NAR REach™ Slings 8 New Products at REALTORS®

The NAR REach™ program is interesting. It establishes a gateway where companies who wish to express their products and services to the REALTOR® family pay fees and often equity to the National Association of REALTORS®. The program plays host to annual "classes" of companies that are interested in entering the real estate vertical.

Each class debuts at NAR Midyear and "graduates" at NAR Annual. Here are the soon-to-be graduates of the NAR REach class of 2015:

1. Asset Avenue - A loan finder product that is primarily aimed at helping Realtors introduce loan products to the investor community. As I went through the presentation, the first place I got stuck was the statement, "Competitive rates as low as 7.99%." The product shops property loans to institutional investors rather than traditional mortgage banks. I think that the product would be superior if it included traditional and investor backed funding sources.

2. August SmartLock – My initial instincts are that a company offering a lockbox solution will need to combat a lot of headwind against some excellent lockbox providers like Sentrilock and Supra. Those companies offer great products already deployed in every market across the USA. However, when I watched the presentation, I learned that the August SmartLock is part of a smart home solution. When you are near the lock, it works with Bluetooth to open the door. When you are away from the home, you can manage entry and access via an app on your phone. Installation on a deadbolt takes about 10 minutes. Each unit costs $250. As a backup for the inevitable "technology failure" problem, as a backup, your existing keys still work. I am a gadget guy, so I may consider this for personal use, but not as a replacement for our current lockbox system.