At Apartmentcomps.com, brokers enter the name, address or intersection of a property, and the Website produces a map pinpointing the location of the 20 closest properties, and provides links to facts about unit sizes, rent prices, rent per foot and age of the property. Subscribers pay about $30 per month for unlimited access to the service, which helps them analyze the financials of prospective acquisitions.

The deal with Pinnacle was bound to happen. Sanchez is a former executive of the company, and current Pinnacle chairman Stan Harrelson is to date the company's main investor, though another angel-funding round is in the works. Harrelson says Pinnacle is paying for the ApartmentComps service because it improves workflow in the brokerage department, which has handled $250 million worth of multifamily building transactions since the beginning of the year.

The deal with Rent.net, part of Cendant Corp.'s Move.com conglomeration, will allow ApartmentComps.com to provide photos and floor plans of apartment buildings in its database. The deal has been closed but not yet announced, Sanchez told GlobeSt.

Looking forward, ApartmentComps is deep in negotiations with RealEstate.com, an Atlanta-based residential real estate services company just now expanding into commercial real estate. ApartmentComps will provide Real Estate.com's paid membership with discount access to Apartmentcomps.com. In exchange, ApartmentComps.com will be featured in Real Estate.com's new section for commercial property buyers and sellers.

The ApartmentComps.com database now covers the densest metropolitan areas in six states: Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, Arizona and North Carolina. Arizona, Colorado, Washington and Oregon are next on the list, though not necessarily in that order.

"Even though we're local, we don't have local information yet," ApartmentComps founder and chairman Dan Sanchez tells GlobeSt. "To avoid the irony, we may put Washington and Oregon at the top of the list."