the Miami Association of REALTORS®, San Antonio Board of REALTORS® and Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® have entered into a definitive agreement to form a new company, reAltitude, Inc., the company announced.
The company will leverage its collective expertise to deliver products and services to other REALTOR® associations throughout the U.S.
This year the National Association of REALTORS® formally challenged every Association of REALTORS® to attain higher levels of organizational standards in accordance with their charter. The creation of reAltitude, Inc. will raise the bar, its founders say.
“We are excited to share the very best services nationwide that we have collectively vetted and are recommending to other REALTOR® Associations for their members,” says Teresa Kinney, Chief Executive of the Miami Association of REALTORS® which serves more than 41,000 members throughout southeast Florida.
Mike Mercurio, CEO of the Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®, explains, “Our board recognized how much we do for our REALTOR® members in San Diego and felt we should find a way to share that success with other boards and learn from their successes as well.”
The concept originated from a strategic plan for the Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®. The association’s board charged Mercurio with reaching out to other prominent associations to see if there was an opportunity to collaborate on a business that would provide products, coaching, and support to other associations.
Mercurio was able to assemble four leading REALTOR® associations. Each is a shareholder of the new organization and each also contributed initial capital to launch reAltitude. Investment terms were not disclosed.
Launched in spring of 2015, the founders began engaging other associations and vendors to participate. Currently, reAltitude consists of 25 participating associations representing 165,000 members. Inaugural participating vendors include MyCondoPlans, WikiRealty, Showing Suite, Homesnap, Proxio, Clareity, Benutech, Inc., RealConnex, Agent Inbox, Realopedia and RIS Media, who will be the real estate industry media partner. “We are receiving a tremendous response from vendors who have successful partnerships in place with associations across the country. They are looking forward to the opportunity to share their success with others,” says Angela Shields, Association Executive of the San Antonio Board of REALTORS®.
reAltitude will continue to invite other associations to join the initiative either as a contributing board or as participants. A contributing board is an association that has developed a member benefit it wants to make available to other associations. A participant is a REALTOR® association that acquires member services from reAltitude contributors.
“As large boards, we have centers of excellence that we have developed in our local areas and wish to share with other boards who are looking for proven products and services to benefit their REALTOR® members,” says Pam Krieter, CEO of the Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS®, which serves 15,000 members in Illinois.
Krieter says examples of programs that will be immediately available through reAltitude will include an international program contributed by the Miami Association and the San Diego Association’s REALTOR® Plus program.
The Miami Association’s International Council and Referral Network has reciprocal agreements signed with 45 foreign real estate organizations and additional relationships that total over 50 international organizations. San Diego’s REALTOR® Plus membership discount program provides savings on member events and an array of business services and tools.
For more information, visit www.reAltitude.org.
