Brad and Eric Blumberg are about to commit Realtor heresy.

The two licensed agents are allowing one of Philadelphia's largest banks to use their proprietary software program so customers can search the regional multiple listing service on-line without the help of a realty professional.

Although the National Association of Realtors is adamantly and vociferously opposed to banks moving into the real estate field, and has mounted efforts in Congress to thwart the banking business's every move in that regard, the Blumbergs are doing just the opposite.

Beginning this month, the founders of SmarterAgent.com, a Philadelphia-centric website which includes all MLS-listed houses in the region, are launching a new program that gives banks a direct link to the latest information on properties for sale.

First up is the 130-year-old National Penn Bankshares, an independent $3.5 billion financial services company headquartered in Boyertown, Pa., with 66 community banking offices in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

But the brothers say they are ready to expand beyond their home turf -- Southern New Jersey, Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware -- to the Mid-Atlantic States, Florida and California.

"In today's de-regulated financial environment, banks cannot afford to passively sit by as their customers are wooed by other financial institutions and large realty firms who push their in-house mortgage companies and financial products," said Brad Blumberg, CEO of Smarter Agent.

"We're happy to be the first bank in the country to offer this useful new service," said Kathleen Godio, National Penn's director of sales, adding that employees have already started dabbling with the system and customers will soon be told the service is available.

As Blumberg sees it, his company's new "First Access for Banks" program, or FAB for short, doesn't put banks directly into the real estate business. But it does provide them with "a powerful new brand awareness service" to help them obtain new customers and expand their relationship with existing clients.

SmarterAgent levels the playing field with real estate brokers, who exert great influence over where customers go for loans, Blumberg said.

According to industry sources, realty agents account for about two-thirds of all referrals for home loans and title insurance, and about a third of all referrals for hazard insurance.

But while realty firms can offer these products, banks are prohibited from operating realty offices under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. And the politically powerful, million-member NAR would like to keep it that way.

SmarterAgent, which is a duly licensed real estate company, doesn't want to follow the company line, however. And Blumberg says he intends to fill the void by allowing banks to use his company as a real estate center to satisfy their consumers' desire for no-hassle, one-stop shopping and accurate and instant real estate information.

"Lenders lose out if they don't get access to consumers early in the home buying process," he said. "Once they lose that all-important first contact, or lose the mortgage, it's hard to get the customer back."

For what it's worth, Blumberg says the program can actually pay dividends for real estate brokers and agents as well as banks.

For one thing, through SmarterAgent's relocation division, bank employees and customers can gain access to the area's top producers, a service often reserved just for VIP corporate executives, he said.

For another, by joining SmarterAgent's relo unit, agents who are customers of the bank can obtain leads from among the bank's employees and customers who make use of the FAB program.

Published: August 2, 2004

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