NAR Uses Big Data To Make a Big Difference for Realtors®

-

CHICAGO – October 21, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — Today’s ever-evolving technology world is transforming the real estate industry, not only with new applications and tools, but also in generating volumes of information about how people approach and conduct real estate transactions. To help Realtors® understand and interpret these trends, the National Association of Realtors® has hired Todd Carpenter to fill a new position, Managing Director of Data Analytics.

U.S. Media Search Engine
NAR in National News

Carpenter was previously NAR’s Director of Digital Engagement, and most recently worked at Trulia.com as Senior Manager of Industry Engagement. He assumes his new responsibilities beginning today.

“I am very excited to be returning to NAR, and to be a part of this groundbreaking initiative,” said Carpenter. “NAR has access to an enormous amount of data, and I’m going to be looking at how we can use that data to help our organization, our brokers, and our members make better business decisions that, in turn, help the consumers they serve.”

NAR is also creating a data scientist position; this person, yet to be hired, will report to Carpenter. Both positions will form a new Predictive Analytics group, which will be working closely with the Center for REALTOR® Technology, NAR’s world-renowned Research Division, and other NAR groups to create analytics from NAR data and a variety of other sources. Carpenter will report to Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mark Lesswing.

“Predictive Analytics is NAR’s approach to the often misunderstood but intriguing area known as ‘Big Data,’” said Lesswing. “Predictive Analytics supports business by identifying, with some certainty, upcoming shifts in priorities. Keeping in front of these changes will allow us to provide the value that Realtors® expect from NAR.”

The new NAR Predictive Analytics group will examine and analyze member and customer trends from a variety of data sets to better inform business planning. That means helping the association determine and develop services and resources that provide value to Realtors®, and giving Realtors® insights into ways they can better meet the needs of their clients and customers. Beyond NAR’s data sets, Carpenter will also be responsible for acquiring and licensing data from other sources to achieve these goals.

NAR’s interest in Big Data began with the Master Member Profile System in 2008, which studied a variety of in-house and outsourced data warehouse capabilities.

###

Lesswing and Carpenter will both be speaking about the latest trends in the area of predictive analytics at the Emerging Business Technology Forum during next month’s Realtors® Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Saturday, Nov. 9 from 1:30-3:30 p.m., Moscone Center, Room 135.
The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Media Contact: Stephanie Singer / 202-383-1050

Previous articlePartner Engineering and Science Inc. Develops Energy Microgrid for City of Bridgeport
Next articleExisting-Home Sales Down in September but Prices Rise