It all came to a head in 2003 when many in the real estate industry reacted to new revenue plans by Supra to put lockboxes on subscription plans, with cumbersome technologies designed to trap Realtors into providing streams of income to GE-owned Supra/Risco, said some real estate professionals at the time. Association Executive meetings in 2003 at the NAR conference gave new meaning to the phrase "the air was blue" when they began talking about how Supra was no longer going to support lockboxes that were neither worn out or needing to be replaced. Instead, the company's plan was to hook associations and their members into lengthy "subscriptions" highlighted with outdated technologies, fumed the AEs.

One of the ways that Supra/Risco maintained such a stranglehold on the marketplace was through its patented technologies -- something NAR was determined to get around.

In an attempt to break the GE monopoly, which Supra denied existed to Realty Times back in 2003, the National Association of Realtors became a majority owner in a new lockbox company to give Realtors alternatives to subscription-based lockbox services.

"We have three board seats out of five and own nearly 60 percent of the company," says Bob Goldberg, SentriLock's chairman of the board and senior vice president of marketing and product development for NAR. "The other two board members are Bruce Wolf, NAR's treasurer and Leadership Team member and Mike Brodie, immediate past NAR Treasurer.

"And yes, we like the Sentrilock management team because they are extremely responsive to our members' needs with a positive cooperative approach," says Goldberg.

In fact, NAR is very pleased with the success of Sentrilock in such a short amount of time, says Sentrilock President Scott Fisher. It oughtta be. SentriLock has approximately 140,000 lockboxes in use by 50,000 real estate practitioners in more than 80 REALTOR® associations around the country.

SentriSecure software and REALTOR® Lockboxes are sold through REALTOR® associations and MLSs under contract with SentriLock. SentriLock LLC has received a U.S. patent for its electronic lockbox technology. The new patent ensures that SentriLock’s lockbox technology investment is secure for a period of 20 years. Six other patents are pending on the company's lockbox technologies.

Using "high quality, easy-to-operate electronic" boxes featuring "smart card technology" with embedded microprocessors ensuring advanced security for sellers' properties, as well as downloadable information on Showing Agents and optional showing instruction features, the lockboxes were "a return to the simple life when boxes just protected property keys and didn't go beyond the call of duty to try to be anything else," says NAR.

"The lockboxes were invented because of an outcry by some brokers and agents that GE brand Supra was forcing obsolescence on lockboxes that are still working just fine by refusing to renew support," explained NAR in 2003. "The publicly-held company, like all publicly-held companies, can't content shareholders with a lockbox that lasts for years and never needs renewal, so the company switched to more complex products that could be leased on a subscription basis. But some agents complained that they are paying for functions they don't want or use. While some agents love the new keys and boxes by Supra, others want more choice."

SentriLock's Realtor solution is deliberately middle-tech, with just enough features to be current, but not so many as to drive up the price. The system is designed to meet the following needs: security, simplicity of operation, easy administration from the association to administer access, and speed of entry, so Realtors can get in, get the key and do their job. An audit trail tracks who has been in the home and controls access times through a simple local device, and that's it.

"SentriLock delivered what was promised, an easy-to-learn system for both the association and the members with plenty of features an agent can use to their benefit," says NAR.

But that doesn't mean the product doesn't have features worth protecting via patents.

Says Fisher, "Developing new products takes a lot of money not to mention what we like to call "opportunity cost." Opportunity cost is the price you pay channeling resources at developing a specific product when in fact if you put those resources to work in another area, over the long run you might have better results. Even the most basic physical goods can cost over half a million dollars to develop.

The patent system is designed to protect a company's investment in R&D and the resulting unique product aspects from duplication by others. SentriLock's situation is no different. A lot of private investment went into bringing a great choice to the marketplace and those investors (NAR and its members included) deserve protection. The patented aspects of SentriLock's technology may have applications outside the real estate lockbox market, so patent protection is doubly important for potential future applications. But by far the most important reason is patent protection guarantees REALTORS® will always have control of their own excellent electronic lockbox technology."

Editor's note: SentriLock is a REALTOR Benefits(SM) Program partner. The program offers special services and discounts to NAR members from participating companies. Associations and MLSs interested in more information should contact a SentriLock representative at 866/736-2322.

Published: March 20, 2006

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