North Bay Business Journal
http://northbaybusinessjournal.com Published: Monday, June 27, 2005North Bay Business Journal: CleanOffer.com expanding throughout Bay Area
San Francisco - CleanOffer.com, a Web-based search tool for the residential real estate industry, has expanded beyond its Marin County origins and is offering its service in Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Lake, Mendocino and San Francisco counties.
The company is in final stages of negotiations to bring the service to San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and hopes to take the concept to a handful of national locations, including Las Vegas and Phoenix, by the end of the year.
By subscribing to Cleanoffer.com, agents who are members of their local MLS can offer clients direct access to the local MLS via the Internet, providing what proponents of the system describe as a real-time source of information for real estate listings and transactions.
"Public sites show many listings, but the MLS only allows a subset to be publicly accessed," said David Faudman, the company's founder and CEO.
"We offer a complete set via a data feed, and all the information is up the minute. With the email alert system and we have, clients
often know about available properties and transactions before the agents do."
Software, relations help
Despite the seemingly low barriers to entry, CleanOffer believes its patented software shields it from upstarts. The company also maintains that its strategy of keeping the agent at the center of the transaction builds a strong relationship with the real estate community, thereby helping foster the necessary exclusive relationships with national Multiple Listing Services.
Mr. Faudman concedes that he is perplexed by the lack of competition. "It's like Craigslist," he said, referring to the online classified section that has become a national phenomenon. "It's not hard to do, we just do it right."
Agents pay $35 a month to provide the service to five clients, with prices adjusted on a sliding scale thereafter. Subscriptions are on a month-to-month basis, with no initiation fees or lock-in periods. The company currently has 474 agents signed up in Marin County and 130 agents in Napa and Sonoma counties. By year-end, they expect to have 1,000 agents subscribed in Napa and Sonoma.
In addition to granting buyers
and sellers access to MLS data, CleanOffer creates analytical readouts of user patterns, thus painting a more accurate picture of the client's intentions and goals for the agent.
"More efficient" for buyers
"This system makes it so that my clients never miss a property, which sometimes happened in the past as a result of my error," said Steve Huen, a broker with Coldwell Banker Brokers of Valley. "It also cuts down on the running around. Clients can look at CleanOffer, figure out exactly what they want, I can see what they want based on the readouts I receive, we go look at a few properties, and a decision is made. It's far more efficient."
CleanOffer is currently seeking cashflow positive, and seeking $1 million to $2 million of investment capital. Mr. Faudman believes this infusion will allow it to expand to the 27 largest MLS market in the country over the next 2 years.
Currently, the company has seven employees and though it would not release current revenue, believes it can achieve $13 million in sales by 2007. CleanOffer's business plan calls for $50million in revenue and 84 employees by 2010.
North Bay Business Journal
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Published: Monday, June 27, 2005