And speaking of conflict of interest...

Let's consider Rob Remus's potential motivations for wanting to chair a CHCA ad hoc committee tapped to study the Local's financial position.

1.) While Mr. Remus has said that his appearance on the Destination Chestnut Hill brochure as part of the Legacy Real Estate team was an accident, if he does work with Legacy in any capacity, then he would have an interest in booting Elfant Wissahickon and Eichler Moffley, Legacy's competitors, off the back pages of the Local's two major sections.



2.) More importantly, Mr. Remus is the president of Property Centric Inc., which "provides custom built local search engines and online marketing strategies for the property management industry. Our results-focused products are centered on your goals: client acquisition and retention, brand building and ancillary profit generation. Throughout the customer lifecycle, Property Centric gives your property management company a competitive advantage by helping you win more residents, establish trust, retain residents and profit – all from our local search engine and marketing services."

Even more interesting is this press release for Property Centric, which I include in its entirety below. (Pay special attention to this paragraph: "Another key benefit, Property Centric's unique search solution allows for paid search placement and banner advertising by local and national advertisers that want to market their products and services to area residents via a community's web site. This provides a new and significant ancillary revenue stream for the property
manager.")

CHCA Treasurer Mark Keintz once told me that the board had chosen Remus to lead the ad hoc committee because Remus was willing to put in the time. Read the press release below and consider what Remus stood to gain by putting in so many "man hours." (Hint: Property Centric makes $3,500 for each Web site it sets up and rakes in a $500 monthly maintenance fee.)

Property Centric Introduces First-Ever, Local Internet Search Engine for Multifamily Web Sites

Property Centric (www.propertycentric.com) has introduced the only
local Internet search solution dedicated exclusively to serving the
multifamily property management industry. Designed for apartment,
condominium and community association web sites, portals and their
residents, Property Centric's local search engine generates more
relevant search results for web site visitors - both current and
prospective residents, as well as local businesses. This allows
property management firms to further build their brands, acquire and
retain more residents, and generate ancillary revenue.

Erdenheim, PA (PRWEB) June 28, 2007 -- In an effort to help the
property management industry better market its apartment communities
and capitalize on the growing demand for more targeted local online
search capabilities and online advertising, Property Centric
(www.propertycentric.com) has introduced the only custom-built, local
Internet search solution dedicated exclusively to serving the
multifamily property management industry. Specifically, Property
Centric now provides local search technology for apartment,
condominium and community association web sites, portals and their
residents. As part of Property Centric's launch, Rob Remus has been
named president.

"More than 75% of Internet users go online to find a new home, and at
least 70% of U.S. households go online to find local businesses, which
underscores the demand for 24/7 access to relevant and local
information that helps people run their lives," explained Remus.
"Property Centric offers a proprietary and completely customizable Web
search technology that allows property managers to profitably tap into
these trends.

By generating more relevant search results for web site visitors -
both current and prospective residents, as well as local businesses -
property management firms can further build their brands, acquire and
retain more residents, and generate ancillary revenue with Property
Centric's solution "By generating more relevant search results for web
site visitors - both current and prospective residents, as well as
local businesses - property management firms can further build their
brands, acquire and retain more residents, and generate ancillary
revenue with Property Centric's solution," explained Remus.

Property Centric's local search engine, which offers complete control
of search results to property managers, offers a number of benefits to
the property management industry.

First, by providing on-demand, relevant local information, property
managers can offer a premium, resident-centric amenity that meets the
Internet-user lifestyle needs of community residents. This helps
attract new and retain existing residents.

In addition, by creating such a plethora of local content for the
property manager's community web sites, Property Centric can drive
more site traffic and bolster site usage. "This not only can generate
stronger brand awareness, it can dramatically improve a property's
search engine optimization (SEO) rankings in the major search engines.
More users finding and clicking on their site leads to improved
rankings of the property management firm's or community's web site on
major search engines such as Yahoo and Google, for example," Remus
explained.

Mark-Taylor Residential, a leading apartment community developer and
manager with more than 9,000 units throughout the greater Phoenix
area, implemented Property Centric's solution in 2006. According to
Kim Atkinson, director of marketing and public relations for
Mark-Taylor, "With Property Centric's local search engine in place,
repeat visits are on the rise and our site traffic and natural search
rankings have improved drastically.

"For example, without any other search engine optimization efforts,
the Property Centric search engine has helped www.Mark-Taylor.com
consistently appear on page one of Google, Yahoo! and MSN for our most
targeted keywords: 'Phoenix luxury apartments.' Also, we can now be
found on page two or three of natural search listings at the major
search engines for more broad searches such as 'Apartments Phoenix.'
Before the installment of Property Centric's search engine, our site
was typically found on page 10 of Google's natural listings.
Additionally, search volume to our local search engine has
skyrocketed, bringing in on average, an additional 43,000 page views
per month for the last quarter," Atkinson explained.

Another key benefit, Property Centric's unique search solution allows
for paid search placement and banner advertising by local and national
advertisers that want to market their products and services to area
residents via a community's web site. This provides a new and
significant ancillary revenue stream for the property manager.

"The multifamily industry is constantly looking for ways to generate
ancillary revenue," Remus noted. "Property Centric offers a solution
that is completely customized to property managers' needs and allows
them to effortlessly and with a minimal investment, deliver a rapid
ROI for a monthly stream of revenue beyond rents."

Remus to Lead National Expansion

As president of Property Centric, Remus will direct the new company's
aggressive national expansion among national and regional property
management firms, as well as build the company's management team.

With 15 years of multifamily industry experience, he joins Property
Centric from Illustratus Premium Newsletters, a leading provider of
online and print newsletters tailored for the multifamily industry,
home owner associations, and senior and retirement communities, where
he served as the national accounts marketing director.

Remus also co-founded Apartment Solutions Inc./Reslynx, which offered
fee-based virtual leasing offices throughout the East, as well as
call-center enterprise software for leasing communications. In 2003,
he, along with his partners, sold the company to Weichert Realtors,
Inc., which later formed Weichert Rental Network, where he served as
its vice president of sales and marketing.

About Property Centric

Established in 2006, Property Centric is headquartered just outside
Philadelphia. Property Centric provides custom-built local search
engines and online marketing strategies for the multifamily property
management industry.

Property Centric is a subsidiary of Vortaloptics, a software
development company specializing in Net-native ASP search solutions.
Headquartered in Las Vegas, Vortaloptics provides solutions to the
multifamily, education, and media (print & broadcast) industries, as
well as the WeAreNetworkÔ.

For more information about Property Centric, call 877.889.5500 or
visit www.propertycentric.com.

Editor's Note: Contact Nina Dietrich at nina(@)ninadietrich.com or at
201.493.8944 for a digital headshot of Rob Remus.