Property Portal Watch

redfin.com Quadruples its Data

Alice Allan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:42:38 +0000

US online real estate broker redfin.com has announced major upgrades to its website and improvements to its iPhone application.

The redfin.com blog announces the website now shows photos, prices and “all the gory details” on every property sold over the past two years in almost every area redfin.com serves. The addition of 9 million photos and 1.4 million recently sold properties has quadrupled the amount of information stored on the website. redfin.com explains:

“Before the upgrade, we only showed public records of recent sales: the most basic facts about the property’s bedrooms and bathrooms, the price, no pictures, all after waiting two to twelve weeks for the records first to get recorded by the county, then aggregated by a data-collection service and then syndicated out to sites like ours. What we have up today is a big improvement.”

redfin.com says that within 15 minutes of a property being taken off the market registered users can expect to see pictures and the price on its website.

redfin.com has also introduced a trackbacks feature so that each time a blogger links to a listing on the website, redfin.com links back to the blogger, allowing consumers to see what is being said about the property.

Upgrades have also been made to redfin.com’s iPhone application, which was released in September offering an innovative photo upload option. redfin.com says the application now offers more search options: filters by year built, lot size, days on redfin.com, short sales and under contract.

redfin.com says the application, which reportedly accounts for 10 percent of its traffic on weekends, is now also much faster thanks to an improvement in its maps load time.

zillow.com Now Charging for Lender Leads

Alice Allan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:32:49 +0000

zillow.com, the US based real estate marketplace, has changed the pricing model in its mortgage marketplace, introducing “market-based pricing” for customer-initiated contacts.

The mortgage marketplace allows borrowers to submit requests for loans and then review lenders’ quotes. Under the new pricing model, lenders will continue to be able to submit unlimited loan quotes for free, but will have to pay a fee when borrowers email or call them regarding their quotes.

zillow.com says the market will determine the price for each contact, but estimates the cost will be under $100, pointing out that Google clicks for mortgage keywords usually range from $7-$25, and that zillow.com’s contacts “should be significantly more valuable”. The new pricing model is being rolled out in four stages over the next few months.

A post by community director David Gibbons on zillow.com’s advice forum explained the reason behind the pricing changes:

“When we launched the marketplace in April 2008, it was an experiment to see if we could build a service that successfully connected borrowers with lenders. The results exceeded our wildest expectations: borrowers are submitting an average of 50,000 loan requests per month, and thousands of lenders are helping these borrowers close loans.

While we are thrilled with the outcome, it has been a resource cost to build this vibrant service. In order to continue to grow the marketplace, make it better for consumers, and create more value for lenders, we need to continue to invest in the business.”

The changes have attracted some negative responses on zillow.com, particularly in terms of the exact cost of contacts and the removal of lenders’ contact information in favour of the phone number zillow.com uses to track contacts.

Spencer Rascoff, chief operating officer of zilllow.com, responded to techcrunch.com’s report on the change, further detailing how the cost of contacts will be decided:

“The pricing of a CIC [customer-initiated contact] will be determined by the market, much like the pricing of a keyword in Google Adwords is determined by the market. Pricing will range from $0 to $100. So for example, if a particular refi Loan Request has terrific credit and a lot of equity in the home, a lot of lenders will want to quote for it so the price of a contact from that borrower will be quite high.

On the other hand, a Loan Request for a purchase loan with $0 down on a non-conforming loan with bad credit is less desirable to lenders so the market will price that contact much lower, maybe even at $0. One additional benefit of starting to charge for CICs is that the quotes in the marketplace will become even more accurate and complete because lenders won’t want to receive contacts unless they can close the loan on the terms they laid out in their initial loan quote.”

realestate.com.au targets Facebook Users

Alice Allan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:21:27 +0000

Following hot on the heels of its latest upgrade, leading Australian portal realestate.com.au has announced the launch of a Facebook application to promote the message that it lists more properties than any other portal in Australia.

The Facebook application quizzes users on topics such as dating, social events and sport to diagnose the extent of their fear of missing out (FOMO). Results include three levels of FOMO: FOMOHOLIC, FOMOALERT and FOMOPHOBIC.

