Usually it is brokers and associations who buy business management technology, but Prudential California Realty has made such an impression with its proprietary WebTop virtual real estate office technology that it found a buyer for the software in a publicly traded company - First American Corporation (NYSE:FAF).

This is no small announcement as FAF is the second largest title company in the U.S., according to a spokesperson. Any software they integrate into their systems is bound to be state-of-the-art. So what is WebTop and why did FAF want it?

WebTop was "designed by brokers for brokers and their agents. The WebTop technology focuses on helping real estate professionals harness the power of the Internet to manage their business. With built-in client relationship management tools, automated listing alerts, Web site management tools, an interactive online calendar and integrated MLS, WebTop offers important features that help brokers recruit and retain top agents, while reducing production costs," says PCR. "Agents also benefit from the powerful productivity tools that reduce cycle times by streamlining the transaction processes—giving them more time to serve current customers, while marketing themselves to new ones."

FAF's main businesses are title information and services; real estate information and services, which includes mortgage information services and database information and services; and consumer information and services, which provides automotive, subprime and direct-to-consumer credit reporting; direct-to-consumer public records reporting; resident screening; preemployment screening; automobile title administration; property and automotive insurance tracking services; property and casualty insurance; home warranties; investment advisory; and trust and banking services.

First American says it will combine WebTop with its "Web-based transaction management system CloseYourDeal.com, a vendor management system TheVendorManager, and an electronic order entry and delivery system, FASTWeb. The company will introduce "a complete real estate transaction management platform that will help brokers and agents increase operating efficiency, enhance productivity and ultimately improve the level of service they can provide their customers."

Transaction management systems were promising a few years ago, but the failure to sell the systems to the intended users - agents - caused the online transaction business model to fail for many companies. Homestore never found a business model that worked for eRealtor, and smaller systems went bankrupt or were bought out for pennies on the dollar. Others languish with few adopters.

Did earlier platforms simply fail to time the market correctly? And if so, how will FAF succeed where others have failed?

"Transaction management platforms have not done well to date," says Roger S. Hull, senior vice president and chief information officer for The First American Corporation.Hull. "Part of the problem has been adoption. We believe that we can leverage our existing relationships and channels to drive higher adoption. With WebTop and the integration of some existing components, we can put forth a platform offering better than what the industry has previously seen.

Hull says that real estate brokerages and agents are the intended customers for the integrated system. "We believe the new platform will be profitable," says Hull. "Additionally, it will drive value for all parties by streamlining elements of the real estate service delivery process. We will bring it to the marketplace according to what makes sense, and on a case-by-case basis."

“Complete transaction management allows real estate professionals to simplify and streamline the entire real estate process,” he continues. “WebTop’s simplicity and scalability makes it the perfect solution for everyone from single-agent shops to large, high-volume broker operations.”

Meanwhile PCR will continue to benefit from WebTop as well as the integrated services from FAF. PCR President Ed Krafchow says his team will continue to work with FAF to create online services that agents want, hinting at great things to come.

“While the integration will be seamless to our existing customers, they will certainly benefit as First American builds upon the existing technology to include even more robust features,” he says.

Published: March 11, 2002

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