CoStar Buying Real-Net Property Database

PORTLAND-A few years later than even he expected, Scott Napier is selling his Portland commercial property database service to Bethesda-based CoStar Group, a publicly-traded frontrunner in the commercial property information market.

Neither Napier nor CoStar is talking about it just yet–a CoStar spokesman declined comment, Napier didn’t return a phone call–but those in the know tell GlobeSt.com the estimated $250,000 deal will be signed this week. The sale reportedly does not include Napier’s VerticalEmail business, which allows brokers to direct email other brokers about properties for lease and for sale.

The sale of RealNet comes a few months after the Portland chapter of the Commercial Association of Realtors, which launched a competing database service, reportedly declined an offer by Napier to pay an exponentially higher price for the RealNet operation. About the same time, in support of CAR’s fledgling service, some brokerage firms in town, including CB Richard Ellis, stopped providing their property data to RealNet, prompting Napier to allege unfair business practices and, some say, threaten legal action.