SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
Nov. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination
operated by News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA]; [ASX: NWS,
NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. today announced it is unveiling a
new and expanded experience that helps make the real estate journey
simpler, easier and more efficient for consumers and the
professionals who serve them.
The enhancements put information at consumers' fingertips more
quickly, in a streamlined and contemporary presentation in line
with evolving consumer expectations. They include a revamped
listing search and display, featuring more prominently placed
photos, improvements to the at-a-glance information summary
preferred by active buyers, and prominent quick-connect options to
link consumers with an agent to help answer questions or provide a
timely response about a listing inquiry.
The experience is designed to deliver optimal connectivity
between real estate professionals and their next client. It offers
best-in-class branding and lead opportunities through a new,
targeted advertising program named Advantage, designed to optimize
brand visibility and listing marketing, capture and convert leads,
and grow business. The Advantage program offers real estate
professionals 100 percent of the leads from their listings,
real-time performance reporting on leads and listings, a new seller
report with performance insights and benchmarking, lead
configuration options and investment targeting by property
type.
Also newly available to professionals is Essentials, a free
benefit that provides a one-stop management toolkit designed to
help them oversee their business on realtor.com® efficiently and
effectively. Essentials helps agents stay on top of their online
business marketing, advertising and listing needs, and manage their
journey to the next level – all from a single location, the
realtor.com® Essentials Dashboard, accessed directly from the login
at realtor.com®.
"This is a significant moment for realtor.com®, both for the
innovation going into the features themselves, and in terms of the
power of what these enhancements can do used in combination," said
Tracy Mahnken, senior vice
president, product management for realtor.com®. "We're attracting
well-informed, highly engaged consumers with a constantly evolving,
world-class experience and helping connect those consumers with
critical information and with real estate professionals who are
vital to the process. We're also providing solutions that empower
the real estate professional to easily manage their business and
deliver an exceptional experience for their clients. Addressing all
these pieces together is key to creating the most fluid and
effective marketplace."
Over the past two years, realtor.com® has invested significantly
in building a consumer experience that is second to none, with
impressive and ongoing returns. Traffic is at record levels, up
more than 64 percent in the past 24 months. Awareness is at an
all-time-high, and the site far outdistances its competitors in
engagement based on both time on site and pages per visit.
Realtor.com®'s page-view growth was four times that of its nearest
comparable competitor in September, according to comScore.
"Performance metrics are only part of the equation – another
powerful measurement is the real connections and real transactions
taking place in the real estate economy," said Mahnken.
Consumers ranked realtor.com® No. 1 in terms of how they found
their home, how they found their agent, and where they found the
agent who actually listed their home, according to addendum
questions in the 2016 NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers.
The new features cap 18 months of research-based rolling
enhancements at realtor.com® that have expanded its feature set and
improved functionality for both consumers and professionals:
- Realtor.com®'s News & Advice section offers a diverse array
of informational articles on buying, selling and renting as well as
celebrity news and home design and improvement tips for homeowners,
and shares related content from other publishers in the News Corp
family including MarketWatch, Barron's and The Wall
Street Journal.
- The site's new Local experience surfaces neighborhood market
stats, trends and school information, spotlights local real estate
agents who can provide unique insight, and features nearby homes
for sale and for rent. It also links to the site's HouseTalk
community forum in which users can connect, ask questions and
provide their own experience and insight on real estate-related
topics.
- Realtor.com®'s economics portal provides powerful tools for
consumers and professionals alike looking to understand market
trends at the macro and neighborhood levels, with interactive tools
for self-directed research and regular blog commentary from Chief
Economist Jonathan Smoke. Its new
REsource center for real estate professionals offers personalized
information that agents can deliver to their clients based on their
profile (seller, buyer, renter) along with sharable editorial
content and videos that agents can use on their own websites and in
client communications.
- Ongoing predictive technology enhancements help surface similar
properties that match consumers' preferences to aid their search,
and provide additional exposure for agent and broker branding.
- Realtor.com®'s best-in-class agent profiles provide detailed
information about agents' transaction history and areas of
expertise, and its RealRatingSM and reviews are only
accepted from clients who have closed a transaction with a specific
real estate professional, providing consumers an extra layer of
confidence when researching an agent. Consumers are 10 times more
likely to connect with an agent with a full profile, and
realtor.com® provides these well-informed inquiries directly to the
agent for free.
- Ongoing enhancements to realtor.com® apps make home search easy
for consumers on-the-go, integrating with emerging technologies,
including wearable devices and AppleTV.
"These achievements represent a powerful acceleration in helping
consumers and real estate professionals maximize the value of their
relationship with realtor.com® in the real world," said Mahnken.
"They also speak to the core of what we do – help deliver the best
experience for the consumer in what is the most important financial
decision of their lifetime, and help ensure that the real estate
professional remains at the center of the real estate journey to
provide their vital expertise."
The new experience and solutions are targeted to begin rolling
out at the end of November, expanding to universal availability
over the next several days.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains certain "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These statements are based on management's views and
assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of
the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in global
economic, business, competitive market and regulatory and other
factors. More detailed information about these and other factors
that could affect future results is contained in News Corp's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
"forward-looking statements" included in this document are made
only as of the date of this document and we do not have any
obligation to publicly update any "forward-looking statements" to
reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by
law.
About realtor.com®
Realtor.com® is the trusted resource for home buyers, sellers
and dreamers, offering the most comprehensive source of for-sale
properties, among competing national sites, and the information,
tools and professional expertise to help people move confidently
through every step of their home journey. It pioneered the world of
digital real estate 20 years ago, and today helps make all things
home simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by
News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move,
Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of
REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.
Media Contact:
Realtor.com®
Christie Farrell –
Christie.Farrell@move.com
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SOURCE realtor.com