Realtracs is having a birthday. Number 20, in fact. Realtracs was formed as Middle Tennessee Regional Multiple Listing Service or MTRMLS, hence the name Realtracs.
Stuart White who ran the multiple listing service for what was then the Nashville Board of Realtors, was tabbed president and CEO during the company’s inception and worked with Marketlinx Solutions, a Knoxville-based company that specialized in system design and web application development.
At the time, Realtracs was the only MLS in the country to successfully use an Internet- based platform for its primary system. On December 28, 1997, Realtors in Middle Tennessee converted from a text-based system to a browser-based application.
While most would expect the Realtor reaction to be positive and complimentary, the opposite occurred. It is a day that will live in infamy.
The wailing and moaning could be heard as far north as Louisville and all the way to Birmingham.
White and Realtracs received bomb threats from Realtors who were slightly behind in their technology training.
Tommy Patterson, the Nashville representative on the MTRMLS board at the time, received scads of complaints. His advice was that they practice mouse use on the solitaire game, and that calmed many.
As the system developed, White implemented extensive training programs and hired “customer happiness representatives” to conduct these sessions. While the title might sound a bit strange, perhaps trite, it worked, and the process calmed the savage beasts that stood ready to devour anyone that had anything to do with Realtracs.
White
As time passed, reviews improved. The system began to be recognized nationally for its innovation and use of the technology and everyone jumped on the bandwagon.
By 2003, the system created by Marketlinx with Realtracs was known as Tempo and had over 250,000 users.
White was the model of leadership during these trying times with his even-keeled positive demeanor, quick quips and a smile with an infectious laugh. He won over his customer base.
Imagine knowing that you had created a one-of–a-kind, ahead-of-its-time, soon-to-be-imitated product only to have dead fish and rotten tomatoes hurled at you. Now the world is his oyster.
The company is still owned by the Realtor associations that surround Nashville and, if not for the Realtracs dividend, I doubt that all of them would be open today. The Recession would have caused some to merge.
Now, Middle Tennessee Realtors search for homes on their phones and open the Sentrilocks with those same phones.
White and his staff, many of whom were there Day 1, are to be commended for hanging around for Day 2. And all are grateful that they continued to ride ahead of the curve for the next 20 years.
Sale of the Week
Last week, 1411 14th Avenue South sold for $490,000 – $214 per square foot – with its three bedrooms, two full baths, and one half bath.
White
Newly constructed in the area identified by listing agent Wendy Monday as Belmont/Edgehill, with the emphasis on the Edgehill. Monday’s description notes “Edgehill Village is getting a J. Crew and a Warby Parker.”
That could be the circumstance that pushed Danell Thomas’s buyer over the edge. Or, it could have been the master bedroom with his and hers closets in case there’s a he and a she in the house.
Danell Thomas who represented the buyer for this house, is with Weichert Realtors, the Andrews Group.
Wendy Monday, who has a dog named Tuesday – no kidding – has been a driving force in the gentrification of the area, and explained the situation in this case. A single woman had owned the home that had occupied the lot prior to this new construction.
Her home was 1048 square feet and had a window unit air conditioner that worked some of the time. There also were other deficiencies in the home.
She sold the home for the lot value of $240,000 and moved to the Eaton’s Creek community off Briley Parkway near White Bridge Road, where she lives in a home built in the early 2000s and enjoys a quiet, large yard. Two structures were built on her former lot.
Monday, who has been active in the Nashville real estate market for years, is moving to Amsterdam for a year next month. We wish her well.
Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Christianson, Patterson, Courtney, and Associates and can be reached at [email protected]