Organization and Business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Organization and Business [Abstract]

Organization and Business

1. Organization and Business

Reis, Inc. is a Maryland corporation. The primary business of Reis, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries (“Reis” or the “Company”) is providing commercial real estate market information and analytical tools for its subscribers, through its Reis Services subsidiary. For disclosure and financial reporting purposes, this business is referred to as the Reis Services segment.

Reis Services

Reis Services, including its predecessors, was founded in 1980. Reis maintains a proprietary database containing detailed information on commercial properties in metropolitan markets and neighborhoods throughout the U.S. The database contains information on apartment, office, retail, warehouse/distribution and flex/research & development properties, and is used by real estate investors, lenders and other professionals to make informed buying, selling and financing decisions. In addition, Reis data is used by debt and equity investors to assess, quantify and manage the risks of default and loss associated with individual mortgages, properties, portfolios and real estate backed securities. Reis currently provides its information services to many of the nation’s leading lending institutions, equity investors, brokers and appraisers.

Reis, through its flagship institutional product, Reis SE, and through its small business product, ReisReports, provides online access to a proprietary database of commercial real estate information and analytical tools designed to facilitate debt and equity transactions as well as ongoing evaluations. Depending on the product, users have access to trend and forecast analysis at metropolitan and neighborhood levels throughout the U.S. and/or detailed building-specific information such as rents, vacancy rates, lease terms, property sales, new construction listings and property valuation estimates. Reis’s products are designed to meet the demand for timely and accurate information to support the decision-making of property owners, developers, builders, banks and non-bank lenders, and equity investors. These real estate professionals require access to timely information on both the performance and pricing of assets, including detailed data on market transactions, supply, absorption, rents and sale prices. This information is critical to all aspects of valuing assets and financing their acquisition, development and construction.

Reis’s revenue model is based primarily on annual subscriptions that are paid in accordance with contractual billing terms. Reis recognizes revenue from its contracts on a ratable basis; for example, one-twelfth of the value of a one-year contract is recognized monthly.

Discontinued Operations – Residential Development Activities

Reis was originally formed on January 8, 1997 as Wellsford Real Properties, Inc. (“Wellsford”). Wellsford acquired the Reis Services business by merger in May 2007 (the “Merger”). Wellsford’s primary operating activities immediately prior to the Merger, and conducted through its subsidiaries, were the development, construction and sale of its three residential projects and its approximate 23% ownership interest in the Reis Services business. The Company completed the sale of the remaining units at its Colorado project in September 2009, sold its Claverack, New York project in bulk in February 2010 and sold its remaining project in East Lyme, Connecticut in bulk in April 2011.

See Note 3 for additional information regarding the Company’s segments.