Founded in 1984, SMR is a producer of real estate data, predictive models and scores, and industry research on home loans, commercial buildings and loans, and credit risk subjects.

Most of the nation's largest banks and non-bank lenders have been clients for SMR's research publications. These have often forecast key near-future events. A 2003 SMR mortgage study was subtitled: "The Housing Bubble Is Real." SMR studies in 2004 and 2005 forecast sharply rising loan defaults and a likely foreclosure crisis.

In the credit risk arena, SMR has acted as consultant to the American Bankers Association on bankruptcy subjects. SMR also was the primary research firm on behalf of the coalition that fought for bankruptcy law reform, successfully passed in 2005.

In 2011, SMR first offered basic commercial real estate data for sale under the name Commercial Building Inventory (CBI).

That name has now been replaced by Enhanced Commercial Property Database (ECPD), reflecting a multi-source approach: all of the basic public records data plus tenant information, risk scores and analytics, and dozens of additional enhancements.