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Realtor.com

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Realtor.com
IndustryReal estate
Founded1995
Headquarters3315 Scott Blvd.,
Santa Clara, California
,
United States
Key people
ParentMove, Inc.
Websitewww.realtor.com

Realtor.com is a real estate listings website operated by the News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc. and based in Santa Clara, California. It is the second most visited real estate listings website in the United States as of 2021, with over 100 million monthly active users.

The site launched as the Realtor Information Network in 1995, serving as a closed network for members of the National Association of Realtors. It relaunched in 1996 as a public website displaying property listings. Since then, Realtor.com claims to be the largest real estate website in the United States, and in 2016 was valued at $2.5 billion by Morgan Stanley.

Operations

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Realtor.com is operated by the real estate network Move, Inc.,[2] which is owned by News Corp.[3] Ryan O'Hara served as chief executive officer (CEO) of both realtor.com and Move until June 18, 2019.[4]

Following the announcement of O'Hara's departure, News Corp's President of Global Digital Real Estate Tracey Fellows was named acting CEO in June 2019. David Doctorow was named the CEO in January 2020.[5] In June 2023, Doctorow was succeeded by Damian Eales as CEO.[6][better source needed]

The website is licensed to operate by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the real estate industry's largest trade association.[3][7] The company's business model is built around selling referral-based solutions, leads, and advertising to agents, brokers, and others in the real estate industry.[8] Realtor.com covers 80 countries.

Originally located in San Jose, California, the company moved to Santa Clara in 2016.[4]

History

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Early history and public listing

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Realtor.com first launched in 1995 as the Realtor Information Network (RIN), which at that time was a closed network providing proprietary information to members of NAR.[9][10]

In 1996, the hosting site became public, allowing any Internet users to search for property listings, and expanded with the addition of Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS) listings in August.[11] RIN grew from 32,000 property listings in December 1995 to nearly 400,000 properties by October 1996.[12][13]

The site was relaunched with the name "Spot Realtor.com" at the same realtor.com domain name in November 1996.[14][15] The site's management was assumed by a company called RealSelect,[15] in a new partnership with NAR, funded by investment from venture capital firms.[14] RealSelect later changed its name to Homestore, and continued to operate the realtor.com site with NAR as a partner.[16]

Starting in 1997, Realtor.com became the exclusive online real estate listings source for several companies, including USA Today,[17][18] NBC,[19] and America Online (AOL).[20][21] Realtor.com also entered into a partnership with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service, beginning in 1998.[22]

With more than 1.3 million listings by 1999,[23][24] Realtor.com had become the largest website for real estate listings, and expanded services to include virtual tours of properties.[25]

Homestore went public in August 1999, raising $140 million in the process. NAR retained a significant equity position, but Homestore negotiated agreements with multiple listing services and brokerages to secure direct feeds of listings.[26]

News Corp era

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Further information: News Corp

News Corp purchased Realtor.com's parent company, now called Move, for $950 million in September 2014.[4][27] According to comScore, Realtor.com was receiving 34.1 million unique visitors per month at the time.[28] New partnerships were formed with Airbnb, to focus on encouraging potential home buyers to stay in neighborhoods of interest to them;[2] and with Yelp, to provide users with information about listed properties' neighborhood amenities.[29]

Move acquired interior design and lifestyle website Remodelista and outdoor spaces and garden design website Gardenista in 2016 as part of Realtor.com's marketing strategy. At the time of purchase, the two sites represented 1.5 million monthly readers.[30] In June, 2019 the company sold back the websites to founder Julie Carlson and husband Josh Groves and are now independently operated by Remodelista LLC.[31]

As of 2016, Realtor.com claimed to display 97 percent of residential properties for sale in the United States,[32] and reportedly received 36.7 million unique monthly visitors.[4] The company was valued by Morgan Stanley at $2.5 billion.[33]

Features for augmented reality and image recognition in listings were added to the Realtor.com mobile apps in January 2017.[3][34] Also, the site began offering 3D tours from Matterport on its iOS app, and began offering the same technology on its website and Android app.[35]

Move acquired Opcity, the Austin, Texas-based real estate technology company, for $210 million in 2018. The company, which developed a platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to match potential home buyers with agents,[36] continued to operate as an independent business until being integrated in 2019–2020.[37][38][39]

In 2018, Realtor.com introduced Local Expert, a digital marketing service for targeting ads to agents and prospective buyers on both the company's website and Facebook.[40] Local Expert was expanded in 2019 to allow ad purchases for searches at the city level in addition to the ZIP Code level.[41][42]