A press release explains that FOMO “causes paralysis in home buyers who ultimately and ironically, end up missing out on securing a home due to exhaustive searching and inspecting, because they believe a better property may be out there”.

realestate.com.au quotes research stating 87 percent of Australan homebuyers look at numerous properties because they fear they will miss out on their dream home. The portal goes on to encourage readers to use and subscribe to its features to “cure FOMO” in their property search.

fotocasa.es App Alerts Property Hunters

Alice Allan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:54:52 +0000

Spanish portal fotocasa.es has released an iPhone application it says offers a unique service to property hunters: as well as allowing users to search for property, the application also sends them alerts when a property matching their search criteria comes on the market.

fotocasa.es says the free application is the only one on the Spanish market that includes the alert system. Its GPS feature also allows property seekers to find listings within a radius of one to 100 kilometres. Google Maps’ street view and satellite view are also integrated.

fotocasa.es came top of the Spanish property websites included in propertyportalwatch.com’s top 25 list for revenue over the last 12 months.

fotocasa.es’s parent company is Anuntis, which is 76 percent owned by Norwegian media giant Schibsted. Schibsted shut down the print version of the website, Segundamano, at the end of last year.

Property Portal Watch Workshop is On Again

Simon Baker — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:33:20 +0000

The highly successful Property Portal Watch Workshop is on again. We have teamed with the folks at Inman News to hold our third workshop on the 12th January 2010, just prior to the Real Estate Connect conference in New York, at the Marriott Marquis Times Square.

The Property Portal Watch Workshop brings together the Senior Management from property protals around the world to spend a day working through the key issues their businesses are facing. We will cover topics that are important to both small and large propery portals including growth strategies, ways to increase revenues, go to market approaches, and Google (an ever popular topic).

Over the last two workshops we have had over 100 people attend from 18 different countries representing over 40 property portals. Companies the have attended include immoscout24.de, funda.nl, seloger.fr, trulia.com, move.com and realestate.com.au. Already we have registrations from some market leading portals.

As one attendee said “The Property Portal Watch Workshop was the best part of the Inman Connect conference“.

If you register for the workshop before the 19th November, you will automatically enter the draw to win one of 15 free tickets to the Inman News’ Real Estate Connect conference which is held from the 13 – 15th, also at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. These tickets have a face value of US$939 each. To register, please send an email to editor@propertyportalwatch.com.

If you are unsuccessful in securing one of the free tickets, you are still able to purchase a ticket for Real Estate Connect at a discount price. Property Portal Watch has negotiated a special rate for our readers. Sign up before 21st November and pay the special rate of US$598 for the conference only – a further discount of US$100 off the Inman Non Member discount rate. If you sign up after the 21st November, you will pay the special rate of US$759 for the conference only – also a discount of US$100. For information on how to get this rate, please click here. Dont forget to use the promotion code PWP.

For more information on the Property Portal Watch Workshop, please click here.

Move Inc Revenue Down Again in Q3

Alice Allan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:00:01 +0000

Move Inc, the company behind top US real estate websites move.com and realtor.com, has announced third quarter revenue of US$52.9 million, down from to $61.2 million in the third quarter of 2008.

Income from continuing operations was $753,000, compared to a loss of $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2008. Net loss applicable to common stockholders was $758,000, or $0.00 per share, compared to a net loss of $22.7 million, or a loss of $0.15 per share in the third quarter of 2008.

Move’s Adjusted EBITDA on a non-GAAP basis was $5.6 million, or 11 percent of revenue, compared to $5.7 million, or 9 percent of revenue, for the third quarter of 2008.

The company says it will end the last quarter of 2009 with revenue ranging between $47 million and $48 million.

Move saw a drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2009 as well as the second quarter compared to 2008 totals.

Move’s chief finanicial officer, Robert J. Krolick, who joined the company in July, had this to say about the company’s business outlook:

“We will exit 2009 with a more stable cost structure and a greater focus on delivering consistent cash flow. We have eliminated several unprofitable revenue sources through a series of divestments and partnerships in 2009.

With a strong balance sheet, we are well-positioned to continue making strategic investments in long term growth until we begin to benefit from our initiatives to refocus our company, launch new products for our customers, and take advantage of our clear position as the leading online real estate company.”

2009 has seen plenty of change at Move Inc, with the sale of Welcome Wagon, a new CEO and the departure of president Lorna Borenstein, plus serious overhauls of seniorhousing.net and moving.com and new plans for realtor.com.The company moved headquarters last month in an effort to cut costs, and just launched the Builders Digital Experience website – a joint venture dedicated to helping new home builders reach buyers.

Move’s share price ended the day’s trading up 1.06 percent.

immonet.de Picks Up People’s Choice Award

Alice Allan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:16:05 +0000

German portal immonet.de has picked up the People’s Choice Award in the “money and career” category of the 2009 OnlineStar awards.

