Real-Net Acquisition Creates CAR, CoStar Competition

PORTLAND-Despite being members in the organization, more than a few brokers in town expect a new information service by the Commercial Association of Realtors’ Portland chapter to fade away now that the veritable 800-pound gorilla has arrived in town to compete. CAR, meanwhile, likes its chances.

The gorilla is Bethesda-based CoStar Group, a publicly-traded frontrunner in the commercial property information market that purchased Scott Napier’s Real-Net, an online, subscription-based information service that CoStar says currently lists 150 million sf of office, industrial and retail properties here, and approximately 1,350 digital images.

GlobeSt.com broke news of the acquisition a week before it was announced this past Friday. Local sources said CoStar paid approximately $250,000 for the service after CAR declined Napier’s offer to pay a much higher figure and launched its own service called CARDS, the “DS” standing for “data service.”