Another marketing product, Market Reach, launched in early 2020.[43] During 2019 and early 2020, Realtor.com added a number of features to improve search options, including a commute time filter,[44] noise overlay map,[45][46] and automated value model comparisons.[47]

In July 2020, Realtor.com introduced Sellers Marketplace to help consumers with iBuying by providing homeowners with information for comparing selling options.[48][49]

In August 2020, Realtor.com launched a digital tool to help people assess the risk of flooding to a home over the course of a 30-year mortgage. In May 2022, Realtor.com added wildfire risk data to the online tool. Both integrations were a result of collaboration with the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research and technology organization that uses data and technology to predict climate-related risks.[50][51][52][53]

As of mid-2020, Realtor.com was receiving approximately 68 million unique users per month[54] The same year, Move purchased software company Avail. Avail provides tools used by landlords such as creating and marketing listings as well as collecting rent and maintenance requests.[55]

In 2021, it was reported as the number one real estate listings website[failed verification] and second most visited.[56]

In June 2022 Move acquired UpNest.com to expand its seller strategy. UpNest algorithmically matches real estate customers with multiple agents in their area. Since UpNest's launch in 2013 approximately 1 million agent proposals have been submitted on the UpNest platform.[57] In 2018 and 2019, UpNest was ranked on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 as #85 and #116, respectively.

Marketing

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Elizabeth Banks became a spokesperson for Realtor.com in 2015,[58][59] appearing in the company's YouTube series targeting millennials buying their first home.[60][61][62] Her first commercial for the company was directed by Fred Savage.[63] A subsequent campaign, "The Home of Home Search", launched in April 2018.[64]

