Celebrating 50 years of MRI Software

2021 marks the 50th anniversary of MRI Software, and we are thrilled to celebrate this milestone with our clients, partners and staff around the world. We were excited to close out 2020 (I mean, who wasn’t?) because we couldn’t wait to kick off our anniversary festivities!

The golden anniversary of MRI Software

The PC hadn’t even been invented when MRI was founded in 1971, but we were already pioneering the real estate software space. The business was launched in Cleveland, Ohio, and initially focused on residential real estate clients, with commercial products added soon after.

Wondering how we automated our clients’ property accounting functions in the days before fancy computers? We processed client paperwork and turned it into professional-looking printed reports overnight with our IBM 360-20 mainframe, mag tapes, punch cards and disk packs. Once we got our hands on a Xerox 9700 printer, our commercial real estate product was unstoppable!

A history lesson: Global expansion and growth

The industry was poised for revolution – there was a huge opportunity to provide business services for the unique needs of commercial and residential real estate companies. MRI pioneered the industry and set the stage for Proptech as we know it today.

If you follow the history of MRI, you know that the company has grown significantly in recent years, notably in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. MRI’s presence in APAC actually dates back to the 1990s, when we were one of the first providers in the region. The expansion outside of our Cleveland headquarters accelerated in 2002, when MRI became part of Intuit and was known as Intuit Real Estate Solutions (IRES). In 2010, Intuit spun out the real estate division and MRI Software was once again a standalone business.

Fast-forward a few years to 2015, when our aggressive growth strategy took off. The company expanded even more, first to Toronto, then Atlanta, bolstering its Investment Solutions offering along the way. The journey accelerated after that, with the addition of teams in South Africa, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and India. But MRI’s growth was about more than increasing its global footprint – the company strategically expanded its offerings and entered new markets, adding innovative solutions for automated communications, risk management, payments, and the underserved government-subsidized housing sector.

Today, we are proud to have clients and staff on all continents except Antarctica (we’re working on it). We continue to push the limits of innovation for real estate technology, and as a result, MRI was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in the US in 2020 (and 2021!). Not bad for an established business that’s been around since 1971.

And the beat goes on

Much has changed in the world of technology since MRI was founded, but the important things have stayed the same. Our obsession with client success has been around since day one, and we still strive to amaze our clients and learn from them in our quest for innovation. In the early days, working at MRI felt like being part of a family, and our culture still embodies this today. Even now, MRI employees have opportunities to try new things and explore different roles within the organization.

As MRI continues to grow, our mission to help organizations transform the way communities live, work and play remains at the core of the business. It’s true even after 50 years, and it will remain so 50 years from now. Learn more about who we are.