Upstream's History
2020
New Support Team and Staffing Model
CEO Alex Lange transitions out of his role, and Upstream contracts with WAV Group for the services of David Gumpper, president of business intelligence and technology, to continue critical components. Upstream additionally elects Jessica Edgerton, Executive Vice President of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, to its executive committee.
2019
New Vendor Selected
Upstream signs an agreement with data company CoreLogic to be the vendor for Upstream. Initial functionality goes live in summer, allowing the first brokerages to use Upstream for limited data distribution. Josh Team replaces a Board member and fills the role of secretary/treasurer. Craig Cheatham is elected chairman, and Tom Hosack is elected vice chairman. Dan Elsea and Rei Mesa remain on the Executive Committee of the Board with the officers.
2018
Initial Vendor Relationship Ends
Upstream and NAR/RPR agree to end the vendor relationship. Stephanie Anton, Peter Hunt, Kathleen Manchin, Mike Ryan, and Dana Strandmo replace outgoing Board members. Kathleen Manchin is elected secretary/treasurer.
2017
Year Summary
Development and testing continue in a handful of MLSs. Kevin Priestner, Chris Raveis, Dana Strandmo replace outgoing Board members. Dan Elsea is elected chairman, Craig Cheatham vice chairman, and Kevin Priestner secretary/treasurer.
2016
CEO Hired
Upstream hires real estate technology veteran Alex Lange as CEO, allowing Craig Cheatham to hand off day-to-day management. Alex Lange takes over administration of the organization and supervision of vendor progress on developing the functionality. Alex Lange had been the co-founder of Roost.com, CTO of Market Leader and operating partner with Second Century Ventures in the years before being tapped as CEO of Upstream. Thomas Salomone, Gurtej Sodhi, and Rei Mesa take additional seats on the Board of Managers. Gino Blefari, Joseph Capriotti, Charles Galati, and Jason Wilson replace existing Board members.
2015
Specifications Completed, Initial Vendor Selected
Technology Work Group members submitted their report to the Board of Managers and on July 30 negotiations began with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and its Realtors Property Resource (RPR) subsidiary to become the vendor for the Upstream project. An agreement was signed October 28 and work begun building the platform. Brokers, networks, and franchisors funded the ongoing administration of the project, and NAR voted to fund fully the development of the software through the end of 2018. Kevin Klein replaces a Board member.
2014
Co-Founders Hammer Out Governance and Functionality
Representatives of the group of networks and franchises appoint members to a Governance Task Force to establish an entity and its ownership, structure and management and to a Technology Work Group to develop a request for proposal that would include specifications for the functionality of the project, to interview potential vendors and to make recommendations to the leadership of the entity regarding the selection of a vendor. Robert Moline and Craig Cheatham began work in May with MLSs on developing a “Broker Public Portal” project to address the set of online issues. UpstreamRE, LLC was founded officially on October 3. Initial members of the founding Board of Managers were Steven Baird of Baird & Warner Real Estate, Craig Cheatham of The Realty Alliance, Curtiss Clemens of Century 21 Clemens & Sons Realty Inc., Dan Elsea of Real Estate One, George Eastment of Long & Foster Real Estate, Rick Haase of Latter & Blum Inc. ERA, Kent Hanley of William Raveis Real Estate, Joseph Horning of Shorewest Realtors, Thomas Hosack of Northwood Realty, Earl Lee of HSF Affiliates LLC, Geoff Lewis of RE/MAX Holdings Inc., Mark McLaughlin of Pacific Union Real Estate, Robert Moline of HomeServices of America, Pamela O’Connor of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Charles Oppler of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Real Estate, Frank Perdichizzi of Private Label Realty, Joe Rand of Rand Realty Better Homes and Gardens, Richard Rector of Realty Executives, William Riss of Coldwell Banker Bain and Cary Sylvester of Keller Williams Realty. Robert Moline was elected chairman of the board, Dan Elsea vice chairman of the board, Frank Perdichizzi treasurer and Craig Cheatham secretary.
2013
(Non-Listing) Data Management Solution Singled Out for Effort
Energy shifts early in the year to addressing challenges with non-MLS real estate data. The Realty Alliance weighs a project that would focus on managing all real estate data for brokerages and not address MLS issues or online advertising issues. The Realty Alliance hires consultants to vet the idea and in October votes to continue financial support and bring the larger group back together to resume work, but on the project focused on universal data management, named “Upstream” by Craig Cheatham. Plans to work on MLS alternatives were dropped after MLSs demonstrated a willingness to work with the brokerage community to make progress on a long list of issues, unnecessary expense, and friction. The Realty Alliance meets with members of the larger group to explain the Upstream concept and to form a governing body that would oversee the development and ongoing management.
