Who Controls Your Market Data?

Xceligent Expands Nationwide -- Locally... If you're a broker in Atlanta, Kansas City or San Diego, you now have access to a "locally controlled commercial real estate data exchange" powered by Xceligent, a business software technology firm. And soon Nashville and Minneapolis markets will use Xceligent software. By the end of the first quarter, Xceligent expects to add another eight to ten markets. That's according to Doug Curry, CEO of Xceligent, which recently announced the completion of an additional $2 million round of financing.

Curry attributes Xceligent's success to two major factors: control and speed. First, local associations retain ownership of their data. Second, Xceligent can bring a local market online quickly. For example, "In Atlanta, our twelve-person research team showed up on the first of November. We drove every office and industrial building in the market, shot original photographs of every building, and captured and verified every listing with each company. By December 21st there were over 12,787 buildings in the system and over 3,200 unique listings."

In each market, the adoption of Xceligent's listing system depends upon the commitment of the major players to create a critical mass of market data and the consequent acceptance by many of the smaller firms. Each user's monthly fee includes $48 for Xceligent and possibly a fee to the local association, if that association wants to provide additional research. So actual fees vary between $55 and $100 per month, depending upon the market. Each member decides what information to keep within its firm, what information to post publicly to other members and (eventually) to post to members outside its market. For an example, visit Burnham Real Estate Services in San Diego and click the Listings link (not easy to find, but it's there). Future plans for Xceligent include adding features to enable the exchange of sales comparables and tenant information.

--Peter Pike