The push for transparency in the real estate industry has been a big reason why the listings and real estate data website StreetEasy has become such a force so quickly, racking up over 15 million pageviews per month on its way to becoming New York City’s most-searched real estate website. That same drive for transparency has always been an important part of CORE’s view of the evolving real estate marketplace (and it’s also what made CORE an early industry supporter and friend of StreetEasy), so it was only natural for the two companies to get together and collaborate on a cool new toy. It’s called CORE Control, and it’s the first listing and client management platform built in collaboration with StreetEasy.

As StreetEasy CEO Michael Smith told The Real Deal today in its story about the launch of CORE Control, “It is clear to everyone that the role of the broker is changing; it’s about service now.” CORE Control will help bring that service to new levels. Here’s how.

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New York City is one of the only cities in the United States that has never had a comprehensive one-stop-shop for listing data (current or historic). For years, the major power brokers tried to “get together” to create an MLS , but we all know how that turned out. Michael Smith is the CEO and Founder of Streeteasy. He has confronted this monumental task head on and has revolutionized how people search for available listings on the web, and research historical data. I sat down with him recently and discussed his company.

Shaun: How old is the company?

Michael: The company is almost 3 years old.

Shaun: And your title is?

Michael: CEO

Shaun: How many people is the company comprised of?

Michael: Ten. A big group of ten.

Shaun: Must be ten very efficient people.  What hours do you work? (Laughing)  Is there some advantage to owning a web based company, where your hours are not traditional?

Michael: I think so. We have an employee in California.  Today we’ve been able to do a lot with very few people. Ten for us is actually quit a big number.  For the first two years it was much smaller than that.

Shaun: Why did you start the company?

Michael: In a very basic sense, we started the company because we felt there was a real lack of actionable data for consumers, when it came to residential real estate. (more…)