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January25, 2008 For lmmediateRelease (2489) or 9a1.361.CITY ContactGreggA. Binford:[email protected] CityscapesCreatesNew Paradigmin Real EstateBrokering (Sarasota, Fla.)- Cityscapes International RealtyGroup,a high-endboutiquereal Fla.,Tambor,CostaRica,andPanamaCity, estatecompanywithofficesin Sarasota, to realestate.Conceived in the depths Panama,hasemergedto bringa newparadigm of a sunkenrealestatemarketin Sarasota, the company's January25'ngrandopening introduces its 50 international listinosin threecountries andits networkthatextendsto threecontinents. Cityscapes IRGhasrebuffed the currently weakrealestatemarket,provingitself virtuallyeconomyproof.Thesuccesscanbe attributed to GreggA. Binford, broker/owner of the company.He hascapitalized on thetwo primaryconvergent trends in today'srealestateindustry: the mobile,international workforce andthetech-sawy buyersandagents.Yet he'salsointroduced a projecttrackingweb-based systemthat keepstrackof a deal'soriginations partnersandhelpsconsummate andits contributing transactions, including noncircumvention andfacilitating timelyclosureof deals.lt all addsup to employeesuccess. "Todayrealestateprofessionals haveto realizethere'sa newparadigmin brokerages; globally.Research everything is connected showsthat80 percentof all buyersstarton theweb,and realtorsareworkingfromtheirhomesand meetingwithclientsoutsidethe office,connectingbuyerswith properties.Yet today'sbrokersstillbelievethat the more agentstheyhire- trainedor untrained-thegreaterthe incomethatwillbe produced. However, thatconceptin today'smarketis provingto be archaic.Since20%ofthe agentsproduce80%of the productivity, tryingto 'house'alltheseagentsandcarry thousands of dollarsa monthin overhead onlyworksduringa boommarketwhenall

www.cityscaPesirg.net . Sarasota, tL34236 Ringling Boulevard 1630 (2489) (877) (941) (2489) 361-(lTY 361-2442 361-(lTY Phone 'T0ll-tree ' tax(941)

agentsare producing.Brokerageswhichare structuredin this fashiondon'thavethe abilityto contractand expandwiththe market'scycles,"saysBinford. "At Cityscapes,our purposeisn'tto househundredsof agents.We'relike a docking stationwhereagentscan refuel,holdmeetingswith clients,pick up collateralmaterials, then moveon to theirdestination.Mostworkfrom productiveagentsis performedfrom home,laptops,PDASandtheircell phones.We work on highqualityprojectswith a wide bandof diversification aroundthe US and outsidethe US, as well as handlingresidential saleswith our residentialdivision." Backedby 10 yearsin realestatewith Sarasotaagencies,wherehe was a top agent and top recruiter,Binfordbelievesthat any licensedaffiliateofficeof CityscapesIRGcan run successfully with as few as two agents.That'swhy,despitehavingeschewed conventional recruitmenttechniques,Cityscapesis runningsuccessfully off the ground with onlyeightagentsin its Sarasotaoffice.Thoseagentsareworkingon projectssuch as locatingand selling5O0,OOO acresin Honduras,findingwaterfrontpropertyin Costa Ricafor majorhotelchains,and pairingEuropeanand NorthAmericanhomeownerwith the residencesthey seek. Partof the Citpcapes paradigmis its projecttrackingweb-basedsofh,vare system. "Thetrackingsystemfunctionslikethe traditionalMLSsystem.Eachbrokerwill have accessto all the Cityscapes'projeclsgloballybecausethey'vepurchaseda pieceof a projectbaseestablishedthroughyearsof connections.However,agentshavepassword accessonlyto projeclsthey'redirectlyinvolvedin, due to the confidentiality of each clientand eachproject.lf we sellsomething,we sell it together.Brokersor agents involvedin thesetransactions can'tlegallybe bypassedor eliminatedfrom a transaction and ultimatelycompensation. In otherwords,agentscan'tgo to the sourcewithout includingthe othersinvolvedin the project,"explainsBinford. This sharingof projectsis uniqueto Cityscapes;it increasesthe probabilityof these transac{ions comingto fruition. The trackingsystem,whichis web basedand accessiblefrom anywhere,can alsobe implemented on the residentialsideof sales,allowingagentsto trackand log information from contractto closing. Cityscapes'in-housecapabilitiesand networksspanthe full realmof realestate:titles, lending,insurance,homewarranties,legalcounseling,and otherprofessional realestate servicesfor residentialand commercialtransactions.