Realtor.com's 2021 advertising campaign, "Homes for Every Home Buyer" uses the tagline "to each their home". One ad features rapper Big Boi in "Our First Big Boi House", which depicts first-time homebuyers of color and celebrates Black homeownership.[65][66] The website's advertising campaigns have been recognized by Adweek,[67][68] the Online Marketing Media and Advertising (OMMA) Awards,[69][failed verification][70] and the Webby Awards for their creativity, use of talent, and digital advertising.[71]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Leadership at Realtor.com". Realtor.com. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Trejos, Nancy (June 24, 2015). "Airbnb, Realtor.com team up to let you try before you buy". USA Today. ISSN 0734-7456. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Levy, Nat. "Realtor.com's new features bring augmented reality, image recognition to home-buying". GeekWire. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Scheinin, Richard (May 18, 2016). "Q&A: Realtor.com CEO Ryan O'Hara talks online real estate". The Mercury News. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  5. ^ Falcon, Julia. "News Corp picks new CEO to run Move, realtor.com". HousingWire. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  6. ^ "Realtor.com® Leadership - realtor.com®". www.realtor.com. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  7. ^ Collins, Jeff (June 7, 2016). "Zillow to pay Realtor.com $130 million over trade secrets". Orange County Register. Anaheim, California: Digital First Media. ISSN 0886-4934. OCLC 12199155. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  8. ^ Wiggin, Teke (November 15, 2016). "Realtor.com overhauls listing ad offering". Inman.com. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  9. ^ Kopecki, Dawn (December 9, 1996). "Realtors Hope Web Untangles Costly Effort". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0732-8494. OCLC 8472624. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  10. ^ Rebchook, John (March 16, 1998). "Sealed with a Click More People Using Web to Search for and Buy Real Estate". Rocky Mountain News. Denver. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  11. ^ Gendler, Neal (August 1, 1996). "Regional Multiple Listings on Web; But Edina Realty decides not to participate in the Twin Cities project". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
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  14. ^ a b Gendler, Neal (November 13, 1996). "Partnership to keep Realtors' listing site available on World Wide Web; RIN accumulated millions of dollars in debt in 18 months". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  15. ^ a b Timmons, Heather (November 19, 1996). "Reluctant Realtors Finding It Pays to Go On-Line". American Banker. Observer Capital. ISSN 0002-7561. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
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  27. ^ Logan, Tim (September 30, 2014). "News Corp. to buy parent of Realtor.com for $950 million". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
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  29. ^ Lerner, Michele (September 29, 2016). "Realtor.com partners with Yelp to include neighborhood amenities in listings". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 2269358. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  30. ^ "Behind Realtor.com's Remodelista-Gardenista acquisition", Business of Home 2016-07-15
  31. ^ "To Our Readers: Remodelista Update", Remodelista 2019-06-01
  32. ^ Lapp, Rebecca (April 25, 2017). "Wapakoneta on top 10 list of small towns". Wapakoneta Daily News. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
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  35. ^ Wiggin, Teke (March 30, 2017). "Realtor.com stitches Matterport 3-D home tours into iOS app". Inman.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  36. ^ Hawkins, Lori (August 30, 2018). "Austin real estate startup Opcity to be acquired for $210 million". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  37. ^ Anderson, Will (August 30, 2018). "Opcity agrees to $210 million buyout by News Corp". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
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  40. ^ Wiggin, Teke (November 1, 2018). "Realtor.com unveils Facebook ads for agents". Inman.com. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  41. ^ Wiggin, Teke (July 29, 2019). "Realtor.com extends Facebook ad product to brokers". Inman.com. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  42. ^ Falcon, Julia (July 29, 2019). "Realtor.com expands Local Expert feature to city level". HousingWire. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  43. ^ Bhattacharya, Lydia (March 4, 2020). "Moxiworks and realtor.com launch new marketing programs for agents: New tool seeks to help agents maximize social media ads". Chicago Agent Magazine. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  44. ^ Kearns, Patrick (July 1, 2019). "Realtor.com's iOS app will allow users to filter by commute". Inman.com. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  45. ^ Falcon, Julia (March 9, 2020). "Realtor.com adds new feature to home search that shows noise levels". HousingWire. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  46. ^ Kearns, Patrick (March 9, 2020). "Realtor.com wants to identify noisy homes". Inman.com. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  47. ^ Lane, Ben (March 12, 2020). "Look out Zestimate: Realtor.com is rolling out its own souped-up home value estimate". HousingWire. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
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  50. ^ Jones, Charisse (August 26, 2020). "As Hurricane Laura bears down, homebuyers get new tool to assess flood risk". USA Today. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  51. ^ "Major Real Estate Website Now Shows Flood Risk. Should They All?". NPR. August 26, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  52. ^ Bove, Tristan (May 16, 2022). "A major real estate company is adding a wildfire risk to all listings and says 30 million households could be at risk over the next few decades". Fortune. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
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  55. ^ Dalyrymple, Jim II (15 December 2020). "Move Inc. acquires rental platform Avail". Inman. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  56. ^ Nylen, Leah (9 March 2021). "Zillow faces antitrust suit over change to real estate listings". Politico. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  57. ^ "Realtor.com® Acquires UpNest". UpNest. 2022-06-08. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  58. ^ Diaz, Ann-Christine (June 1, 2016). "Elizabeth Banks Is the (Weird) Woman of Your Dreams in Latest Campaign from Realtor.com". Advertising Age. Detroit: Crain Communications. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  59. ^ Gianatasio, David (April 3, 2017). "Realtor.com Helps You Beat Not-You to the Home of Your Dreams". Adweek. New York City: Beringer Capital. ISSN 0199-2864. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  60. ^ Beer, Jeff (June 1, 2017). "Elizabeth Banks Wants to Help You Find Your Dream Home on Realtor.com". Fast Company. Mansueto Ventures. ISSN 1085-9241. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  61. ^ Gazdik, Tanya (April 3, 2017). "Realtor.com Campaign Focuses on the 'Not-Yous' in Biggest Campaign Yet". Marketing Daily. MediaPost Communications. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  62. ^ Wasserman, Todd (April 7, 2017). "Realtor.com Banks on Elizabeth to Target House-Buying Millennials". CMO.com. Adobe Systems. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  63. ^ McMains, Andrew (May 13, 2015). "Ad of the Day: Elizabeth Banks Gets Comically Obsessed with Real Estate for Realtor.com". Adweek. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  64. ^ Gazdik, Tanya (April 25, 2018). "Realtor.com Launches Its Largest Brand Campaign". MarketingDaily. MediaPost. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  65. ^ Wood, Shawn Paul (May 10, 2021). "Realtor.com Has a Home For Everybody in Latest Campaign—Even Cacti and Vampires". Adweek. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  66. ^ Meyers, Alyssa (January 26, 2022). "Mood Board: How a cold DM led to Realtor.com's latest campaign". Marketing Brew. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  67. ^ Burgi, Michael (August 17, 2015). "Meet the Talented Performers Behind Some of the Year's Best Videos". Adweek. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  68. ^ "Pereira & O'Dell Awards". AdForum. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  69. ^ "2017 OMMA Awards". MediaPost Communications. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  70. ^ "OMMA Awards: 2015 Finalists". MediaPost Communications. 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  71. ^ Vanderboegh, Dani. "Who are the real estate winners in the 2016 Webbys?". Inman.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
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