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Realtor.com

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

Realtor.com (stylized as realtor.com) is a real estate listings website operated by the News Corporation subsidiary Move, Inc. and based in Santa Clara, California. 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 have become the largest website in the United States for real estate listings, and in 2016 was valued at $2.5 billion by Morgan Stanley. The website's advertising campaigns have been recognized by Adweek and the Webby Awards.

Operations

Realtor.com is operated by the real estate network Move, Inc.,[1] which is owned by News Corporation.[2] Ryan O'Hara serves as chief executive officer (CEO) of both realtor.com and Move.[3] The website is licensed to operate by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the real estate industry's largest trade association.[2][4] The company's business model focuses on selling advertising and leads to agents and brokers.[5]

Originally located in San Jose, California, the company moved to Santa Clara in 2016.[3] The new headquarters was designed by the architecture firm Gensler to resemble a "deconstructed house".[6]

History

Founding and early growth

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.[7][8] 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.[9] RIN grew from 32,000 property listings in December 1995 to nearly 400,000 properties by October 1996.[10][11]

The site was relaunched with the name "Spot Realtor.com" at the same realtor.com domain name in November 2016.[12][13] The site's management was assumed by a company called RealSelect,[13] in a new partnership with NAR, funded by investment from venture capital firms.[12] RealSelect later changed its name to Homestore, and continued to operate the realtor.com site with NAR as a partner.[14]

Starting in 1997, Realtor.com became the exclusive online real estate listings source for several companies, including USA Today,[15][16] NBC,[17] and America Online (AOL).[18][19] Realtor.com also entered into a partnership with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service, beginning in 1998.[20] With more than 1.3 million listings by 1999,[21][22] Realtor.com had become the largest website for real estate listings, and expanded services to include virtual tours of properties.[23]

Public listing and acquisition

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.[24]

News Corporation purchased Realtor.com's parent company, now called Move, for $950 million in September 2014.[3][25] According to comScore, Realtor.com was receiving 34.1 million unique visitors per month at the time.[26] New partnerships were formed with Airbnb, to focus on encouraging potential home buyers to stay in neighborhoods of interest to them;[1] and with Yelp, to provide users with information about listed properties' neighborhood amenities.[27]

As of 2016, Realtor.com claimed to display 97 percent of residential properties for sale in the United States,[28] and reportedly received 36.7 million unique monthly visitors.[3] The company was valued by Morgan Stanley at $2.5 billion.[29]

Features for augmented reality and image recognition in listings were added to the Realtor.com mobile apps in January 2017.[2][30] 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.[31]

Marketing

Elizabeth Banks has been a spokesperson for Realtor.com since 2015,[32][33] appearing in the company's YouTube series targeting millennials buying their first home.[34][35][36] Her first commercial for the company was directed by Fred Savage.[37]

The website's advertising campaigns have been recognized by Adweek,[38][39] the Online Marketing Media and Advertising (OMMA) Awards,[40][41] and the Webby Awards for their creativity, use of talent, and digital advertising.[42]

References

  1. ^ a b Trejos, Nancy (June 24, 2015). "Airbnb, Realtor.com team up to let you try before you buy". USA Today. Gannett Company. ISSN 0734-7456. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Levy, Nat. "Realtor.com's new features bring augmented reality, image recognition to home-buying". GeekWire. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Wiggin, Teke (November 15, 2016). "Realtor.com overhauls listing ad offering". Inman.com. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  6. ^ Ard, Scott (July 8, 2016). "Silicon Valley in VR: Inside Realtor.com's amazing Santa Clara headquarters". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  7. ^ Kopecki, Dawn (December 9, 1996). "Realtors Hope Web Untangles Costly Effort". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0732-8494. OCLC 8472624. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Rebchook, John (March 16, 1998). "Sealed with a Click More People Using Web to Search for and Buy Real Estate". Rocky Mountain News. Denver: E. W. Scripps Company. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Gendler, Neal (August 1, 1996). "Regional Multiple Listings on Web; But Edina Realty decides not to participate in the Twin Cities project". Star Tribune. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Perkins, Broderick (December 7, 1995). "Real estate industry trumpets its frenzied arrival on the information superhighway". Knight Ridder. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Napach, Bernice (October 28, 1996). "Web sites that can help you relocate". Medical Economics. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ 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. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b Timmons, Heather (November 19, 1996). "Reluctant Realtors Finding It Pays to Go On-Line". American Banker. Observer Capital. ISSN 0002-7561. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Gaw, Jonathan (August 2, 1999). "HomeStore.com Plans to Turn Internet Real Estate Into Equity". Los Angeles Times. Tronc. ISSN 0458-3035. OCLC 3638237. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  15. ^ "'USA Today' adds commerce partners". Advertising Age. Apr 16, 1997. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  16. ^ "Realtor.com guides home shoppers on Web". Courier News. Somerville, New Jersey: Gannett Company. August 15, 1997. p. 46. Retrieved July 10, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "Cyber-tv: NBC Joins Rival in Making Move to an Interactive Neighborhood". Chicago Tribune. Tronc. April 9, 1997. ISSN 1085-6706. OCLC 60639020. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  18. ^ "Digital City Brings Realtor.com Into Fold". Wired. May 21, 1997. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  19. ^ "Digital City adds real estate section". Advertising Age. September 17, 1997. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  20. ^ "Commercial Takes New Shapes". The Herald-News. Joliet, Illinois: Shaw Media. January 25, 1998. OCLC 30591638. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Web Site Updated". The Herald-News. December 27, 1998. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Harney, Kenneth R. (January 16, 1999). "Sites to Behold: A Guide to Online Real Estate". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ Harney, Kenneth R. (December 19, 1998). "Virtual Tours to Revolutionize Home Shopping". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  24. ^ Helft, Miguel (January 27, 2002). "Business; Homestore Fights for Life as Bad News Piles Up". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  25. ^ Logan, Tim (September 30, 2014). "News Corp. to buy parent of Realtor.com for $950 million". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  26. ^ Lisota, Kevin (August 6, 2015). "Realtor.com CEO Ryan O'Hara on their quest to catch up with Zillow". GeekWire. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  27. ^ 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 – via HighBeam Research. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |subscription= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
  28. ^ Lapp, Rebecca (April 25, 2017). "Wapakoneta on top 10 list of small towns". Wapakoneta Daily News. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  29. ^ Wiggin, Teke (December 7, 2017). "Morgan Stanley valued realtor.com at $2.5 billion: News Corp". Inman.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  30. ^ Steele, Billy. "Realtor.com uses augmented reality to help you find a new home". Engadget. Oath Inc. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  31. ^ Wiggin, Teke (March 30, 2017). "Realtor.com stitches Matterport 3-D home tours into iOS app". Inman.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  32. ^ 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.
  33. ^ 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.
  34. ^ 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.
  35. ^ 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.
  36. ^ Wasserman, Todd (April 7, 2017). "Realtor.com Banks on Elizabeth to Target House-Buying Millennials". CMO.com. Adobe Systems. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  37. ^ 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.
  38. ^ Burgi, Michael (August 17, 2015). "Meet the Talented Performers Behind Some of the Year's Best Videos". Adweek. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  39. ^ "Pereira & O'Dell Awards". AdForum. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  40. ^ "2017 OMMA Awards". MediaPost Communications. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  41. ^ "OMMA Awards: 2015 Finalists". MediaPost Communications. 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  42. ^ Vanderboegh, Dani. "Who are the real estate winners in the 2016 Webbys?". Inman.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Realtor.com&oldid=839925336"