The OnlineStar honours websites across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Internet users vote for their favourite websites in 16 categories.

immonet.de’s managing director, Axel Konjack, said the vote by users was “a clear sign that we are ahead in the competition of real estate portals with our consistent focus on our customers”.

The portal awards season has also seen German market leader immobilienscout24.de take home the award for best German portal brand in the Immobilienmarken Awards 2009.

immonet.de’s most recent factsheet puts its unique user numbers at 1.4 million per month, based on Nielsen NetRatings figures from January this year. By comparison, immobilienscout24.de reported a record month in August with 4.4 million unique users according to Nielsen.

immonet.de is owned by international media company Axel Springer and lists properties in Germany as well as worldwide.

zoopla.co.uk Launches “Mega-Portal”

Alice Allan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:07:55 +0000

UK property portal zoopla.co.uk has completed its integration with propertyfinder.com, hotproperty.co.uk and thinkproperty.com, and says it can now offer new services to users and a bigger audience for agent members.

zoopla.co.uk’s integration with propertyfinder.com and the other website’s in the Zoopla Ltd portfolio was announced last month. At the time, Zoopla said there would be “significantly increased” marketing investment in the zoopla.co.uk brand.

A zoopla.co.uk blog post says agents using the new “mega-portal” can now upload to a single platform to expose their listings to websites “powered by” zoopla.co.uk including MSN, Yahoo!, Virgin and Guardian.

Property seekers will also have access to a broader range of features including overseas property listings, a flat share service and email alerts.

Alex Chesterman, Zoopla’s CEO, explained the integration of the websites:

“Following our acquisitions over the summer, it was important for us to consolidate onto a single brand and technology platform as quickly as possible in order to deliver the benefits to our users.

We have taken the best-in-class features of all of our websites and combined these to deliver on our goal of offering consumers the UK’s best property market resource and our agent members the most efficient source of applicant leads, appraisal leads, exposure and tools to help them win more business.”

seloger.com Reports Record Audience

Alice Allan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:25:22 +0000

Leading French property portal seloger.com has released its nine month revenue figures, showing a total of €54 million – a one percent increase over the same period in 2008.

seloger.com also recorded 3 million unique visitors for the first time in September this year, up 24 percent from 2.5 million in September 2008. seloger.com states this increase shows users have welcomed upgrades to the portal, which included new search engine functions and a more fluid navigation tool.

seloger.com goes on to say that its iPhone application, launched less than two months ago, is approaching 120,000 downloads.

Roland Tripard, CEO of Group SeLoger.com, said the portal’s positive results reflect stabilisation in the French real estate market:

“Along with other sectors of the economy, the real estate market has experienced a crisis unlike any other in recent times, which has heavily affected real estate agents. Since the month of September, transaction levels in old property have stabilised and the drop in transaction prices is slowing down.

The one percent growth in revenues over the first nine months of the year 2009 mirrors this market condition, and explains the refocusing of real estate agent communication budgets towards the most efficient Internet supports.”

seloger.com states it will reach its 2009 targets of revenues between €70 million and €73 million, and EBITDA of between €35 million and €37 million.

Suburb Data, Reviews at realestate.com.au

Alice Allan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:23:51 +0000

After a relatively quiet few months in terms of website upgrades, leading Australian portal realestate.com.au has some new offerings aimed at further engaging its audience.

To begin with, suburb data is now linked to from the main page of the portal. Data is not yet available for all Australian suburbs, but property hunters can select from a list of available suburbs and view information such as graphs of monthly and annual property prices, graphs for supply and demand in a suburb, and recent sales information.

realestate.com.au sources the property prices and sales data from RPData, and RPData’s automated property valuations are promoted at the top of the suburb information pages.

business2.com.au points out another addition to realestate.com.au’s portfolio: its new Local Voices website, which is a rebranded version of streetadvisor.com.au. Here members can discuss the pros and cons of a certain area in a forum, review a location and find the best streets in various suburbs.

Agents are also being invited to become a Local Expert by earning points for participation in the website. RPData are again promoted on the front page as a property valuation and research option, as are home loan services from LoanMarket and property services from Opteon Property Group, amongst others.

Back in July, realestate.com.au added suburb sales history to its property pages. That followed a series of website enhancements unveiled in June.

Not to be outdone, Australia’s number two portal, domain.com.au, has also released regular upgrades this year including new search functionality, an upgrade to its maps and the release of online rental applications.

Judging by the pattern of releases at Australia’s top two portals this year, these latest upgrades from realestate.com.au could mean another round of changes to domain.com.au will soon be in the works.