The Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors said Friday it sold its research and marketing division, called 10K, to ShowingTime, a Chicago company that provides online scheduling services for agents.
Terms of the deal weren't released.
"This is a win-win for both the association and 10K," said Michael Hoffman, MAAR's president. "10K will have the resources to invest in a technology data platform originally created by MAAR."
10K uses local housing market data to create highly detailed trend reports, including maps and interactive websites, that are used by agents to help price properties.
10K sells those services to MAAR and more than 250 real estate related organizations in North America, but got its start in 2009 as the research division for MAAR, the state's largest professional association for real estate agents. At the time, the association was looking for a better way to track the tumultuous changes following the 2008 economic downturn and related housing collapse.
As 10K got better at tracking what was happening in the market, its staff and market research expanded. So did demand. With dozens of groups from other markets asking the 10K to do similar analysis, in January 2013 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the association.
"It was born out of a need for real estate professionals to have a lot of data about the mix of houses that were selling," said Emily Green, a MAAR board member and former president of the association.
In a statement, ShowingTime's chief executive, Scott Woodard, said the merger will help expand the company's offerings. It now sells scheduling services and related products to more than 150 multiple listing services and associations with more than 800,000 members.