2012
Plans Begin to Take Shape; Online Advertising takes Priority
Members of The Realty Alliance consider on April 25 an approach called “Sparta” that would address multiple categories of issues identified in the 2011 meeting and vote to support more research on the project. RE/MAX, Century 21, Keller Williams, Weichert, Howard Hanna Real Estate and Real Estate One join the original representatives to hear a briefing on the Sparta concept, aided by real estate vendor VHT and discuss the issues with the other network and brand representatives. The group agrees to move forward with research on ways to develop such a solution and to fund it. Meetings occur periodically throughout the remainder of the year to make more progress on the project, which leans heavily toward addressing online advertising challenges. As the process continues, members of the group hand administration of further research to The Realty Alliance, with instructions for TRA to bring the group back together when more actionable plans are ready for consideration. Kent Hanley of William Raveis Real Estate and Craig Cheatham take the lead on the project.
2011
Initial Meeting on Data Challenges
Various networks and brands meet on January 24 in Chicago to discuss shared data challenges and the potential of working together to develop solutions for the industry. Challenges included the lack of a platform to handle data other than that entered into a Multiple Listing Service, business practices by online real estate advertisers that confused consumers and made the property shopping process less efficient, and also a list of frustrations with data practices of Multiple Listing Services. Attendees included Paul Boomsma of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Craig Cheatham of The Realty Alliance, Harold Crye of Crye-Leike Real Estate, Jeff Detwiler of Long & Foster Real Estate, Earl Lee of Prudential Real Estate & Relocation, Robert Moline of HomeServices of America, Pam O’Connor of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Gurtej Sodhi of Crye-Leike Real Estate and others. The group agreed developing solutions as an industry would better serve the consumer, real estate brokers and agents and all vendors serving the industry, and that such efforts would not impact competition in real estate, but instead would bring efficiency and cost savings.
New Support Team and Staffing Model
CEO Alex Lange transitions out of his role, and Upstream contracts with WAV Group for the services of David Gumpper, president of business intelligence and technology, to continue critical components. Upstream additionally elects Jessica Edgerton, Executive Vice President of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, to its executive committee.
2019
New Vendor Selected
Upstream signs an agreement with data company CoreLogic to be the vendor for Upstream. Initial functionality goes live in summer, allowing the first brokerages to use Upstream for limited data distribution. Josh Team replaces a Board member and fills the role of secretary/treasurer. Craig Cheatham is elected chairman, and Tom Hosack is elected vice chairman. Dan Elsea and Rei Mesa remain on the Executive Committee of the Board with the officers.
2018
Initial Vendor Relationship Ends
Upstream and NAR/RPR agree to end the vendor relationship. Stephanie Anton, Peter Hunt, Kathleen Manchin, Mike Ryan, and Dana Strandmo replace outgoing Board members. Kathleen Manchin is elected secretary/treasurer.
2017
Year Summary
Development and testing continue in a handful of MLSs. Kevin Priestner, Chris Raveis, Dana Strandmo replace outgoing Board members. Dan Elsea is elected chairman, Craig Cheatham vice chairman, and Kevin Priestner secretary/treasurer.
2016
CEO Hired
Upstream hires real estate technology veteran Alex Lange as CEO, allowing Craig Cheatham to hand off day-to-day management. Alex Lange takes over administration of the organization and supervision of vendor progress on developing the functionality. Alex Lange had been the co-founder of Roost.com, CTO of Market Leader and operating partner with Second Century Ventures in the years before being tapped as CEO of Upstream. Thomas Salomone, Gurtej Sodhi, and Rei Mesa take additional seats on the Board of Managers. Gino Blefari, Joseph Capriotti, Charles Galati, and Jason Wilson replace existing Board members.
2015
Specifications Completed, Initial Vendor Selected
Technology Work Group members submitted their report to the Board of Managers and on July 30 negotiations began with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and its Realtors Property Resource (RPR) subsidiary to become the vendor for the Upstream project. An agreement was signed October 28 and work begun building the platform. Brokers, networks, and franchisors funded the ongoing administration of the project, and NAR voted to fund fully the development of the software through the end of 2018. Kevin Klein replaces a Board member.
