Olympic Style Committee Judges CRS Gold Medal Winner

Barney Thompson, past Executive Vice President and CEO of the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, (KAAR) described it best as a “shootout.” It happened about five or six years ago and KAAR has been using CRS ever since.

KAAR has been computerized since 1979 and had been using a competitor’s service, but it wasn’t doing everything they needed. So KAAR formed a committee to evaluate the vendors for property and tax records software.

“Each one came in and presented their service,” Thompson explained. “When committee members saw features they liked, they gave the vendor points. At the end of the day we added up the points and CRS won, no question.”

“We’re very pleased with the service,” he said. He credited CRS as one of the reasons there are 4,000+ members of KAAR.

“We’re very pleased with the service,” crediting CRS as one of the reasons there are 4,000+ members of KAAR.

Real Estate professionals from Nashville to Tri-Cities often choose to become KAAR members, in part because their membership includes CRS service and education, free with their dues.

“CRS provides monthly new member training sessions, which include a computer lab, 3 hours of instruction, and educational credits, all for free with their service,” Thompson explained. “The people with CRS are just excellent, too,” he said. “New members move to Knoxville from as far away as California, and they are amazed at what we’ve got here, compared to where they’ve been.”

It’s so easy. When a KAAR member needs any type of property information, they click a button and go directly to CRS' product. When a member enters a new listing, CRS makes it easy, too, by automatically filling in the information fields once the agent enters the property address. “Then while they’re in the system,” Thompson explained, “There’s another button to click that checks for any properties around that listing, and the agent can search that. It’s beyond what other people can do.”

It must be working. In 1979, when Thompson joined KAAR, there were 670 members. Today, there are over 4,000.