Overview and History

Real Estate Information Network, Inc. (REIN, Inc.) officially formed in August of 1997. It is the product of a merge of two multiple listing services into one; the former Metro MLS, Inc. which served real estate brokers in the cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk and outlying areas west of Suffolk since 1970, and the Virginia Peninsula Association of REALTORS® MLS which served brokers in Hampton, Newport News and Poquoson and the counties of York and James City. The two MLSs combined their listing databases into one system, and today REIN, Inc. serves real estate brokers from Williamsburg, east to Virginia Beach and south to the North Carolina border.

REIN is an independent MLS owned by broker stockholder members. REIN's customers are the broker stockholder firms and their real estate agents, appraiser members and affiliate businesses. Currently, there are approximately 530 member firms, which represent 650 offices, 5,700 real estate agents and 150 appraiser members.

REIN, Inc. is governed by a nine (9) person Board of Directors. In addition to the Board of Directors, it is the responsibility of the Sales Manager Advisory Committee (SMAC), comprised of nine (9) sales managers, to keep all forms and contracts up-to-date and to consider all requests from the Board of Directors.

Mission

REIN's primary purpose is to assist members in rendering better service to the public by providing a medium through which real estate may be merchandised promptly and efficiently, thereby benefiting both the selling and buying public. The "medium" through which REIN offers services to its members is the regional database that contains approximately 13,000 active listings for sale, 1,700 active rental listings, and 874,000 off market listings that can be used for comparables.