2014
Co-Founders Hammer Out Governance and Functionality
Representatives of the group of networks and franchises appoint members to a Governance Task Force to establish an entity and its ownership, structure and management and to a Technology Work Group to develop a request for proposal that would include specifications for the functionality of the project, to interview potential vendors and to make recommendations to the leadership of the entity regarding the selection of a vendor. Robert Moline and Craig Cheatham began work in May with MLSs on developing a “Broker Public Portal” project to address the set of online issues. UpstreamRE, LLC was founded officially on October 3. Initial members of the founding Board of Managers were Steven Baird of Baird & Warner Real Estate, Craig Cheatham of The Realty Alliance, Curtiss Clemens of Century 21 Clemens & Sons Realty Inc., Dan Elsea of Real Estate One, George Eastment of Long & Foster Real Estate, Rick Haase of Latter & Blum Inc. ERA, Kent Hanley of William Raveis Real Estate, Joseph Horning of Shorewest Realtors, Thomas Hosack of Northwood Realty, Earl Lee of HSF Affiliates LLC, Geoff Lewis of RE/MAX Holdings Inc., Mark McLaughlin of Pacific Union Real Estate, Robert Moline of HomeServices of America, Pamela O’Connor of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Charles Oppler of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Real Estate, Frank Perdichizzi of Private Label Realty, Joe Rand of Rand Realty Better Homes and Gardens, Richard Rector of Realty Executives, William Riss of Coldwell Banker Bain and Cary Sylvester of Keller Williams Realty. Robert Moline was elected chairman of the board, Dan Elsea vice chairman of the board, Frank Perdichizzi treasurer and Craig Cheatham secretary.
2013
(Non-Listing) Data Management Solution Singled Out for Effort
Energy shifts early in the year to addressing challenges with non-MLS real estate data. The Realty Alliance weighs a project that would focus on managing all real estate data for brokerages and not address MLS issues or online advertising issues. The Realty Alliance hires consultants to vet the idea and in October votes to continue financial support and bring the larger group back together to resume work, but on the project focused on universal data management, named “Upstream” by Craig Cheatham. Plans to work on MLS alternatives were dropped after MLSs demonstrated a willingness to work with the brokerage community to make progress on a long list of issues, unnecessary expense, and friction. The Realty Alliance meets with members of the larger group to explain the Upstream concept and to form a governing body that would oversee the development and ongoing management.
2012
Plans Begin to Take Shape; Online Advertising takes Priority
Members of The Realty Alliance consider on April 25 an approach called “Sparta” that would address multiple categories of issues identified in the 2011 meeting and vote to support more research on the project. RE/MAX, Century 21, Keller Williams, Weichert, Howard Hanna Real Estate and Real Estate One join the original representatives to hear a briefing on the Sparta concept, aided by real estate vendor VHT and discuss the issues with the other network and brand representatives. The group agrees to move forward with research on ways to develop such a solution and to fund it. Meetings occur periodically throughout the remainder of the year to make more progress on the project, which leans heavily toward addressing online advertising challenges. As the process continues, members of the group hand administration of further research to The Realty Alliance, with instructions for TRA to bring the group back together when more actionable plans are ready for consideration. Kent Hanley of William Raveis Real Estate and Craig Cheatham take the lead on the project.
2011
Initial Meeting on Data Challenges
Various networks and brands meet on January 24 in Chicago to discuss shared data challenges and the potential of working together to develop solutions for the industry. Challenges included the lack of a platform to handle data other than that entered into a Multiple Listing Service, business practices by online real estate advertisers that confused consumers and made the property shopping process less efficient, and also a list of frustrations with data practices of Multiple Listing Services. Attendees included Paul Boomsma of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Craig Cheatham of The Realty Alliance, Harold Crye of Crye-Leike Real Estate, Jeff Detwiler of Long & Foster Real Estate, Earl Lee of Prudential Real Estate & Relocation, Robert Moline of HomeServices of America, Pam O’Connor of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Gurtej Sodhi of Crye-Leike Real Estate and others. The group agreed developing solutions as an industry would better serve the consumer, real estate brokers and agents and all vendors serving the industry, and that such efforts would not impact competition in real estate, but instead would bring efficiency and cost savings.
