LONG & FOSTER PARTNERS WITH REAL DATA STRATEGIES, INC.
Adds Additional Analysis Capability
CHANTILLY, VA, June 2, 2009-- Long & Foster, the nation’s largest privately held residential real estate company, prides itself on keeping up with the latest technology. As the largest seller of homes, accurate analysis of the firm’s operations across the markets it serves is critical. Real Data Strategies, Inc. (RDS), has been chosen as Long & Foster’s provider of strategic, actionable analysis, and reporting of the firm’s market share, across the 17 Multiple Listing Services to which it belongs.
“In the 40 plus years Long & Foster has been operating in the real estate industry, maintaining market share has always been at the forefront of our business strategy. Keeping up through data analysis is more critical than ever in this economic climate. Good actionable data is essential,” states Mary K. Weddle, Executive Vice President of The Long & Foster© Companies.
Long & Foster is certainly not new to data or information. The company boasts a well-versed IT department, which drives everything from its critical web-based search applications, including 1,000,000 unique visitors per month to its website, to a full-fledged help desk supporting over 13,700 agents in the field. Michael Koval, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of The Long & Foster® Companies, learned quickly that Real Data Strategies, Inc. would be an excellent fit for Long & Foster, due to RDS’s familiarity with all of his firm’s MLSs, his ability to customize RDS applications for his own use, and the cleansing and standardization processes unique to RDS. “Their process of cleansing and standardizing MLS data is unlike anything we have seen in the industry, making it reliable and dependable for reporting purposes,” Koval explains. “Moreover, the fact that every MLS we operate in has the same look and feel regardless of the MLS vendor platforms eliminates the learning curve for my staff, a huge time-saver for a well-stretched staff.”
The real strategic value of the new partnership will be seen in the next several months, when Long & Foster’s executive team delves deep in the data to better understand how the data applies to initiatives such as market share, recruiting and retention, bench-marking regional and office performance and accountability, as well as analyzing merger & acquisition opportunities. In addition, the web-based Real Data Strategies software, Data Doorway, will be rolled out to 200+ offices over the course of the year. “Although the data by itself is interesting, we think the greater value of our new partnership is the thought process and consulting around the data provided by the Real Data Strategies team”, says Weddle. “We expect to take full advantage of their 16 years of experience in the data analysis and consulting space, and look forward to a long-term strategic partnership as we continue to grow Long & Foster’s footprint and market share.”
About Long & Foster
Long & Foster® Real Estate, Inc. is the largest privately held residential real estate company in the United States. The company is part of The Long & Foster® Companies, which also includes Prosperity Mortgage® Company; Long & Foster Insurance Agency, Inc.; and Long & Foster Settlement Services. Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. represents more than 13,000 sales associates in seven Mid-Atlantic states, plus the District of Columbia. The company sold more than $26.4 billion worth of homes and helped people buy and sell homes 76,714 times in 2008. The Long & Foster Companies 2008 combined sales for the year were in excess of $48.9 billion.
About Real Data Strategies, Inc.
Founded in 1992, Real Data Strategies, Inc., gathers real estate industry and market data from MLS systems throughout the U.S. and Canada to provide strategic, customized and highly-actionable analysis and consulting services. Real Data Strategies helps organizations to grow their revenue base, streamline back office operations, improve profitability by applying analysis to their current and future plans, positively impacting the long-term success of their businesses.
