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]

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,[32] will continue to operate as an independent business.[33][34]

Marketing

Elizabeth Banks has been a spokesperson for Realtor.com since 2015,[35][36] appearing in the company's YouTube series targeting millennials buying their first home.[37][38][39] Her first commercial for the company was directed by Fred Savage.[40]

The website's advertising campaigns have been recognized by Adweek,[41][42] the Online Marketing Media and Advertising (OMMA) Awards,[43][44] and the Webby Awards for their creativity, use of talent, and digital advertising.[45]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Levy, Nat. "Realtor.com's new features bring augmented reality, image recognition to home-buying". GeekWire. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 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. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  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. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  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. (Subscription required (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. (Subscription required (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. (Subscription required (help)).
  11. ↑ Napach, Bernice (October 28, 1996). "Web sites that can help you relocate". Medical Economics. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. (Subscription required (help)).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 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. (Subscription required (help)).
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  14. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  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. (Subscription required (help)).
  17. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  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. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  21. ↑ "Web Site Updated". The Herald-News. December 27, 1998. Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via HighBeam Research. (Subscription required (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. (Subscription required (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. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  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. ↑ Hawkins, Lori (August 30, 2018). "Austin real estate startup Opcity to be acquired for $210 million". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
  33. ↑ Anderson, Will (August 30, 2018). "Opcity agrees to $210 million buyout by News Corp". Austin Business Journal. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  34. ↑ Marinova, Polina (August 30, 2018). "Term Sheet -- Thursday, August 30". Fortune. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  35. ↑ 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.
  36. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  37. ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 47: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  38. ↑ 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.
  39. ↑ Wasserman, Todd (April 7, 2017). "Realtor.com Banks on Elizabeth to Target House-Buying Millennials". CMO.com. Adobe Systems. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  40. ↑ 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.
  41. ↑ Burgi, Michael (August 17, 2015). "Meet the Talented Performers Behind Some of the Year's Best Videos". Adweek. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  42. ↑ "Pereira & O'Dell Awards". AdForum. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  43. ↑ "2017 OMMA Awards". MediaPost Communications. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  44. ↑ "OMMA Awards: 2015 Finalists". MediaPost Communications. 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  45. ↑ Vanderboegh, Dani. "Who are the real estate winners in the 2016 Webbys?". Inman.com. Retrieved July 10, 2017.

External links

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