SES Chicago - December 7-11, 2009

August 29, 2006

Yahoo Revamps Real Estate Portal

The Yahoo Blog announced that they have revamped Yahoo Real Estate. They have also added some more Yahoo Shortcuts that pulls data from Yahoo Real Estate, directly on Yahoo Search. For example, a search on suffern, new york mortgage rates brings back a Shortcut with a chart of rates, with more links to more detailed information. They added some more shortcuts, including a listing short cut, so if you search on chicago real estate you get links to Yahoo Real Estate, if you search on home values you get a instant home valuation tool, if you search on a specific Prudential listing ID in the syntax of Pru ID you get information on that listing. Yahoo has also added deeper integration with Yahoo Real Estate and Yahoo Maps, using the Maps API. The whole thing is greatly revamped and retooled, tons and tons of features - check out the Yahoo Blog or read the full release below.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug 29, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yahoo!(R) Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced an extensively revamped site which combines access to one of the industry's most comprehensive databases of real estate listings with a new set of tools and services that provide everything home seekers need to buy, sell or rent a home accessible through Yahoo! Real Estate (http://realestate.yahoo.com).

Yahoo! Real Estate combines access to more than 3 million homes with easy-to-use tools such as interactive maps, access to millions of instant home valuations through www.zillow.com, mortgage tools with access to local market rates and more. Tightly integrated with Yahoo!'s powerful search and maps technology, Yahoo! Real Estate gives users all the information they need to find the ideal home, and even an agent and financing -- all in one easy to navigate Web site.

"Finding a home is one of the most important -- and often most expensive -- buying decisions a person makes in life. We've found that house hunters are most interested in prices, proximity to schools and restaurants, financing options and home values," said Andrew Braccia, Vice President of Search and Marketplace, Yahoo!. "By integrating our leading maps, local and search products into Yahoo! Real Estate, we are giving home seekers fast and easy access to the comprehensive information they need to make the right buying or renting decision."

Yahoo! Real Estate has integrated maps and local community information to transform the online buying and renting experience online. With house hunters spending an average of 8 weeks(1) researching homes before making a purchasing decision, they are hungry for information about their soon-to-be surroundings. Yahoo! Real Estate has added maps with satellite imagery so house hunters can easily see where homes for sale or rentals are located and their proximity to roads and other landmarks. Integration with Yahoo! Local allows users to also see "inside information" about their potential new neighborhood such as the location of parks, schools, restaurants and read reviews written by other Yahoo! users. Users can also see a market snapshot of each community with average house prices, and historical price trends. Local mortgage interest rates and trends can be accessed on feature-rich graphs so users can make more informed financing decisions. In addition, links to Yahoo! Answers allow users to post specific questions about a neighborhood, mortgage rate or rental, and access a living repository made up of real life experience, advice and opinion.

When beginning a home search, 77 percent(2) of all home seekers use the Internet to find everything from listings, financing options and home values. To improve the search experience, Yahoo! Search has created new shortcuts that make it fast and easy to find real estate information. Examples include:

-- Listings Shortcut: Go to Yahoo! Search and type "Chicago real estate" and it will return links to Chicago listings based on 3 different price ranges.

-- Mortgage Rate Shortcut: Go to Yahoo! Search and type "Miami mortgage rates" and quickly see the latest regional mortgage rates directly in search results

-- Home Values Shortcut: Go to Yahoo! Search and type "Home Values" and users can easily enter an address for an instant home valuation.

-- Prudential Home Listing: Through an agreement with Prudential Real Estate, home seekers can even search for details on a home they see offline, by searching the "Pru ID" found on a home's for sale sign.

Yahoo! Real Estate provides a complete set of tools and access to comprehensive listings including MLS properties in partnership with Prudential Real Estate, classifieds, apartment rentals, for sale by owner, foreclosures, and new home listings. Yahoo! users can easily access this information by visiting http://realestate.yahoo.com or by utilizing Yahoo! Search or other Yahoo! properties such as Finance, HotJobs, and the Yahoo! home page.

(1) 2005 National Association of Realtors(R) Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers

(2) 2005 National Association of Realtors(R) Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is the No. 1 Internet brand globally and the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide. Yahoo! provides online products and services essential to consumers' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

SOURCE: Yahoo! Inc.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:52 AM | Permalink

July 19, 2006

Zillow Partners With Yahoo!

Zillow, the real estate wunderkind, announced a partnership with Yahoo! in which Zillow's Zestimates (home value estimates) will show up on Yahoo! search result pages as a Shortcut. Here's the result for 'home values' on Yahoo!. Zillow will also be featured in Yahoo's real estate section (under the 'what's my home worth' link).

Read the official press release, Zillow's blog post, or the Yahoo! Search blog post.

This is obviously a major coup for Zillow and continues a trend of innovative start-ups partnering with the big search engines to get to the next level. Read more at VerticalSearch.net

Posted by Brian Smith at 2:34 AM | Permalink

May 11, 2006

"Online Seller Advantage Program" Taps Yahoo for Buyer, Seller Data

Prudential Real Estate is offering a new program as part of its existing marketing relationship with Yahoo Real Estate called the "Online Seller Advantage program" (OSA). It"s designed to let sellers" agents convey market information to their clients ("real-time updates") via email. Sellers will be able to receive a range of consumer-related and competitive market data.

Those data include the following:

  • How often their property showed up on research results
  • How often their property was viewed in detailed format
  • How many viewers have saved their property in their portfolio
  • New listings and photos in the seller's immediate neighborhood
  • Price changes of homes in the seller's immediate neighborhood
  • Status changes (sold, pending, price reductions) of competitive properties in the seller's local area

From a buyer perspective, homes for sale will be equipped with a branded 'sign rider' featuring a unique ID number. Buyers can plug that number into Yahoo search and immediately be taken to details about the specific property. This is the most interesting aspect of the announcement from my point of view because it helps connect the online and offline worlds in a very direct way. It's not clear from the available information whether there's a mobile dimension to this, although presumably the information could equally be obtained through a browser on a mobile phone. Interestingly, the seller tools and data seem to be about enabling agents to manage expectations in a cooling marketplace. As evidence, here's a quote from the press release:

"This is a time when pricing a home right can really make a difference," said Aaron Lewis, a sales professional with Prudential California Realty in Turlock, Calif. "But sometimes, the sellers' perspective of their property's value is different from what the market will bear. The OSA emails they receive daily provide hard evidence to support my recommendations on staying competitive. The OSA keeps my sellers realistic, which helps me help them."

The OSA is going to be available in 47 states and Washington, D.C. The missing three are Arkansas, South Dakota and West Virginia. But the program will be expanded in the near term to encompass those states as well.

Here's a commercial (via YouTube) for Yahoo and Prudential's marketing partnership, though not specifically this offering.

Other sites, such as Zillow offer valuation information and other market data.

The percent of U.S. homebuyers using the Internet as part of their housing search process went from roughly 2% in 1995 to 77% in 2005 according to the National Association of Realtors. The Internet is now the number one consumer resource in the home-buying process.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 12:20 PM | Permalink

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