HomeSeekers' small remaining management team oversees 87 employees, and it is dealing with a myriad of issues from fending off hostile takeover attempts to running on a budget of fumes, but they feel they have accomplished a lot over the last 30 days - namely the selection of a new name, the sale of a money-losing division, the setup of a revolving credit line, and the development of new products. But first the management has to put out a few more fires.

"I'm an operations guy and this company has the opportunity for a fresh start," says HomeSeekers president Steve Crane. "I like the vision Tom is crafting and I'll be happy to put it to work."

Blanche Evans. When nobody could get a hold of management for the last couple of days, people are thinking the worst - that you might be preparing for bankruptcy.

Thomas Chaffee: Not even close. That's not a whisper or thought in my head.

B.E.: What's making you so confident?

T.C.: We signed an agreement with FNIS, a $1.2 million development deal to build the next version of XMLS systems, so we have our first big client. We are negotiating with three other partners to build other products and services that will allow us to do technology services. That's what we do well.

My company, Chaffee Interactive, works with high-end companies, and we have a separate division that does marketing and branding for these clients. I turned that side of the shop loose on HomeSeekers. We have problems with the marketplace - how are we going to fix it? Sales will fix a company, and sales are tied to the brand. We did focus groups of Realtors and other constituents of the firm, and my team made some recommendations.

B.E.: What recommendations?

T.C.: Primarily it has to do with organizing our brand. There is a name change coming, because there is brand confusion about HomeSeekers. HomeSeekers represents a Web site, not a company. We had brand soup. What is HomeSeekers? Is it Lightning? A Web site? Formulator? What do all these things do? Previous management never integrated these things, and none of the individual brands was strong enough to represent integration.

B.E.: Is the new name Realigent?

T.C.: Yes. The focus group floated six or eight different names, and that one was the best choice. That will become the corporate name. The broad problem is - are we a Web site or a company? We are trying to assure that we are the friend of the agent. People are worried that as a Web site we are going to disintermediate the agent, but we are a tool not a competitor. We are saying to our agents, brokers, and MLSs what we are going to offer them. At Realigent, we can say here are the product lines and the service lines that will help you make money and find other revenue sources in places you never thought you could find. It's real estate and intelligence - intelligent real estate solutions. There are so many people playing games in the marketplace, there is a large movement from data to intelligence, so we are providing empowerment tools to Realtors.

Another example, we are in the process of developing tools that will be released, not about our current products and services this is about where the company is going. As we struggle to integrate what we have, we want to help agents communicate better and do their jobs more professionally.

B.E.: Where is the funding coming from to create new products?

T.C.: We sold the XMLS software for $2 million to FNIS, and we have a revolving credit line about $3 million with FNIS that allows us to get our house in order. We have a $1.2 million development deal, and we have an ongoing services contract.

B.E.: Are you selling any other pieces of the business to FNIS?

T.C.: No. The reason we sold XMLS is that the MLS business didn't make sense to the company, and it was burning massive amounts of cash. Also, it didn't encompass the key talents and strengths of the organization. It is an entirely different market. Again, we are not going bankrupt, it's just the opposite.

B.E.: How does a deal get finalized that hasn't been voted on by shareholders?

T.C.: It had to do with the fact that the XMLS division was more of a drag on the company than a profit, it was a significant part of our loss and not a significant component of revenue for us, so therefore it didn't require a shareholder vote.

B.E.: Do you feel that you have been unfairly criticized for your actions since you have been in charge?

T.C.: We were about two days from bankruptcy when I took over. I am the sole director left on the board, and I'm acting as CEO. I don't have a salary, and I don't have one share of stock. I'm doing this because of a sense of obligation. HomeSeekers was in jeopardy of losing all its assets from a prior agreement with HomeMark, and all of that is of public record, including the exit agreements. They had loaned the company some money and whether the company can repay those loans is debatable, but it was HomeMark's intention to call those notes. HomeSeekers would have been dissolved.

B.E.: But you made them go away.

T.C.: We made them go away; we made significant use of the borrowings to take their loan position out and replace it with Fidelity.

B.E.: Why are you the sole director?

T.C.: There is too much risk in having anyone else join the board. Lots of shareholders were talking about lawsuits, but once we get into the first quarter of next year, we will have some stability.

B.E.: What are your plans?

T.C.: We're going to file a stub year for 2001, to make the fiscal coincide with calendar year, so we will start a new year in Jan 1 instead of being in midyear. Then we will announce earnings in the first quarter.

B.E.: Is the eBay deal moving forward? Realty Alliance?

T.C.: As far as I know both deals are fine. We have spent so much time cleaning up old messes, and lawsuits - removing the toxic waste, that we have communicated with our partners and let them know at a high level that we will sit down with them in January.

B.E.: Will HomeSeekers continue to pay MLSs for listings? Weren't agents promised there would be exposure on a public Web site? Is that possible with areas that aren't providing feeds to you anymore?

T.C.: I don't know the answer to that question, but we have numerous plans for MLSs and we are going to try to pay them. There is an outreach to the MLSs starting next week. We've tried to strategize on how we can have a successful relationship with MLSs going forward and take care of them. Those are being discussed right now. We are still planning to operate a public Web site.

B.E.: What does the company count among its assets?

T.C.: We have the productivity software -the Lighting products, data aggregation - where we get the data from MLSs and provide the data to Microsoft, and yes, we get paid by Microsoft to do that, and the Web sites.

B.E.: What do you see as the biggest obstacles remaining?

T.C.: There has been so much turnover, and I don't want to be perceived as CEO of the month. It is really important to right this thing. It saddens me a lot that I've done well in my other business and my word is my bond. To have my word doubted has been difficult for me personally, but it will take time for people to realize that when we say something, we mean it.

There hasn't been leadership in the company until lately, and no one believes them so we want to get people to the point that people believe what we say.

We are here to stay and as the marketplace disintegrates, we have new blood, a new focus and new products and services while other companies are going through what we have already gone through. While other companies are floundering we are moving forward.

B.E.: Will there be any other changes? Layoffs or anything?

T.C.: We are consolidating our offices. We're moving from Brea to Ervine where 80 percent of our staff lives, so that will save them long commutes. We're carrying more office space than we need. There aren't going to be any more layoffs, and when we get moved, we will probably add staff from that point.

B.E.: Because of the new products?

T.C.: The agent web site is going to be turned upside-down, due to numerous relationships, the agent Web sites will become the revenue generator that agents thought they would be. We have some stuff that will blow people away. As the economy starts to rebound we are going to be the benefactor.

Published: December 14, 2001

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